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Headlines and summaries from the pages of Electronic Engineering Times . Previous editions are available from the 1994 , 1995 , 1996 , 1997 , and 1998 News Archives.
Friday, Mar ch 27, 1998Startup gives developers a way to custom design a real-time OS(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/27/98)A new entrant in the real-time software market has come up with an approach that lets developers piece together an operating system by linking individual software components, much the way cores are used to build custom microcontrollers. Saying its technology will revolutionize the way developers create programs, Integrated Chipware will unveil its real-time operating system and supporting tool kit at the Embedded Systems Conference in Chicago, which will run from March 31 to April 2. Philips to play larger role in TFT-LCD joint venture(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/27/98)Philips will increase its equity stake in its TFT-LCD joint venture with Hoshiden Corp. from 50 percent to 80 percent, and will make the operation a Philips subsidiary. The change will take effect on April 1, a year to t he day after the venture, Hoshiden and Philips Display Corp. (HAPD), was established. High price of metrology pits chip firms against tool makers(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/27/98)Chip makers and tool suppliers gearing up for the start of 300-mm wafer production are looking for new ways to cope with the high cost of metrology equipment. Design tools come up short in pc-board benchmark(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/27/98)Most of the eight pc-board CAD vendors who participated in the PCB Benchmark '98 on March 26 had serious problems producing usable manufacturing output. But all of the vendors completed the vast majority of the 120 tasks on the checklist that formed the core of the benchmark. Texas Instruments adds DSP to standard memory module(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)Engineers reacted with approval to Texas Instruments Inc.'s technolog y demonstration at WinHEC of DIMM memory modules featuring embedded digital-signal processors. Called Basava, the individual modules can fit in a standard 168-pin memory-module slot on a Pentium-II based motherboard or into the 144-pin slot in a portable computer. The module looks and behaves like a standard SDRAM bank to the processor and operating system, but can be awakened on command to rapidly perform a high-Mips DSP task. When the task is completed, the Basava returns to its role as a dumb memory module. Programming layer could aid 3-D graphics for business(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)Microsoft Corp. defined multimedia extensions for the Windows 98 and NT 5.0 operating systems during a technology demonstration at WinHEC this week. Code-named "Chrome," the extensions allow Web-site authors and those developing graphics programs to add three-dimensional images to their work using simple declarative statements. "Rotate" and "extend," for exampl e, will spin and extrude objects on a Web page. Digital-TV interference prompts medical advisory(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)The Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission have issued a public health advisory warning U.S. hospitals and health-care facilities that digital TVs can interfere with medical devices and indicating how to avoid it. As IP firms go public, Wall Street wants more data(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)Successful intellectual-property (IP) companies may be proving the skeptics wrong, but the financial community still wants to know how these businesses plan to survive and how the IP industry will operate in the long run. With Rambus Inc. and Artisan Components Inc. having already gone public, and stalwart Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. prepared to follow suit , customers and investors alike are pressin g hard for answers. Thursday, March 26, 1998Patriot takes a lead with its Java-specific processor(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)Patriot Scientific Corp. surged to the head of the Java silicon pack at the JavaOne conference this week, where it showcased its PSC1000 RISC processor, the first Java chip to ship in quantity. Broadened digital-camera spec includes media compatibility(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)Proponents of the Exchangeable Image File Format (Exif) for digital still cameras, seeking to ensure media compatibility with memory cards and peripheral equipment, plan to present an expanded version of the standard to the International Standards Organization in May. The enhancements, drafted by 11 companies that have organized as the Exif Supporters Group (SEG), expand Exif's image compatibility from the file-format to the equipment level. Gates scores with parody at keynote(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)In a parody of the Volkswagon television commercial with the "da-da-da" music, a "20-something" Bill Gates is seen bopping his head as he rides with a buddy in a red car and stops to pick up usable junk off the street. The pair picks up a desktop computer and a monitor — one with a Sun logo — but wind up putting it back on the street, ostensibly because it smells bad. Then a Windows Explorer logo appears in the upper corner of the screen, and a voiceover says: "On the information superhighway, there are drivers and there are passengers." Opima focuses on open API specification(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/26/98)A new voice has joined the debate over open application-programming interfaces and standards for set-top boxes, digital televisions and other consumer products amidst converging electronics technologies. The Open Platform Initiative for Multimedia Access (Opima) held its inaugural meeting here earlier this month and set itself the task of developing specifications to support a system through which users might access and pay for services without first establishing which specific services they may want. GAO report casts doubt on worker shortages(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)A government audit has raised new doubts about a study by the Commerce Department and industry that found serious shortages of skilled information-technology workers. Cadence acquires Excellent Design of Japan(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)The company that had been described as an example of Japan's small-company spirit has become Design Factory No. 19 in the growing network of Cadence Design Systems Inc. Cadence acquired Excellent Design Inc., a provider of intellectual property and design services in Japan, from Innotech Corp. for an undisclosed sum. Cadence (San Jose, Calif.) gains 50 design engineers from Excellent Design, which will double its engineering work force for design and consulting services in Japan. Anchor Chips fields a low-cost LAN based on USB(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)Anchor Chips Inc. is spinning its integrated peripheral controller for the Universal Serial Bus into a networking option aimed at homes and small businesses. The company's EZ-Link solution aims to offer 1- to 2-Mbit/second data rates over USB at costs that compare favorably with Ethernet connections. FCC wraps up LMDS license auction(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)The Federal Communications Commission abruptly ended its auction of local multipoint distribution service (LMDS) licenses today, after the auctions added 104 new providers of the eme rging wireless service. Portability of IP stirs debate(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)The portability of intellectual-property cores stirred a debate between tool vendors at the IP98 conference this week as representatives from Duet Technologies Inc. and Sagantec promoted fundamentally different approaches to one portability issue — the ability to retarget a core from one process to another. A third speaker, from the Virtual Socket Interface (VSI) Alliance, took on yet another aspect of portability: the ability to retarget a core from one on-chip bus to another. House panel calls for increased R&D funding(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)Lawmakers are calling for increases in research spending above those sought by the Clinton administration. Wednesday, March 25, 1998'Digital signature' technology aids IP protection(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)A software-protection methodology called "digital signatures" could solve the problem of silicon intellectual-property protection, a speaker told this week's IP98 Conference. Ken Hodor, product marketing manager at Actel Corp., also argued that antifuse FPGAs are by far the most secure type of semiconductor device. Microtec signs with Microsoft for CE's embedded push(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)Microsoft Corp. is broadening its efforts to move Windows CE into the embedded-systems market by linking up with the Microtec Divsion of Mentor Graphics Corp. A new pact between the companies gives Microsoft a broader tool suite than it's had in the past, and gives Microtec access to markets that aren't addressed by its VRTX real-time operating system. Speakers tout designing with IP over the Web(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)Vendors came to the IP98 conference to push the Web as the interface and method for tackling interactive engineering, from kicking the tires on prospective IP cores to downloading models and parameterizing cores. Suppliers show consumer ADSL chips(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)Texas Instruments Inc. took the wraps off its TNET2000 ADSL chip set at WinHEC, while its competitors used the exhibition to define product strategies, establish pricing, and showcase reference designs. Panel probes problems with the IP business model(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/25/98)The business model behind silicon intellectual property needs some rethinking, according to participants in a Tuesday panel discussion at the IP 98 Conference. But panelists outlined new approaches and methodologies that might solve some of the problems. Patent database search capability hits the Web(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)Derwent Information is hoping to capitalize on the explosive growth of the intellectual-property market by offering an online search capability of its worldwide patent and information database. Programmable-logic vendor appeals for IP cores(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)Altera Corp. openly courted IP core vendors and urged them to enter partnerships with programmable-logic companies to aid their assault on gate-array vendors. Stephen Lautzenhiser, marketing program manager for Altera's megafunctions partners program, said in a presentation that his company's effort to lure design starts away from gate arrays was now concentrated on gathering core partners. Switched networks gain ground on shared-media models(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)A m ajor shift has slowly begun in the topology, or architecture, of the corporate enterprise network. Instead of the more traditional, "shared-media" model — which works best when most of the traffic occurs within small work groups — the rise of Internet access, e-mail, corporate intranets and collaborative teams whose changing members crosscut work groups is driving an emerging model of "switched network" architecture to reduce congestion and delays. Tuesday, March 24, 1998G-Link enters crowded market for CMOS image sensors(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)After four years in the memory business, startup G-Link Technology is branching into the crowded imaging-sensor market through a partnership with the Institute for Microelectronics Stuttgart (IMS), a German R&D foundation. Asante forms division to focus on OEM sales(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)Asante Technologies I nc. (San Jose, Calif.) rolled out a new OEM division at CeBIT '98, which runs through March 25 in Hannover, Germany. The networking company, an early innovator in Macintosh network-interface cards and a later a specialist in stackable switches, hopes to make its OEM business as important as its reseller and direct-channel operations. IP98 keynoters spar with analogies(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)Using different analogies, two keynote speakers at the second annual Intellectual Property in Electronics (IP98) conference revealed the different points of view held by ASIC and EDA vendors in the emerging systems-on-silicon market. California seen at center of IP world(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)The market for intellectual property (IP) cores could grow to $1.4 billion by 1999, according to preliminary data from HTE Research Inc. (South San Francisco, Calif.). The IP market is growin g about 100 percent a year of late, according to HTE, increasing from $390 million in 1997 to about $700 million in 1998. Warnings sounded on the IP business model(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)Vendors may be rushing headlong into the intellectual-property market, but the segment could collapse before anyone makes any real money off hard or soft cores. IP needs infrastructure to succeed, panel says(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/24/98)A new infrastructure is needed to make silicon intellectual property viable, according to a Monday panel session at the IP98 conference. The panel was sponsored by the Silicon Integration Initiative (SI2) and included representatives of two members of SI2's ASIC Council. Nanotechnology thrives on the Web(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Zyvex LLC, a nanotechnology startup, is l ooking for a job candidate with five to10 years' experience in nanomanufacturing. But the company's management is prepared to compromise on background experience: A solid track record in industrial chemistry or perhaps 10 years in cutting-edge DRAM design could be the ticket. Contest offers Humvee to compiler code breaker(9:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Synopsys Inc.'s Logic Modeling group has so much confidence in the intellectual-property protection features of its Verilog Model Compiler (VMC) that it will award a Humvee sports utility vehicle valued at approximately $75,000 to the first person who breaks the compiler. Monday, March 23, 1998PC road map, design issues confronted at WinHEC(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Far from its usual businesslike venue in Redmond, Wash., Microsoft Corp. will lay out its views on the next stage of the evolution of the PC at its annual têt e-à-tête with PC makers, the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC). But the laid-back locale of the hometown of Disney World masks lingering tensions between Microsoft and PC makers as OEMs scramble to get their hardware and driver models in place for the summer debut of Windows 98. Microsoft's API for 3-D realism won't be ready for Win98(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Microsoft Corp.'s effort to boost 3-D graphics performance will take the form of an endorsement at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) this week of multi-texturing on graphics devices, though the company won't provide API support for multi-texturing in time for the release of Windows 98 this summer. Meanwhile, Silicon Graphics Inc. will announce at WinHEC a new version of the OpenGL API optimized for the Windows platform. LSI Logic, Samsung upgrade ASIC processes(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)LSI Logic Corp. and Samsung Semiconductor have announced upgrades to their cell-based ASIC processes that promise to bring system-on-a-chip design to a new level. The announcements highlight what designers can expect in coming months from some of the most advanced ASIC processes, as well as what new capabilities they can get from improvements to existing process technologies. Graphics chips in the works for tomorrow's televisions(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Competing Silicon Valley startups run by veteran graphics and digital-video experts are finally ready to ship long-promised ICs they hopefully tout as the chip solution for the next generation of consumer television. Cadence makes board tools available free on the Web(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Hoping designers will be drawn to "free" software, Cadence Design Systems Inc. told the PCB Design Conference — h eld in conjunction with IP98 — that it will offer its Windows NT-based Allegro viewer and a "CAD-neutral" Spice-to-Ibis converter free via Internet download. The company also unveiled its "models-on-demand" service — for which it will charge a fee. Synopsys to unveil multipronged design-reuse strategy(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Seeking to distinguish itself from its EDA competitors, Synopsys Inc. will unveil a broad-ranging design-reuse strategy at this week's IP98 Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. Included are new service and technology offerings and an alliance program for silicon intellectual-property providers. Chip startups add new dimensions to 3-D game(3:00 p.m. EST, 3/23/98)Beginning with an announcement by Stellar Semiconductor Inc. today, a new generation of chips and synthesizable 3-D cores will charge head-on into the high-end personal-computer graphics ma rket. The new parts, coming from startup companies with no baggage to hold them to conventional architectures, is changing the way 3-D chips are designed — putting less stress on pixel rendering and much more emphasis on choosing which pixels to render. And, circumventing the traditional barriers to entry in the graphics business, the new players are concentrating on core licensing rather than on building chips. PowerPC highlights industry's copper quandary(11:45 p.m. EST, 3/20/98)Steve Jobs was angry. Even as Apple Computer's interim chief demonstrated a 400-MHz PowerPC prototype available only from IBM Corp. last week, he felt forced to dispel speculation that his other vendor, Motorola Inc., might not be able to supply a similar CPU. And while his remarks — insisting that both companies will maintain equal roles — addressed a very public issue, they sprang from a much more pervasive, highly technical trend sweeping the CMOS-logic industry: a looming divergence in semiconductor process technologies. Networking issues may stall digital-TV rollout in U.S.(11:45 p.m. EST, 3/20/98)The broad rollout of digital TV planned to begin this fall in major U.S. markets could be endangered by nagging questions about how to fill gaps in the slowly emerging DTV network infrastructure. Synopsys may buy Everest to scale place-and-route(11:45 p.m. EST, 3/20/98)Indications are growing that Synopsys Inc. plans to enter the IC placement-and-routing market in direct competition with Cadence and Avant!. Synopsys is talking with IC-layout startup Everest Design Automation Inc. (Fremont, Calif.) and may be negotiating an acquisition, industry sources said. New forces may redo road map for notebook PC(11: 45 p.m. EST, 3/20/98)A handful of system and component companies are quietly discussing plans to form a so-called Mobile Advisory Council (MAC), a united voice on mobile-design issues that some believe are not well enough understood by Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. The initiative comes as designers face a potential clash between Intel's plans to drive notebooks down to its low-cost "segment zero" market and Microsoft's effort to spawn powerful "mini-notebooks" with a new version of its Windows CE. CE 2.0 sparks talk of new form of handheld(11:45 p.m. EST, 3/20/98)The introduction of Windows CE 2.0 in Japan this month has Japanese vendors contemplating a new handheld-product form that fits between conventional Windows CE devices and subnotebook PCs. Texas Instruments' DSP gobbles up microcontroller functions(11:45 p.m. EST, 3/20/98)Texas Instruments Inc. is set to unveil a new architecture that combines microcontroller and DSP functions onto one chip. |
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