One of the most basic business requirements is the need to know what the competition is doing. Whether it be tracking new features, pricing, sales channels, management, and of course technology. Whether entering a new market, or designing a next-generation device, a critical step is to buy a competing product and take it apart to see what is inside it. Having done that, we know the parts list involved, and the technological challenges to be faced in manufacturing the new version.

Reverse engineering (RE) can cover objects from as large as aircraft down to the smallest microchip, and the motivations have varied from the paranoia of the Cold War, through commercial piracy, to competitive intelligence, and courts of patent law. If we look back over the last few decades, reverse engineers around the world have had a significant influence on the dissemination of technology in the electronics industry.