History

Our Roots and The Future

Finger Lakes Engineering was formed in November of 1999 by Steven Spano; FLE’s President and Principal Consultant.

First Contract

FLE’s first contract was awarded by a company called DevelopOnline, in Scottsdale, AZ. DevelopOnline was pioneering technology to allow engineering teams to lease development time on remote servers and remote hardware. DevelopOnline’s vision was to provide this lease time as a way to allow engineering teams faster access to proven tool-chains and development environments in order to get a jump-start on product development. The company wanted the ability to emulate a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to allow a remote team to control the target PC. FLE created the PS/2-POD, capable of translating RS232 commands into PS/2 keyboard and mouse events. The design was completed in 6 weeks and 100 units were produced for their lab use.

Finger Lakes Engineering continued to market the company’s services and was selected by Quantum Data, in Chicago, IL. Quantum develops video display test equipment and primarily sells to OEMs and service centers. FLE created a series of Windows GUI updates to their control software, debug and correction of several GPIB interfaces, and design and development of additional test and support boards for their hardware.

Continued Growth

At this time (roughly 2001), FLE was also growing in the electronics and FPGA design activities. The company was developing a custom embedded processor (based on the C161 core) and a high performance 2D graphics co-processor for a video game manufacturer in Taiwan. FLE’s staff was supplemented by other independent contractors and part-time employees. Beginning in 2001, FLE began working with the start-up company Princeton Power Systems to assist on what would become multi-year product developments for the company’s variable speed 3-phase AC motor drive systems.

FLE continued a growth path through 2002 and 2003, the company expanded its office site to the Gateway center in Dryden, New York. This expansion increased FLE’s office space from approximately 600 sq-feet to about 1400 sq-feet. This expansion paved the way for the company to begin a direct marketing and growth plan focused on Central New York. FLE’ President believed that a strong base existing in CNY that could benefit from FLE’s design experience and comprehensive services.

Strength and Leadership in Microprocessor and FPGA Product Design

Starting in 2004, FLE launched a marketing campaign to begin meeting the owners, Presidents, and VP’s of high-tech company’s surrounding the Dryden area. Throughout 2004 and 2005, FLE has assisted over two dozen local clients on various programs including power supply design, 8-bit through 32-bit embedded control systems, high performance Xilinx FPGAs, and several Windows/Web-based software programs. The company also expanded its office space to a 3600 sq-ft location in Dryden and our staff continued to grow with the additional of both new-graduate engineers and experienced professionals.

In mid 2005, FLE launched our first publication - inPhase - which is the firm’s bi-monthy newsletter. FLE’s goal is to use our newsletter to explore various topics such as FPGA design, Signal Integrity, Product Development, and other “fun-news” topics that occur at our client company’s or within the firm itself.

Growth for the Future

In the later part of 2006 and carrying through 2008, Finger Lakes Engineering has been directly licensicing sections of the company’s FPGA IP core technology and software operating systems technology. The license opportunities have also been occurring along with the development of very high performance single board computer systems based on the X86 and ARM architecture as well as complex Xilinx Virtex5 FPGA designs.

During 2007, Finger Lakes Engineering relocated to Dryden NY and began a concise effort to focus the company’s engineering actitivies on IP Core Development and high performance Data/Media processing systems. The goal of this focusing was to hone the company’s operations from “top to bottom” to continue to offer the best engineering services and products to our clients.

Through 2008 and 2009, FLE plans to further expand our Intellectual Property offerings through the release of the FUSION development system and our hardware products including the Mustang and Falcon.