(4:00 p.m., EDT, 9/18/98)
In a sign that the third-party intellectual property (IP) market is moving towards consolidation and maturity, Phoenix Technologies Ltd. has announced plans to purchase Sand Microelectronics Inc. in a deal valued at $27.5 million.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/18/98)
Following a spate of announced closures of unprofitable overseas operations, some Japanese chip companies are starting to make painful cuts on their native soil.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/18/98)
Intel Corp. put data encryption and digital content protection at the top of its priority lists at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) here this week.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/18/98)
Executives have seen a 47 percent surge in hiring this year over 1997, according to Christian & Timbers, an executive search firm.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/18/98)
Sony Corp. has unveiled its first-generation HDTV system and a digital receiver/decoder just weeks before digital-TV broadcasts are scheduled to begin in limited U.S. markets Nov. 1.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/18/98)
Decrying the confusion that has arisen from the recent multiplication of digital interface standards for flat-panel monitors, a new fast-track entity called the Digital Display Working Group was announced this week at the Intel Developer Forum.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
Broader protection for intellectual property is needed before a next generation of electronic commerce can take off, according to experts at a technology policy conference here.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
With a goal to integrate 2-D, 3-D and streaming content for digital TV programming, leaders from key international technology development forums gathered here this week to launch a new initiative to harmonize the various multimedia streams. Founders of the Advanced Interactive Content (AIC, pronounced "ace") initiative are hoping that a variety of advanced multimedia technologies — thus far developed and grown independently — will finally converge on a common platform. The group plans to draft the spec before the end of this year.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
The increasing number of safety-related applications that depend on software to operate is prompting an industry debate about the certification of software engineers. A recent airline crash in the South Pacific that may have stemmed from a software-related malfunction has helped spur the debate.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
Intel Corp. has joined two other vendors as a supplier of silicon that could open the door to low-cost home PC networks based on standard telephone lines.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
Cadence Design Systems Inc. (San Jose, Calif.) may be on the brink of releasing ground-breaking EDA software that could accelerate system-level design, according to sources at the recent System-Level Design Language workshop.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
The Foundation Coalition, a group of universities and colleges, has implemented a series of reforms at its member institutions to make undergraduate engineering programs more involving and interesting for students.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
With signs that the semiconductor slump has hit bottom, recovery will come in small steps and the capital equipment industry won't see relief for at least another year, according to analysts at NationsBanc Montgomery Securities.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/17/98)
Three IBM researchers who helped develop chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) technology were honored by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) at the association's 25th annual awards dinner on Wednesday, and Bruce Deal was presented with a lifetime achievement award.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
The United States maintains its lead in technology innovation despite growing globalization of the world economy, according to a government review of U.S. patents.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
A year ago, Brian Halla was king of the world. He'd just turned National Semiconductor Corp. around in the wake of Gil Amelio's lackluster reign. He pumped life into earnings and helped lift the stock price to more than $40 a share. He sold businesses that didn't make sense and whittled the company strategy down to something that employees and customers alike could understand: system-on-a-chip.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
Ciena Corp., the wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) specialist that for two years could seemingly do no wrong, has been through three weeks of a hell that most newly public companies only have nightmares about. Just as its shareholders were about to approve a takeover by Tellabs Inc. (Lisle, Ill.), Ciena faced an inexplicable decision by AT&T Co. to discontinue testing of Ciena's 40-channel WDM system, leading to a collapse of Ciena's stock price.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
The cheaper, faster and — one hopes — better route to Mars was the topic when James Bell, associate professor of astronomy at Cornell University, spoke at a dinner lecture at the 11th IEEE ASIC conference here. Bell intertwined a review of planetary data gleaned from the Pathfinder missions with insights into how NASA's pervasive new culture of economy has influenced engineering decisions in the Mars program.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
The direct broadcast satellite (DBS) industry faces significant challenges to adding new subscribers as digital terrestrial television broadcasts begin this fall and as cable TV providers prepare plans to implement digital cable.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
Mentor Graphics Corp. has called for a special meeting on Oct. 29 of the shareholders of Quickturn Design Systems Inc. in an effort to oust that company's board of directors.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
In an effort to drive PCs forward, Intel Corp. rolled out new details about multimedia instruction-set extensions for its upcoming Katmai processor as the vanguard of a small army of new technologies, products and specifications it marshaled at the company's developer's forum here.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
With inaugural digital-TV broadcasts just weeks away, FCC chairman William Kennard said it's up to industry to make the transition from current technologies a success.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) council will consider U.S. industry proposals for the removal of trade and technical barriers involving information technology products, an industry group said.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
A true system-on-a-chip industry may be years away, but companies already are being forced to cope with the issues raised by system-on-a-chip design, as participants at Monday's Wescon/IC Expo keynote panel noted. Initial efforts shed light on some of the deeper problems created by these complex designs and on the daunting changes that await the semiconductor industry.
(12:30 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
Abstract Inc., a provider of formal verification tools, is preparing to close its doors after failing to find sufficient customers for its products.
(12:30 p.m., EDT, 9/16/98)
They're baaaaack. Acoustic couplers, a relic of the days before telephones had data jacks, have returned. Now neatly tucked away in the back of a tiny handheld device, the couplers will allow users to send e-mail or fax messages from virtually any handset in the world, including corded, cordless, cellular, hotel PBX or pay phone.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
Waving the flag for the movie industry's copyright-protection concerns at this week's satellite broadcast provider conference here, Jack Valenti, chairman and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, asked 500 satellite-broadcast executives to work with the movie industry to ensure that motion-picture copyrights are protected through the secure transmission of movies broadcast over satellite systems.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
Hitachi Telecom USA Inc. is working on indium-phosphide transmitter circuits that should lead to 40-Gbit OC-768 transmitters within a few quarters, the company's technical marketing manager announced during a transmitter-device session at the National Fiber Optic Engineering Conference Tuesday.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
The trial run of a prototype HDTV system announced by the Ministry of Science and Technology here could give a big boost to China's fledgling TV industry and to a government drive to build a base in intellectual property for emerging digital technologies.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
Denali Software Inc. has strengthened its memory-modeling software package with the addition of automatic test-generation technology called AutoTest.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
Intel Corp. is positioning itself to put as much of its manufacturing clout behind low-cost, highly integrated peripheral chips as it traditionally has placed on its high-end microprocessors.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
Lucent Technologies is extending its 0.16-micron (drawn) CMOS process, offering chip designers six different process modules, from linear to BiCMOS to Flash, which they can add on an as-needed basis. The Com-2 process will go into volume production early in 2000; designers will be able to work with the process starting in the second quarter of 1999, said Tony Parker, ASIC product manager.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
National Semiconductor's new entry into the precision op amp arena, the LMC2001, is the latest evidence of a renewed thrust by National in standard linear components. The company is playing to its traditional strengths as an analog supplier, and complement president Brian Halla's efforts to build a mixed-signal systems-on-a-chip capability. Under Halla's regime, National acquired microprocessor builder Cyrix, and MPEG software provider Mediamatics.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/15/98)
In preparation for its spin-off as a separate company, Rockwell Semiconductor Systems has announced additional layoffs and has confirmed it will not open the 8-inch fabrication facility it had constructured and partially facilitized in Colorado Springs, Colo.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
ASICs are the past and systems-on-a-chip (SOC) are the future, according to Raul Camposano, chief techincal officer of Synopsys Inc., addressing the 11th IEEE International ASIC Conference.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
Startup PinPoint Corp. has created a wireless indoor tracking system that locates people and objects using high-frequency radio signals.
(9:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
A computer took on a human grand master and won 99 of 100 games at the American Association of Artificial Intelligence meeting held here recently. Though the system was developed at IBM Corp.'s T.J. Watson Research Center, the game was not chess, but backgammon.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
Looking to broaden its presence in China, the U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has established a local office and is funding scholarships for Chinese engineers. In addition, the SIA is urging China join the World Semiconductor Council.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
Serano Systems Corp., a semiconductor startup, will introduce its low-cost embedded controllers for Fibre Channel enclosure management at this week's Fibre Channel Technology Conference (FCTC) and Intel Developer Forum.
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
An industry group has applauded the Federal Communications Commission's decision to extend the deadline for implementing the Communcations Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).
(3:00 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
ModelSim Elite Edition 5.2 from Model Technology Inc. (MTI) is the first product to receive the "Library Tested and Approved" designation from SI2 Labs, according to the Silicon Integration Initiative (SI2) and Mentor Graphics Corp., parent of MTI.
(11:40 a.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
Expect sparks to fly in the growing market for fast digital signal processors. Philips Semiconductors will unveil its much-anticipated R.E.A.L. DSP architecture at the DSP World-ICSPAT conference here this week. Motorola Inc. will use the same forum to announce its DSP56307, and ZSP Corp. will promote its ZSP16402, a new spin of its "superscalar" device.
(11:45 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
The virtual channel memory (VCM), an NEC Corp. innovation that boosts DRAM performance by reducing latency, is gaining momentum among DRAM manufacturers. Several vendors are considering pairing the VCM core to a fast memory interface in a move that would pose a challenge to Direct Rambus DRAMs in both high-end computers and low-end consumer products.
(11:45 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
In a move that could mark its technology independence, China is poised to release a homegrown specification for next-generation video-CD players, dubbed Super VCD, that could serve a market of as many as 15 million users by 2000. Among the host of semiconductor and systems companies racing to meet the spec upon its market arrival is Zoran Corp., which is expected to announce a single-chip SVCD implementation within a week.
(11:45 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
Java is edging its way into interactive design on the heels of an initiative from Xilinx Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc. that will create a Java applications programming interface (API) to tackle one of design's thorniest issues: scan test.
(11:45 p.m., EDT, 9/14/98)
Consumer electronics manufacturers and the cable industry appear divided on the best way to insure compatibility between cable systems and new digital TVs and other digital equipment.
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