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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, January 16, 1998Panelists cite roadblocks to EDA growthThe specter of the "Asian flu" hung over an otherwise optimistic industry forecast at a high-level panel convened by the EDA Consortium (EDAC). Other, more pervasive, challenges mentioned by panelists included shortages of qualified engineers and a move by some electronics manufacturers toward proprietary tools.
Symbol puts voice-over-IP phone in wireless LANSymbol Technologies Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. will jointly announce a voice-over-Internet Pro tocol wireless phone that operates as a packet service within Symbol's 2.4-GHz LAN. The system is based on a modified cellular phone manufactured by Sanyo and on a 3260 gateway router from Cisco that can send local wireless calls into the public switched telephone network.
Mitsubishi to close Durham, N.C., DRAM fabMitsubishi Electric Corp. said it will close a DRAM fab in Durham, N.C., in March, laying off about 180 production workers. The 6-inch wafer fab was outmoded, making 4-Mbit DRAMs, and the company has decided not to invest in updating it, a spokesman said.Intel: profits top expectationsAs technology stocks staged a mild comeback last week, Intel Corp. did its part by announcing year-end earnings that topped analysts' expectations. For the fourth quarter of 1997, Intel reported profits of $1.7 billion, or 98 cents per share, on revenues of $6.5 billion. Intel was expected to ma ke only 90 cents per share, according to First Call Corp.
Thursday, January 15, 1998Sun to pass on Merced, will stick with SparcDespite industry speculation about a possible long-term tilt toward Intel's 64-bit Merced architecture, Sun Microsystems Inc. last week emphatically insisted it will stick with its Sparc RISC processor family now and in the future. Moreover, Sun said it will remain committed to Unix and won't make a move to the increasingly popular Windows NT operating system--something many of its workstation competitors have done.
High Q inductor merges with CMOSA new microstructure approach devised here at the University of California may point the way toward realizing monolithic silicon RF components in the GHz frequency range.The method builds inductors with quality factors 10 times higher than integrated spiral conductors in a postfabrication seque nce that can be applied to virtually any IC, including high-performance mixed-signal chips.
OEMs outsourcing board designThe market for pc-board design services is growing at a healthy rate, according to a research study compiled by consulting firm EDA Today. The study predicts a compound annual growth rate of 17 percent through 2001. That's well above most forecasts for the relatively stagnant pc-board CAD software market.
S3 sells part of its stake in foundry joint ventureS3 Inc. is selling off 30 percent of its equity stake in joint-venture foundry United Semiconductor Corp. (USC), located here, in a cash-raising exercise to solidify its position in the increasingly treacherous PC-graphics market.
VXI module squeezes six instruments insideWhile the combination of multiple instrument functionality in one case isn't new-- witness the inveterate digital multimeter (DMM)--Tektronix Inc. has tried to take the practice up a notch in its VXI format. The company's VX4101A MultiPaq combines six core instruments within a single C-size slot.
VeriBest's 'Destination' lowers FPGA design priceSeeking to expand its reach to FPGA designers, VeriBest Inc. has released a $4,495 tool set that includes the Synopsys FPGA Express product. VeriBest's Destination FPGA Series represents a much lower price point than the company's other offerings, and thus is part of a new business model for the company.
Wednesday, January 14, 1998Year 2000 attacks embedded appsThere's been a lot of hoopla about the so-called "Year 2000" problem, most of it focusing on big financial applications--banking and payroll and so forth. It turns out, however, that deeply embedded systems could be far more vulnerable. In this special report, the EE Times staff looks at the risk these RTOS-driven industrial applications face, as well as some other, less publicized, possible Y2K glitches.
Startup bases transport node on thin-layer ATMWAN startup Atmosphere Networks Inc. will show a new kind of architecture at next week's ComNet show in Washington, updating the notion that an add-drop multiplexer will better support carriers moving from voice networks to data networks.
Siemens Micro rolls dense HDLC chipSiemens Microelectronics. has launched what it believes is the highest-density controller yet available for High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) protocols. Munich 128X is a 128-channel, four-port device that's priced at less than $60 in high volumes, allowing developers of remote-access servers and access multiplexers to design high-density WAN access systems at very low prices per port.
Lexra delivers synthesizable 32-bit MIPS coreLexra Inc. has begun beta deliveries of its first synthesizable CPU core. The LXR-4080 is a 32-bit, MIPS-I compliant integer processor designed from the ground up to be synthesized into a licensee's 0.35- or 0.25-micron ASIC or customer-owned tooling (COT) chip design.
Panasonic takes 650-kbyte/s CompactFlash to merchant marketPanasonic Industrial Co. has entered the market for CompactFlash cards with capacity ranges from 4 to 32 Mbytes. Panasonic has been a participant in the flash-card market, but as a contract manufacturer (though it did sell some branded PCMCIA cards in Japan).
FTC clears way for Intel's 3-D graphics bidThe Federal Trade Commission cleared the way for Intel Corp. to enter the 3-D and graphics markets on Tuesday, when the commission ruled it would not seek a p reliminary injunction to block Intel's planned acquisition of graphics-chip maker Chips and Technologies Inc.
Tuesday, January 13, 1998Siemens, Motorola claim lead on route to 300-mm productionAs expected, Siemens AG and Motorola Inc. announced on Monday a 50:50 joint-venture to install and operate a 300-mm wafer pilot line within Siemens' wafer fab here.
Microprobes promise a new memory optionA combination of micromachine and scanning-probe microscopy techniques is the basis for a miniaturized memory system being developed by Nanochip Inc.. Within a year, the company plans to introduce a disk-drive replacement for portable applications in the form of a chip-sized component that holds 250 Mbytes of data. The system eventually will be scaled up to 1.7-Gbyte components.
DOD pushes 'battlefield-aware' networkin gNetworking technology continues to make headway with the U.S. military, as it seeks to implement a "network-centric" battlefield strategy. The Defense Department awarded two contracts last week to BTG Inc., a network-engineering company based in Fairfax, Va., to develop "battlefield-awareness" networks for U.S. commanders.
Xilinx, Vantis prep moderate-density FPGAsProgrammable-logic vendors are taking a renewed interest in the low- to moderate-density range as they make their most aggressive push yet into the realm once considered exclusive to gate arrays. The moves are a tacit acknowledgement that, in a market that seeks improved cost structures with no sacrifice in performance, progress doesn't always come in the form of larger, architecturally more complex devices.
Startup takes baton in EDA-MCAD standardTaking a fresh approach to EDA standards development, startup Intermedius Design Integration is developing the next version of the Intermediate Data Format (IDF). This non-proprietary data format, developed initially at Mentor Graphics Corp., lets users transfer design data between pc-board layout and mechanical CAD systems.
Who's on first in fingerprint sensing? Startup makes bidA startup in the emerging fingerprint-recognition arena is talking of cracking open the market with sales that could total 35 million units in four years. Who? Vision Systems Inc. has signed a contract to supply its sensor systems to a Taiwanese monitor maker at prices it calls low enough to spark a market upsurge. But others in the fingerprint world question whether the existing infrastructure can support such growth.
Monday, January 12, 1998Microsoft moves to seize control of DTV and cable set-top platform by teaming up with TCIMicrosoft Cor p. and Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI) announced Saturday that TCI will license a version of the Windows CE operating system for use in a minimum of 5 million advanced digital set-top boxes TCI will start deploying late this year.
Designs diverge at dawn of digital TVThe first-generation digital-TV prototypes on display last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas revealed diverging design strategies that could lead to a diverse but potentially fragmented market.
Year of the Tiger looks to be a bearThe twin troubles of too much capacity and too few sales promise to make the Year of the Tiger a real beast for Asian electronics producers. Demand from Asian consumers, many of them worried about keeping their jobs, will weaken in1998, NEC Corp. chip boss Hajime Sasaki warned NEC's semiconductor division managers in a meeting after the New Year's holidays.
Codesign turns workplace on its headHardware/software codesign is fast becoming an essential capability for next-generation embedded systems. While various tools can help with bits and pieces of the codesign puzzle today, technologies under development will soon change the way engineers think and work.
Startups show new direction for media chipsThe quest for low-cost silicon to drive next-generation digital televisions and sub-$1,000 PCs promises to inject new life into the market for multimedia processors. Jumping at the chance, a well-heeled startup, Equator Technologies Inc., plans to unleash by June a multimedia processor that will have the backing of a small army of software engineers, EE Times has learned.
Consumer DSPs raise bar on processing powerLucent Technologies and Motorola's Semiconductor Produ cts Sector used the venue of the Consumer Electronics Show here last week to unveil two new digital signal processors that propose to raise the bar on the processing power available for cost-sensitive, digital consumer applications.
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