High-speed digital signal processing requires sophisticated solutions for both software and hardware. Enabling software support and control over hardware functionality is a problem that will be emphasised as systems become more complex. Developing hardwarebound software is not, however, application development, and the related requirements cannot be covered in full by traditional software development processes. This paper describes experiences from the development of hardware-related software development processes at Nokia Networks. As most important characteristics of hardware-related software development, hard real-time requirements, experimental nature of work, documentation requirements, and the role of testing are presented. Characteristics of software process improvement in a hardwaredependent software environment are reported. As a result, a currentstate analysis of hardware-related software development was made. Better understanding of the development processes was gained, facilitating further process improvement activities.