Dmitry Kurilenko, the head of Promwad’s testing and QA department, thinks that the creation of a new product based on an OEM device is a quick way to success on the market. He estimates the current situation on the Russian market in the following way:

"Today there is a very popular pattern for the creation of new products for the electronics market in Russia. It looks like this: a company buys a ready-made OEM device* or hardware platform in South-East Asia or at a local market, after which it creates a new product based on it. This pattern cuts across international experience, but it fits perfectly into our environment. The company saves a lot of resources in developing new devices and can set up sales under the target brand (including its own brand).

However, this business model has a number of drawbacks - OEM devices do not always have the required functionality, often have no documentation for end users, may have “truncated” software, etc. In addition, the customer is not always sure of the quality of a hardware and software OEM / ODM platform. Without the product’s localization, testing and quality assurance, it is very risky to launch it into the market as a new product.

To solve these problems, this year Promwad’s testing and QA department launched a new service, testing and technical support of electronic products. It helps perform an array of tasks related to the localization and improvement of an electronic product, add requested features, test and improve the product’s software and graphic interface, develop documentation for users and service centers, prepare the product for certification, etc.

Certainly, it would be good if in the future Russian companies began to actively use a different pattern for creating new electronic devices, relying on the intellectual potential of national engineers and programmers, so that they could develop their own innovative products capable of competing with global rivals. Currently, however, creating a new product based on an OEM device is a quick way to market success, which is confirmed by practice."

* — By an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) product, we mean a device based on a ready-made hardware platform by a third-party developer, adapted to the customer’s requirements and designed for production under the customer’s brand.