The process of developing new products is a difficult one. From the stages of product conception to the production of an end item, there is constant pressure placed upon accomplishing a faster time-to-market and to build faster, smaller, and with a higher quality at less cost than the last generation. It is also imperative to beat an army of competitors trying to get to market first. It can be excruciatingly painful in the prototyping phase, when the components have extremely long lead times. To mitigate these issues, especially for timing products, programmable crystal oscillators were developed.