SLI, or System Level Integration, is simply the process of design reuse. Electronics projects are becoming more complex and time-consuming for companies, and in order to meet their deadlines, they are increasingly having to reuse previous designs rather than starting from scratch.
This may all seem fine and dandy, but it's a field that takes more than just a cut-and-paste mentality. It's a difficult business to take snippets of previous designs (not necessarily parts, but schematics, ideas and the like) and to combine these to form a working product in a confined time-frame.
Companies are increasingly realising that they need to utilise design reuse, but alas, they don't have the skilled professionals who can do it well. Not only that, but the intellectual property (IP) required to bring a product from drawing board to reality may not even be at their disposal. Therefore, it's often necessary to use the IP of third party companies in order to finish a product. This costs money, but time is saved - which may be paramount.
SLI can be undertaken by any competent engineer - but experience and formal training is invaluable.
The Scottish Executive seized the opportunity to put Scotland at the forefront of SLI, by establishing the ISLI in Livingston. Run by Strathclyde, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt universities, it is the only educational institution in the world at the moment (to my knowledge) to specialise in SLI.
Which is why I'm quite excited :)
