    |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|
 
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, May 8, 1998Space station costs send lawmakers into orbit(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/8/98)With projected cost overruns for the International Space Station heading into orbit, Congress is again trying to rein in the program, even as key elements are being readied for launch. DRAM players present next-generation memories(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/8/98)With Japan's semiconductor industry closing one eye for the "Golden Week" holiday, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (Seoul, South Korea) announced that it had sent samples of its second-generation 256-Mbit DRAM to several of the largest U.S. computer makers. The samples were made at 0.18-micron design rules. Warring DSL specs pick up backers, roll new services(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/8/98)A high-profile consortium of PC and telco interests backing a discrete multitone modulation (DMT) version of digital-subscriber-line (DSL) technology will try to sharpen its image next week by disclosing new members that have been added to its Universal ADSL Working Group (UAWG). Group launches digital-interface spec for monitors(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)A group of companies will take the wraps off a new interface next week, dubbed DFP for digital flat panel, in an effort to create a digital-interface standard for monitors based on flat-panel displays. Unusual graphics chip accelerates ray-tracing in hardware(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)Advanced Rendering Technology Ltd. (ART), a startup, has received samples of its first chip design for use in the film and animation-image-processing market. TCI's Malone rekindles debate on digital-TV formats(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)Going into its annual National Cable Television Association conference this week, the cable industry seemed reluctant but resigned to cooperate with its broadcaster rivals in the conversion to digital TV. But the uneasy truce between the two industries was blown out of the water when John Malone, chairman of Tele-Communications Inc., said TCI will not support the interlaced-scanning formats favored by CBS and NBC. Western Digital turns to IBM for giant-MR technology(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)Western Digital Corp., the only major disk drive maker without a captive head supply, has signed a broad agreement that gives it access to IBM Storage Systems Division's giant-magnetoresistive (GMR) heads. IBM will give Western Digital technical information and other components, which will help WD develop a high-capacity desktop drive during the summer. Thursday, May 7, 1998Sun's PersonalJava wins set-top API war(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)Sun Microsystems Inc. has won the latest battle in its war with Microsoft Corp. to set the software agenda for the coming generation of interactive television set-top-boxes, due to hit the market in 1999. Motorola revamps PowerPC instruction set(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)In the most profound modification to the PowerPC architecture since its debut in 1991, Motorola this year will provide its first copper-based PowerPC that will include a set of 162 new instructions, which promise to process up to 16 complex data streams in a single cycle. Motorola appears less concerned about positioning the revamped PowerPC architecture against Wintel systems than about driving it into networking, speech, video and image-processing applications where it would displace digital signal processors. Lucent shows first splitterless ADSL-56k combo chip set(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)Lucent Technologies (Allentown, Pa.) has announced an implementation of G.lite splitterless ADSL that also supports V.90 (56-kbit/s) connections. Lucent said its three-piece WildWire chip set, announced at the Networld+Interop 98 exhibition this week, is intended for consumer PCs and modems. DVD-ROM drives expected to outpace DVD video players(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/7/98)Shipments of DVD-ROM drives will dwarf those of DVD-video players over the next few years, according to market forecasts released by Strategy Analytics Ltd. Intel finishes beta of Katmai instructions(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/6/98)Intel Corp. has comple ted the beta version of its instruction set for the Katmai processor and is now working with more than 50 software-game developers to optimize their code for the some 70 Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) floating-point instructions, the company said. At the same time, both Intel and Microsoft are providing low-level compiler tools for the new instruction set. The tools are considered a critical ingredient that was missing from Intel's previous MMX development program. Austrian chip maker preps SiGe BiCMOS(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/6/98)Austria Mikro Systeme International AG (AMS) is adding the option of silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction-bipolar-transistor capability to its 0.8-micron BiCMOS process. Wednesday, May 6, 1998New material takes GaAs to task for high speed(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/6/98)Indium phosphide (InP) is the next high-performan ce elixir, threatening gallium arsenide (GaAs) as the material to use at the high end of the performance spectrum of electronic circuits. InP not only outshines GaAs in terms of raw speed, but has spawned an entirely new type of quantum-effect device — the resonant tunneling diode (RTD) — that is transforming the design of high-performance circuits. Intel teams with Fore to merge ATM, Ethernet technologies(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/6/98)Fore Systems Inc. and Intel Corp. will jointly develop and sell internetworking gear that marries Fore's strength in asynchronous-transfer-mode technology with Intel's growing prowess in Ethernet switches. Unveiling their alliance at this week's Networld+Interop, the pair said they will forge a broad line of integrated ATM and Ethernet switches that not only will enrich each other's product lines but could also set standards for interfacing ATM cell-based networks with Ethernet frame-based ones. Copper-based Gbit Ethernet standard nears draft(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/6/98)The Category 5 copper version of the Gigabit Ethernet standard is nearing draft form, based largely on forward-error-correction schemes and startup sequences proposed by Level One Communications Inc. (Sacramento, Calif.). Juan Jover, secretary for the 802.3ab working group developing the 1000 Base T standard for copper-based Gigabit Ethernet, said that draft 3.0 of the standard should be approved by the working group at the end of the first week of June, allowing the draft to be considered at an IEEE 802 plenary meeting in July. Microsoft warns government: don't delay Windows 98(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)Seeking to rebuff a rising tide of anti-Windows sentiment, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates today called for an end to looming government efforts to block the shipment of a new version of the operating s ystem scheduled to hit the streets June 25. Cable-modem and chip suppliers respond to call for more IP services(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)Not content to let their Internet Protocol strategies for cable rest on simple e-mail and Web surfing via cable modem, cable television multiple-system operators (MSOs) are ready to implement value-added services like Voice Over Internet Protocol or Virtual Private Nets using IP Security features. In consequence, they expect cable modem OEMs and their semiconductor suppliers to add features for advanced IP services to their wares. FCC chief warns cable industry on DTV conversion(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission put the cable industry on notice Tuesday to work out digital-converter specs and must-carry issues by the time digital-TV broadcasts begin in November, or otherwise face regulatory actio n.
IBM's silicon cantilevers promise leap in disk storage(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)Atomic force microscope technology is being viewed as a route to ultrahigh capacity disk storage at IBM's Almaden Research Center (San Jose, Calif.). Specially planned silicon cantilevers have been designed to read and write data at a density of 50 billion bits/square inch.
Cable Broadband Forum starts with scores of members(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)The Cable Broadband Forum (CBF) claimed to have nearly 40 members at its inaugural meeting at the National Cable Television Association conference on Monday. While dominated by multi-system operators (MSOs), the group also includes semiconductor suppliers, cable-modem vendors and head-end equipment manufacturers.
Tuesday, May 5, 1998Exec defends Hybrid Net's patent-protection moves(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)Hybrid Networks Inc. trying to throw a monkey wrench into the plans of the cable-modem industry by claiming a fundamental patent on the design of both one-way and two-way cable modems?
Gates pulls a snoozer at NCTA conference(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)In an address awaited with much anticipation by the cable industry, Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Bill Gates announced no new investments in cable Multi-System Operators (MSOs) in his keynote on Monday at the National Cable Television Association's Cable '98 conference.
Cable industry decries 'must carry' DTV regulations(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)The cable industry vented its concerns on Monday about digital TV "must carry" rules during a panel discussion on regulatory issues at the NCTA's Cable '98 conference.
St andards released for digital cable-ready TVs(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/5/98)The National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association have jointly released a list of eight specifications that all digital cable-ready TVs must comply with. Not only will manufacturers need to design receivers around the specs, which were released prior to the start of the NCTA's Cable '98 conference on Sunday, but cable TV Multi-System Operators (MSOs) must also abide by the standards to insure overall compatibility.
Merger mania sweeps Top100 landscape(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)With spin-offs, megamergers and newcomers, EE Times ' "Top 100 Systems OEM" list is certain never to stay the same from year to year. And this year's list reveals that the big hiring binge of the past 12 months has been by no means universal.
Speech recognition begins a search for meaning(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)Even as speech-recognition systems begin to promise easy speech-to-text transcription and hands-free command, researchers with investments in the technology acknowledge that it is still very much a laboratory phenomenon. In fact, the real advances in recognition technology may not be the automated switchboard attendants or the automotive autodialers now starting to show up. Rather, the most significant advances will be those that move the technology from the simple ability to recognize words to a context-sensitivity: the ability, no matter how crude, to understand intent and meaning. It is those developments that will turn heads when the International Conference on Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) opens in Seattle this week.
Independent distributors find it rough on the Web(9:00 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)Independent component distributors find it tougher to conduct business o n the World Wide Web than franchised distributors, according to Jim Binford, sales director for American IC Exchange (AICE), an independent that scours the spot market.
Monday, May 4, 1998DOD, industry fight CPU obsolescence(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)A Defense Department agency working to replace outdated military computers is joining with CPU Technology Inc. (Pleasanton, Calif.) to come up with solutions to commercial-processor obsolescence. Startup Aristo pioneers 'block-level' EDA(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)A new approach to IC design that could solve many problems posed by systems-on-a-chip will be outlined this week when EDA startup Aristo Technology Inc. announces its mission. The company intends to field "block-level" topology and interconnect design tools aimed at large chips with multiple blocks of intellectual property. CPUs, graphics chips ante up for PC games(3:00 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)The struggle to define the next level of PC graphics will come into high relief as the Computer Game Developers Conference opens here this week. The outcome of a battle of seemingly arcane features and techniques may determine the fates of controller and processor vendors — and boost the PC's capabilities in the process. Cable industry gets hot on wave-division multiplexing(12:30 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)Booming interest in wavelength division multiplexing among broadband backbone equipment suppliers is exemplified by the number of WDM announcements at both the National Cable Television Association's Cable '98 convention in Atlanta, and at the NetWorld+Interop show being held in Las Vegas. Libit's noise-cancellation technology to allow dense upstream cable services(12:30 p.m., EST, 5/4/98)Libit Signal Processing Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel), a startup that makes chip sets for quadrature amplitude modulated (QAM) cable modems, said it has developed a noise-cancellation technology for cable-TV headends that will allow high-capacity return-path services over noisy coaxial cable. Libit threw a curve at opening day of the National Cable Television Association's Cable '98 conference on Sunday when it revealed limited details of a signal-processing method it calls Inca (increased capacity and ingress cancellation). Serial spec spans datacom, telecom at 2.5 Gbit/sec.(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Applied Microcircuits Corp. (AMCC) has defined a 2.5-Gbit/second serial interface that could become a common physical medium for a broad range of telecom and datacom uses spanning Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel, Sonet and video broadcasting. The move positions AMCC's SiliconHiway architecture, built in standard CMOS, against Vitesse Semic onductor Corp.'s GaAs solution. SiliconHiway is based on an assumption that Ethernet users will want to migrate to a 2.5-Gbit/s service for reasons of cost and scaling, rather than leap directly to 10 Gbits/s after Gigabit Ethernet matures. System-on-a-chip bus issues come to the fore(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)As designers tentatively step into the system-level-chip world, they are finding the notion of buses on silicon problematic. The most obvious, detected quickly by the Virtual Socket Interface alliance (VSI) working group on on-chip buses, is in choosing which buses to use as the standard. Quantum computing takes practical leap(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)A research project in quantum computing has broken new ground by setting up a quantum computer, loading data and reading out a result for the first time. The project demonstrated not only that a solution of chloroform mo lecules could implement Grover's algorithm for high-speed searches but also that a quantum computer could be used at normal temperatures. Merced software is taking shape(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Intel Corp. is seeding the development of a new generation of 64-bit compilers and operating systems. Surprisingly, Java won't play a key role when the Merced MPU hits the streets in 1999. Rather, the stalwart C++ programming language will lead the Merced software parade, with compilers currently in the works at Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft. Two lesser- known software companies Metaware Inc. (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Edinburgh Portable Compilers Ltd. (Edinburgh, Scotland) are also developing heavy-duty, Merced-capable compilers. Consortium vows to draft API for biometrics(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Giving a big boost to biometric technology, Compaq, IBM, Microsoft and others agre ed to create a common API for fingerprints and other identification techniques. The move comes as a growing number of semiconductor vendors insist they will open up the market with products that cost less than the optical fingerprint sensors now being used. Centaur sports AMD's bus, 3-D in WinChip CPU(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Centaur Technology has started to sample a new version of its WinChip C6 Pentium-clone processor. The chip uses the floating-point instruction-set enhancements for 3-D graphics as well as the 100-MHz Super 7 processor bus, which is defined by and licensed from Advanced Micro Devices, and geared to compete with Intel's MMX instruction-set extensions and 100-MHz processor bus of the Pentium II. Kodak, Intel click on digital imaging deal(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Intel Corp. will develop and market digital imaging products with Eastman Kodak Co. Kodak stand s to gain development and market resources as it recovers from extensive layoffs. Intel revs X86 auto pc effort(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Intel has signed a slew of agreements designed to foster its X86 as the de facto architecture for the emerging automotive PC. At the Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference this week, Intel will disclose board and system pacts with RadiSys, Mitac, Kontron and Comroad. Also, Dearborn Group, Intelliworxx, Lernout & Hauspie, Magneti Marelli, On-Guard, Qualcomm, Research in Motion (RIM), SiRF Technology, Smart Route and Sumitomo Electric Systems have agreed to develop software or services for X86-based in-auto PCs. China fab turns to foundry market(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)A venture-capital startup group of Hong Kong and American Chinese have been given the right to produce and market the ICs from what is currently China's most-advanced IC fab. The Central Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., with headquarters in Hong Kong, has a four-year lease to produce and market ICs from the 5- and 6-inch lines of the Huajing Electronics Group Co., based here. New specs for digital cable TV released(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)On the eve of the National Cable Television Association's Cable '98 conference, which opened on Sunday in Atlanta, the NCTA and the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association jointly released a list of eight specs with which all digital cable-ready TVs will be expected to comply. Cable-TV multi-system operators will have to join receiver manufacturers in abiding by the standards to ensure overall compatibility. Itex takes license for Alcatel's ADSL chip set(11:45 p.m., EST, 5/1/98)Integrated Telecom Express Inc. (ITeX), the startup specializing in partial-rate discrete-multitone chips for digital subsc riber line, has become the third licensee of the Alcatel N.V. chip set for asymmetric DSL. The DynaMiTe chip set also is sold by Alcatel Microelectronics, formerly Mietec, but Alcatel has licensed the design to SGS-Thomson Microelectronics and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to ensure broad interoperability at the chip-set level. ITeX plans to offer DMT ADSL chips incorporating the Alcatel designs by the third quarter.
|
||||||||||||||
RSS
 |
Home | About | Editorial Calendar | Feedback | Subscriptions | Newsletter | Media Kit | Contact | Reprints|  RSS| 
Digital|  Mobile |
|
| Network Websites |
|
|
International |
|
|
Network Features |
|
|
|
All materials on this site Copyright © 2009 TechInsights, a Division of United Business Media LLC All rights reserved. Privacy Statement | Terms of Service | About |
