EET-i Top of the News

Week of Apr. 24, 1995

Apr. 27, 1995

Report urges Europe to establish home-grown EDA vendor

Lancity to show off low-cost cable modem at NCTA

Comdex Report: Compaq plans PDA, announces consumer division

Comdex Report: Two license 3-D for PCs

Comdex Report: Finger-mounted joystick debuts

Comdex Report: Software video encoding rivals hardware-assisted MPEG

Comdex Report: MPEG, TV tuners highlight graphics boards

Comdex Report: Picturetel launches algorithms; plans hooks to laptops
What's new(s) at EE Times-interactive

Apr. 26, 1995

Set-top bill worries FCC, industry

HP, Cadence team up on the virtual test side

C-Cube, SGS launch MPE G-1 audio/video/system decoder

3DO, ARM enter cross-license agreement

Aavid hot for thermal solutions

Information systems open up beyond engineering

Apr. 25, 1995

Fractal tool for the masses

Crystal defects used to build quantum devices

Siemen's, AT&T roll codecs, transceivers

Benchmarq boosts line

Deskstation pushes PCI; launches PC with 66-MHz, 64-bit bus

VeriBest gets upgrade

Apr. 24, 1995

R&D budget imperiled, Brown warns

Microsoft opens Windows to PC games

Computer makers are latest targets for high-density CD standards

Embedded world grapples with software issues

Other news sources on Techweb:

• Interactive Age
• Information Week
• Electronic Buyer's News

Report urges Europe to establish home-grown EDA vendor

By Peter Clarke

BRUSSELS -- Europe should form a world-class systems EDA company to compete against Cadence, Mentor Graphics, Viewlogic and Synopsys. If necessary, the company should partner with a U.S. vendor to give it global reach.

That's one conclusion of a report that has been prepared for the European Commission's Directorate General III, which oversees the commission's technology initiatives.

The Cornu Report--named after Josef Cornu, chief technologist at telecommunications company Alcatel and chairman of the panel that produced the study--notes that while publicly funded programs have allowed Europe to catch up in basic silicon-pr ocessing technology, the continent is dependent on U.S. suppliers of CAD tools. The report alleges that U.S. EDA vendors' tendency to develop systems-level ideas in tandem with U.S.-based customers leaves European systems companies out of the decision-making loop.

The study warns that the limited scope of cell libraries and licensable cores in Europe will hamper future European competitiveness.

"There should be a new European player in the CAD market," the report states. "The battle for layout tools must be deemed to have been lost. The approach might be for the European semiconductor companies and the systems companies to combine as shareholders in a new European systems-level CAD company. It would develop and market CAD tools for its shareholders and for the open market."

Lancity to show off low-cost cable modem at NCTA

By Loring Wirbel

ANDOVER, Mass. -- Lancity Corp. will go live at the upcoming National Cable TV Association show with its coaxial cable modem that features pricing in a range applicable for home PC users. Lancity plans to use quadrature phase-shift-key (QPSK) modulation in a 6-MHz channel to provide the same bidirectional 10-Mbit/second performance present in the company's coaxial bridge and router products.

Several companies, including Motorola Inc. and an Intel Corp./Broadcom Corp. alliance, have expressed interest in offering high-speed modems using existing cable-TV coaxial media, but Lancity president Rouzbeh Yassini said that his company still is "competing primarily with promises and vaporware." Yassini said he expected Motorola to offer an asymmetric modem product with 10-Mbit downstream services and 700-kbit return paths, but predicted that few companies would be able to offer 10-Mbit bidirectional speeds in Lancity's price range.

Tim Lindenfelser, vice president of marketing at Broadcom, s aid he could not discuss the status of the pact with Intel, but said that Hewlett-Packard Co. and at least four other companies soon would ship cable modems based on Broadcom's quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) chip set. Most OEMs are looking at a 64-constellation QAM that would allow a throughput of 30 Mbits/s. Not only is that faster than the Lancity QPSK solution, Lindenfelser said, but it is compatible with what is being designed into most cable set-top boxes. Lindenfelser said that Zenith and other companies are also working on cable modems based on vestigial-sideband modulation.

Comdex Report: Compaq plans PDA, announces consumer division

By Michele Clarke

ATLANTA -- Compaq Computer Corp. senior vice president Ross Cooley confirmed that the company plans to announce a PDA by mid-1996 and that it is close to announcing a split of its businesses into semi-autonomous corporate and consumer divisions.

Saying the company has a strategic focus on "person-centric mobile companions as well as system-centric mobile clients," Cooley said Compaq's PDA development is hung up on a choice of operating systems. "We're disappointed the Windows effort has retrenched, but we're looking at Geoworks and others now."

Look for the PDA to have a wide-area wireless bent vs. a close-proximity infrared slant. "We think it's important for a mobile user and [office support staff] to both be able to access a PDA scheduler. And I shouldn't have to return to my office to update data," Cooley said.

On the consumer side, Cooley said, the company is close to formally splitting its consumer-system development, sales and marketing into a self-funded organization. The division, he said, will get its own R&D and cost structure, since support costs are much higher than for corporate systems, the value-added software development is wholly different, a nd since the consumer market has so far embraced new technologies like CD-ROMs more quickly than their corporate counterparts.

Comdex Report: Two license 3-D for PCs

By Michele Clarke

ATLANTA -- Graphics-accelerator maker Dynamic Pictures Inc. and software supplier Caligari Corp. both said they will license 3-D schemes for PC-class products.

DMI plans PCI cards implementing Digital Equipment Corp.'s ZLX graphics architecture currently shipping on the company's workstations. The company demonstrated a prototype last week that performs 3-D acceleration using Windows NT's OpenGL library. The company also plans a family of PCI cards that combine a 3-D feature set with a scalable hardware architecture that will support Windows 95 and Windows NT on all its hardware platforms. DMI's founder was formerly Digital's graphics-hardware engineering manager and the architect on the company's midrange 3-D graphics subsystems.

Caligari, meanwhile, will license Intel Corp.'s 3DR library for its trueSpace2 real-time rendering. 3DR is a 3-D library optimized for the Pentium processor aimed at real-time interaction of 3-D objects.

Comdex Report: Finger-mounted joystick debuts

By Michele Clarke

ATLANTA -- In one of the first commercial introductions of a technology heretofore shown only by academic researchers, IPC Peripherals announced a wireless, finger-mounted joystick controller that uses ultrasonic position-sensing and infrared control signals. The two-button battery-powered joystick, called the PDV-100 CyberMouse, straps to a user's index finger and transmits to a microprocessor-equipped elbow-joint plastic bar that attaches to the upper left corner of any desktop monitor and plug s into a serial port. The unit transmits using an RS-232C interface at 4,800 baud. The company estimates battery life on the remote unit of about a year.

Tracking speed is up to 30 inches/second, and tracking distance is up to three feet (a longer-distance version is under development), the company said. The unit automatically enters a sleep mode after one minute. The company is currently recruiting game developers to support the device.

Comdex Report: Software video encoding rivals hardware-assisted MPEG

By Michele Clarke

ATLANTA -- Horizons Technology Inc. announced $499 TrueMotion-S compression software that runs on either a 486-or-higher PC or a Quadra 800 Power Macintosh. On Pentium and PowerPC systems, the company said the software offers a 20:1 compression time ratio, more than twice that of alternative compression technologies.

Like motion JPEG and MPEG, TrueMotion-S is an intra-frame video codec (it encodes every frame), offering more error tolerance than interframe codecs like Indeo and Cinepak that reference earlier frames and a maximum latency of 1/30th a second. The software can also take advantage of most hardware-accelerator chips if they're in the system. The company is also discussing driver support with makers of popular video-graphics boards. Both Number Nine Visual Technology Inc. and ATI were demonstrating the software.

On decode, the algorithm supports full-motion (30-frames/s) video or full-screen (640 x 480) video at more than 20 frames/s. Files may be played back as either QuickTime or Video for Windows sequences, and the software is selectable from popular video-editing packages, including Adobe Premiere on PCs and Macs and VidEdit (in Video for Windows) on PCs.

Comdex Report: MPEG, TV tuners highlight graphics boards

By Michele Clarke

ATLANTA -- More than two dozen graphics-board makers and others showed software- and hardware-based MPEG here at Comdex. And in a new twist, a growing number of board makers are either shipping or developing video-graphics boards that include TV-tuner silicon.

Among those announcing MPEG support were Number Nine Computer Corp., which announced a high-end MPEG playback board that acts as an independent PCI bus master, offloading the host processor. Elsewhere, TV tuner-board makers including Reveal Computer Products said they're exploring incorporating analog TV tuners onto conventional video-graphics boards.

Comdex Report: Picturetel launches algorithms; plans hooks to laptops

By Michele Clarke

ATLANTA -- Picturetel last week moved t o close the gap between desktop and room-based conferencing, announcing a line of room-based systems during what the company said was the most ambitious multipoint videoconference ever attempted.

The high-end Concorde 4500 system uses the next-generation video and audio algorithm, called SG4, that the company says offers superior visual quality to conventional H.320 over standard switched phone lines, negating the need for T1 leased lines. An optional board increases frame rates to 30 frames/s. Starting at $43,995, the system also carries an augmented audio set that includes a proprietary PT724 audio algorithm implemented on DSP-controlled directional microphones that can suppress background noise and automatically isolate and amplify faint voices. The audio algorithm uses half the bandwidth of the ITU's G.722, the company said.

The company also announced a wireless-control device that lets conference participants automatically gain control and redirect the system's v ideo camera. To aid remote diagnostics, the company has added a POTS interface for remote access for off-site service.

A new $21,995 midrange model includes a Px64 codec implementation codeveloped with C3 Microsystems and running on dual C3 VideoRISC CL4010 processors and enhanced with PictureTel filtering techniques, said the company. Finally, a low-end Montage 500 conferencing server is aimed at meeting-control functions, including automatic dialup and answer as well as scheduling.

Late last month, Picturetel's Personal Systems Division and Microsoft Corp. announced plans to codevelop multipoint desktop dataconferencing and collaboration products, including APIs, based on the T.120 set of data-transfer standards and running under Windows operating systems. The company plans next month to ship its GroupShare software, which will let users connect laptop computers into the room-based systems to perform data- and application-sharing.

Set-top bill worries FCC, industry

By George Leopold

WASHINGTON -- Legislation designed to make it easier for consumers to buy cable set-top boxes from retailers could end up placing other home interactive devices under federal review and force a lengthy proceeding to redefine what constitutes home equipment, government and industry officials warn.

Introduced in the House in March, the Competitive Consumer Electronics Availability Act of 1995 would allow consumers to buy set-tops and other communications access devices. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations now require consumers to rent set-tops from cable companies.

The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Thomas Bliley, R-Va., chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., would require the FCC to "adopt regulations to assure competitive availability, to consumers of telec ommunications services, of converter boxes, interactive communications devices and other customer-premises equipment."

While there is little controversy over the proposal to unbundle set-tops from other network services, FCC officials and the U.S. computer industry are concerned that the bill's broad definition of telecommunications services and the open-ended inclusion of other home devices would subject a range of on-line services along with current and future interactive products to greater federal scrutiny.

HP, Cadence team up on the virtual test side

By Stan Runyon

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Citing the difficulty of developing tests for big, fast digital chips, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Cadence Design Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) have decided to jointly develop a suite of integrated virtual-test tools aimed at HP's 83000 IC-tester fam ily.

The first solutions won't appear until year's end. But in the meantime, both companies are working with undisclosed semiconductor makers to specify test-development tool requirements.

The virtual-tool suite under development -- similar in concept to the Dantes mixed-signal solution developed several years ago by Integrated Measurement Systems, the Cadence automatic-test-equipment subsidiary -- will encompass several major areas. Those include design-to-test-environment conversion; an ATE model generator, which returns information back to the simulator; and an ATE rule-checker for verifying test constraints.

"Our main objective is to shrink the time needed to get chips to market," said Erich Streicher, product marketing manager at HP's Boeblingen, Germany, Instruments Division.

C-Cube, SGS launch MPEG-1 audio/video/system decoder

By Junko Yoshida

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- Comdex/Spring saw the introduction of two low-cost MPEG-1 decoder chips that could enable personal-computer makers to justify integration of MPEG functions into mainstream PC motherboards for the first time, according to the chips' creators. The ICs, for which sampling was announced here last Monday, are a $35 audio/video/system decoder from C-Cube Microsystems Inc. and a similar, $30 offering from SGS-Thomson Microelectronics.

The chips leverage the two vendors' existing MPEG-decoding cores, which are used in such high-volume consumer electronics products as video CD players, CD karaoke machines and DirecTv satellite decoders.

The announcements from C-Cube and SGS-Thomson -- both dominant players in the MPEG-silicon market -- come as major graphics-chip vendors, including Cirrus Logic Inc. and S3 Inc., ready MPEG video-compression chips for summer debut. The latter products have yet to be announced.

3DO, ARM enter cross-license agreement

By Junko Yoshida

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- The 3DO Co., licenser of the Interactive Multiplayer system, and Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM; Los Gatos, Calif.) have forged a cross-licensing agreement under which 3DO gains rights to begin using the ARM6 processor. In turn, ARM adds 3DO's advanced NTSC/PAL digital-video encoder technology to its portfolio.

The pact lets 3DO offer "much broader options to its partners" in sourcing and manufacturing highly integrated ARM-based 3DO core silicon, said Toby Farrand, senior vice president of hardware engineering and operations at 3DO. He called the agreement "a step necessary for 3DO to gain ultimate flexibility." For ARM, the deal signals a long-term commitment and assurance from 3DO that ARM's 32-bit RISC processor will continue to reside at the heart of the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer. The de al with 3DO is "another demonstration where ARM's partnership has proven successful," said Tim O'Donnell, president of the North American operation of ARM.

The extended commitment from 3DO, however, might last only as long as the market demands 3DO's first-generation systems.

Aavid hot for thermal solutions

By Brian Fuller

LACONIA, N.H. -- Aavid Thermal Technologies Inc., a heat-sink vendor, is broadening its upper-management team and testing new technological waters to brace for the expected ramp in demand for thermal solutions.

The privately held 31-year-old company has hired former Panduit Corp. president D. Max Henderson as president and chief operating officer, responsible for overseeing Aavid's worldwide operations. The company has also named as chairman David Steadman, a former executive with Raytheon.

"We're layering on ," said Patrick Riley, vice president of marketing. "One of the things that's very clear is that there's plenty of room for execution and strategic planning at the top-most reaches of the company."

A seeming sleeper of a market, the business of designing and manufacturing thermal solutions to ICs has grown increasingly significant. One market-research outfit, International Interconnect Intelligence, sees worldwide revenue doubling in the next five years. Aavid itself grew 30 percent in 1994 and should do at least that well this year, even amid roughly six straight quarters of predicted industry downturn, Riley said.

To increase capacity, Aavid acquired Passport Industries Inc. -- a Texas-based manufacturer of aluminum heat sinks, housings and other products. Beyond adding capacity, the deal improved Aavid's proximity to its customers in the Southwest United States. It also gave the company new customers

On the technological front, the company -- which earlier this year acquired the rights to 3M pro ducts, including the Liquid Heat Sink -- is funding some vacuum die-cast development.

Information systems open up beyond engineering

By Richard Goering

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- In a bid to extend component information-management systems beyond the engineering department, Aspect Development Inc. next week is announcing Explore-CIS, an enterprise-wide system aimed at engineering, manufacturing and purchasing personnel. Meanwhile, Information Handling Services (IHS) is preparing Congruity, a "technical information system" that also claims enterprise-wide support.

Both announcements address a growing problem for large electronics manufacturers: a lack of shared information among the various departments responsible for product development. Because component information is typically stored in several different systems, a lot of redundant time and effort is spent creating, accessing and maintaining component databases across an enterprise.

"Almost every company agrees they have never had a system that crosses business with technical information," said Joe Prang, Aspect's president and chief executive officer. "All they've had are design libraries that are scattered across all kinds of point tools, and they've had MIS groups giving them cost or supplier ratings. People want to see all that in the same spot."

Aspect already offers a product, called CIS, that includes an OEM version of IHS's parametric IC database, along with a component-management system created by Aspect. With Explorer-CIS, Aspect has added an object-oriented data model that makes it easier to add detailed supplier and component information. The new system also supports process management, which automates the component-approval process.

IHS (Englewood, Colo.), meanwhile, has introduced its own component-management system with Congruity. In addition to its IC database, Con gruity provides access to four new IHS databases: passives, military cylindrical connectors, commercial connectors and plastics. Rather than call Congruity a component-information system, IHS refers to it as the first enterprise-wide "technical-information system."

Though IHS's OEM relationship with Aspect is continuing for now, Congruity clearly places IHS in a competitive position with Aspect. Meanwhile, Aspect is starting to create its own databases. Its VIP Reference Databases cover what the company considers to be hot new parts from leading vendors but are not as all-inclusive as the IHS database.

Fractal tool for the masses

By Colin Johnson

ST. LOUIS -- Koyn Software has upgraded its fractal-based graphics design system from an educational package to one suitable for multimedia. Graphics designers can now create and manipulate f ractal-based images without a detailed knowledge of the underlying mathematics, though direct access to the inner workings of the fractals is also available.

Most aspects of fractal creation can be manipulated through the graphical user interface (GUI), but for experts an access hatch allows direct manipulation of the mathematical details that underlie the fractal. In direct-manipulation mode, the fractal parameters are presented in a convenient spreadsheet format that allows entry of numerical values.

Usually, images are created from scratch, but it is also possible to import scanned images in the manner of Postscript-based drawing programs. The outlines of imported bit images are traced and turned into a fractal.

Crystal defects used to build quantum devices

By Chappell Brown

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Rather than viewing crystal defects a s a problem that needs to be eliminated, researchers at Texas A&M's nanofabrication center are impressing them into service in a scheme to build room-temperature quantum devices. Defect centers generated by impurities trap electrons and holes, and at high densities their combined impact degrades transistor action. But with strategic placement, the electron-trapping property can be used to switch individual electrons, creating what is known as a quantum-dot device.

Working with a group at the University of Texas at Austin, a new type of "deep center electron turnstile" action has been identified in a gallium-arsenide system. The electron-switching system has some near-term applications in creating a precise current standard and makes an ideal laboratory for investigating the behavior of the defects themselves. In the long term, electron turnstiles could become the simplest route to circuit design with atomic-scale devices.

"Many of these quantum-dot properties have been demonstrated at low temperatu res, but we need a method for building them small enough to operate at room temperature," said Wiley Kirk, a nanofabrication expert at Texas A&M. The problem with the structures that can be built with current designs and fabrication methods is the impact of thermal noise. "Thermal effects can give an electron enough energy to jump out of a quantum well and get away." The problem is how to define a small, sharp electrical potential that will trap single electrons even with the added thermal energy.

"Even with highly refined lattice structures that create two-dimensional electron regions, the confinement is still not an ideal two-dimensional profile, so that if you try to refine that further you run into some fundamental limits," Kirk said. Most attempts to build single-electron trapping devices start with a two-dimensional electron gas as a first confinement step. By defining additional structures such as narrow channels or small metal dots, the dimensional confinement can be lowered, narrowing the ele ctron's freedom of movement.

Siemen's, AT&T roll codecs, transceivers

By Loring Wirbel

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. -- Both AT&T Microelectronics, based here, and Siemens Components Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.) are trying anew to reduce line-card chip count with high-integration codec and transceiver parts.

AT&T is sampling a four-channel codec device that can handle all DSP functions for voice in a 5-V operating environment. Meanwhile, Siemens has introduced a four-chip set to handle a variety of digital and analog functions in line cards, PBX systems and automatic call-distribution systems.

The four members of the new Siemens product family are the Elic extended line card controller, the Octat-P octal transceiver for U interfaces, the Quat-S quad transceiver for S/T interfaces and the Sicofi-4 four-channel codec filter.

At AT&T, the T7504 is the first in a family of planned devices that will eliminate the need for a 5-V supply, simplifying many PBX and central-office designs. By requiring only positive power, the device helps prevent latchup during manufacture and installation. Typical power dissipation is 37 mW per channel, or 148 mW for the four-channel device when all four channels are used (channels can be selectively disabled). Power-down consumption drops to less than 1 mW per channel.

Benchmarq boosts line

By Loring Wirbel

CARROLLTON, Tex. --Benchmarq Microelectronics Inc. is significantly expanding its product line this month, with its first high-density nonvolatile SRAM, as well as a new version of its popular fast-charge battery-support IC. The 16-Mbit NVSRAM, dubbed bq4017 and configured 2Mbit x 8, combines four 4-Mbit SRAM dice, two lithium coin battery ce lls, and a proprietary power-control IC designed at Benchmarq in a low-profile, epoxy-sealed 36-pin module.

Benchmarq has made clear for several quarters its intention to compete directly against such companies as Dallas Semiconductor in a variety of battery applications, but this is the first foray into battery-backed SRAM. The memory, operating from a 5-V supply, acts like a traditional 70-ns SRAM when voltages remain within tolerance levels. During a drop in supply voltage, memory is automatically write-protected and power is shifted to internal lithium cells. Data can be maintained in the absence of system power for at least five years and write cycles are virtually unlimited. Benchmarq is targeting fault-tolerant applications such as bridges, routers and telecom switches.

Meanwhile, the company's bq200X fast-charge IC line just gained its newest member, the bq2002T. It includes support for delta-temperature/delta-time fast charge termination of nickel cadmium and nickel metal-hydride batteries. The bq2002T supports optional top-off and pulsed trickle-charge control. A charge-inhibit pin in the 8-pin device temporarily disables fast charges if necessary.

Deskstation pushes PCI; launches PC with 66-MHz, 64-bit bus

By Michele Clarke

LENEXA, Kan. -- DeskStation Technology Inc. -- a five-year-old company with just 14 employees -- pushed the envelope at Comdex/Spring this week for systems using the Peripheral Component Interconnect and Digital Equipment's Alpha processor. The company, to date a supplier of MIPS R4000-based systems, launched a desktop using the recently approved 66-MHz, 64-bit version of the PCI bus version 2.1 combined with Digital's 300-MHz 21164 processor, a third generation of the fast RISC CPU.

DeskStation is using PCI 2.1 as a processor-to-memory interconnect. Because silicon suppliers have been slow to support the co ntroversial high-speed version of PCI, DeskStation also plans to license its proprietary core logic, including five chips that handle bus-interface and memory-control functions as well as Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) firmware and hardware-abstraction-layer software developed for the architecture. The firmware includes low-level 80X86 emulation code. Workstation house Carrera Systems will be first to license the architecture.

DeskStation president Don Peterson attributes his company's speedy work to a modular systems design for which engineers needed only to design a CPU-and-cache processor module instead of a full-blown motherboard. "We went from a clean sheet of paper to a working prototype in about 90 days," he said.

The company unveiled the modular architecture last year when it announced a system using an R4600 module. Besides the new Alpha-based desktop, DeskStation also plans a desktop based on Intel's Pentium in August and one based on Digital's 21064A processor in June.

VeriBest gets upgrade

By Richard Goering

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- In a significant upgrade of its VeriBest PCB design system, Intergraph Electronics has integrated signal-integrity analysis directly into this layout package. The new 14.0 release also marks the first availability of this Windows NT-based product under Unix.

While many pc-board CAD vendors have announced signal-integrity capabilities in recent months and years, Intergraph's approach is distinctive because the analysis is part of the core product rather than a separately priced option, said Patrick Williams, product market manager. "It's all presented to the engineer within the same environment," he said.

With the new release, users can define rules for delay, crosstalk, parallelism and impedance and obtain instant on-line updates showing values as they route or move nets. Support also is added for blind and buried vias, dynamic rerouti ng of components, automatic bus routing and controlled-pattern routing.

R&D budget imperiled, Brown warns

By George Leopold

WASHINGTON -- Federal funding of research and development is in a nosedive that could bring 50-percent reductions by the end of the decade under a GOP spending plan, killing off joint research programs that the electronics and computers industries helped to launch, a key House Democrat warns.

In one of the bleakest scenarios yet on the fate of the federal R&D budget, Rep. George Brown, D-Calif., said proposed budget cuts for fiscal 1996 would further erode U.S. spending for civilian R&D, which currently ranks 28th in the world. Moreover, Brown said, "the chances are pretty good" that government-industry technology partnerships will be gutted.

Brown spoke at a press conference last week to publi cize his opposition to budget reductions being pushed by Rep. Robert Walker, R-Pa., chairman of the House Science Committee. Brown, the committee's ranking minority member, offered little hope for R&D programs that do not fit Walker's narrow definition of basic research. Walker opposes public-private technology partnerships championed by Brown and other Democrats.

Brown said he was particularly concerned about proposed R&D cuts for basic and applied science since industry is unlikely to pick up the slack as global competition stiffens. "American corporations will continue to spend less" on R&D, Brown warned. "They will spend their money on product and process." The result will be a continued decline in the U.S. economy as innovation slows and jobs are sent overseas, he said.

Microsoft opens Windows to PC games

By Junko Yoshida and Ron Wilson

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Microsoft, Intel, and an army of silicon, board and content suppliers will instigate some mortal combat this week at the Computer Game Developers Conference in Santa Clara. Microsoft will unveil a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) designed to make life under Windows 95 acceptable to games written for DOS or for game consoles. And board and chip vendors will announce that, for the first time, Microsoft's APIs and the vendors' hardware accelerators will work together, rather than ignore each other, to deliver game performance.

But some industry insiders, while welcoming the moves as a vast improvement over the status quo, expressed concern that Microsoft is writing for last year's silicon, not the coming generation of hardware 3-D, video-processing graphical-interface chips. And Intel, announcing an expanded version of its 3DR 3-D API, will make it clear that it's moving away from--not closer to--Microsoft's initia tives.

Microsoft's attempt to make the PC a ubiquitous games platform may profoundly affect the way video-game developers create their titles, and the way chip vendors and board manufacturers design, make and promote their hardware.

Computer makers are latest targets for high-density CD standards

By Yoshiko Hara and Junko Yoshida

TOKYO -- The battle of the giants over high-density compact disk formats is settling into trench warfare. With stalemate threatening the struggle for supremacy in movie distribution, the two camps--Sony-Philips' High Density CD (HDCD) and Toshiba's Super Density Digital Video Disc (SD-DVD)--have turned to the computer CD-ROM market for an advantage. Both spent recent weeks in Silicon Valley wooing U.S. computer companies even as they showed new dual-surface CD technologies.

Sony and Philips will fire this week's first salvo, listing computer companies that will support HDCD as the standard for high-density CD-ROM data drives. Last week, the two met with major computer vendors to discuss the file format for their HDCD-ROM. The two will seek more support this week from the annual CD standards conference starting Friday in San Francisco.

At the same time, executives from Toshiba and its allies--Matsushita, Pioneer and Hitachi--sat down in San Francisco with officials from Microsoft, IBM, Compaq Computer, Apple and Hewlett-Packard. The SD-DVD camp is launching an equally aggressive campaign among U.S. computer companies in an effort to demonstrate that SD-DVD is more than just as a movie disc standard supported by major film studios in Hollywood.

Embedded world grapples with software issues

By Brian Fuller

AT LANTA -- With real-time system design emerging from the back room to become a driving force in office automation, computer-telephony integration and multimedia, vendors at last week's Embedded Systems Conference East were starting to worry about software development.

A number of hardware houses touted the strengths of their powerful, yet compact, 32-bit processors and their use in increasingly complex embeddedsystems applications. But such hardware preening took place against a backdrop of software concerns, as vendors try to grow into robust third-party businesses that can handle the demands of emerging real-time applications and testy time-to-market problems.

"The software is slowing people down," said Joseph Rothman, president of Cardtools Systems Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), in a blunt assessment of the business.

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