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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 30, 1998Cable modems, DSLs continue to vie for home access(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)With a clear winner yet to emerge in the broadband-access battle, proponents of digital-subscriber-line services (DSLs) and of cable modems have respectively been pitching the superiority of the technologies for providing high-speed data connectivity to the home. At "Broadband Residential Access: When, How, and for What?," a DesignCon98 panel, both sides stated their case and agreed that, for the short term, DSLs and cable modems can split the available market.
Direct Rambus price tag raises questions(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)What will it cost a PC OEM to convert from 100-MHz SDRAMs to Direct Rambus DRAMs, as prescribed by Intel Corp? The question was one of the main topics of discussion at DesignCon98, as news spread about Intel floating a new SDRAM specification, ostensibly to ease the transition.
OpenIt! initiative set for set-tops(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)Leonardo Chiariglione, the man who pulled together the development of MPEG specifications, is trying to launch "OpenIt!," another cross-industry initiative. The new initiative intends to develop specifications for an "open set-top box" that allows users to navigate through different offerings from different service and remove the last roadblock preventing the proliferation of MPEG-2-based set-top boxes, according to Chiariglione.
ETSI compromises on mobile standard(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) agreed to a last-minute compromise today between two rival technical proposals for its third-generation digital mobile radio interface. The compromise will allow for a measure of compatibility between competing cellular phone proposals coming from Europe, Japan and North America, though it is expected to add both complexity and cost to handsets and basestations in the near term.
Jobless rates for EEs scrape bottom(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)Not only is the EE unemployment rate threatening to scrape bottom, as it hit 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter, but the jobless rates for programmers and computer scientists are also at historically low levels.
FCC to decree on digital services(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)The Federal Communicat ions Commission will open an inquiry soon that will determine which digital-TV resolutions and services cable operators must carry once broadcasters start offering digital services later this year.
Thermal dissipation problems attacked(6:00 p.m. EST, 1/29/98)Maxim Integrated Products is taking a stab at increasing of accuracy of the remote circuits used to monitor thermal conditions on CPUs, ASICs, and other big digital chips. Increased accuracy is important because thermal stress puts a lid on clock rates, and current temperature measurement techniques are only estimates. Maxim's technique reads temperatures at the surface of the die, and is accurate to within 5°C.
Thursday, January 29, 1998Systems-on-silicon require productivity leap, Motorola exec saysSemiconductor manufacturers must double their productivity every 24 months in order to be competi tive with systems-on-silicon devices, Hector Ruiz, president of Motorola Inc.'s Semiconductor Products Sector, told attendees of the DesignCon 98 conference in a keynote address on Tuesday. Systems-on-silicon are critical if the semiconductor industry is to realize revenues in the $300 billion range in the next five years, and that poses a challenge, Ruiz said, because "systems on chip are a long way from really taking place."
ETSI appears headed for cellular stalemateThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute's move to establish a standard for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) appears to have hit a stalemate. In a vote Wednesday, two proposals for the third-generation mobile system received strong support.
Judge affirms preliminary injunction to Avant! and ArcCell customersU.S. District Court Judge Ronald B. Whyte has added more forceful wording to an e arlier preliminary injuction he had issued which bars the continued sale or use of ArcCell products from Avant! Corp. The change was made after Judge Whyte agreed on Monday to a request by Cadence Design Systems Inc. In the newly worded order, Judge Whyte emphasizes the purpose of the injuction is "to remove any implication that Avant!'s licensees are authorized by the preliminary injunction to continue to use the enjoined products without exposure to claims of copyright violation."
Harris, Lucent join forces on digital-TV encodersHarris Corp. and Lucent Technologies have joined forces to provide television broadcasters with digital-TV encoders. The MPEG-2 encoders unveiled last year by Lucent (Murray Hill, N.J.) will be marketed by Harris' Broadcast Division (Quincy, Ill.), and are expected to help the 1,648 broadcasters in the United States prepare for digital TV broadcasts. "The lack of encoding equipment has been a major concern for broadcast ers," said Bruce Allan, vice president and general manager of Harris' Broadcast unit. "This is another important step to help broadcasters move seamlessly" to digital TV.
Tighter supply may restore DRAM pricesWith several of Taiwan's fledgling DRAM makers on vacation for the Chinese New Year and Japanese producers vowing to cut back 16-Mbit production, some observers are predicting a return to more normal DRAM pricing. Three of Taiwan's five dedicated DRAM producers, which together account for more than 60 percent of Taiwan's DRAM capacity, are closing for five to 10 days to mark the new year. Hitachi Ltd. will also suspend operations at eight of its DRAM fabs in Japan for eight to 16 days during February and March to reduce its 16-Mbit output.
Ikos acquisitions boost emulation, verificationIkos Systems has made two strategic acquisitions to bolster its verification- and emulati on-technology portfolio. The first involves selected assets of Interra Inc. (San Jose, Calif.); the second is the purchase of Deerbrook Systems (St. Paul, Minn.). The moves could give a needed boost to Ikos, which recently released fourth-quarter results that showed lower revenue and net income from the same quarter a year ago.
Wednesday, January 28, 1998CPU clone-makers wrestle with X86 compatibilityIn the second part of a two-part series, Alexander Wolfe explains the difficulty that X86 clone processors have in verifying compatibility with the X86 instruction set. Even Intel Corp. faces challenges verifying the backward compatibility of its new chips with its own instruction set.
Lucent cracks the Terabit network barrierLucent Technologies is introducing a refined version of its optical wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) technology that will allow network bui lders to achieve terabit-per-second transmission rates, the company said. The WaveStar OLS400G system can multiplex 400 Gbits of data onto a single standard fiber. Network designers add up to eight fibers to the platform for a total capacity of 3.2 Tbits. Delivery of the system is scheduled for the fourth quarter. AT&T has already signed on as a customer and will serve as a beta-test site for the system.
Merge Technologies rattles communications test giantsMerge Technologies Inc., a small, bootstrapped startup in the heart of California's wine country, is rattling the cages of digital-communications test giants by staying a step ahead in protocol support for ISDN. Armed with modular architectures for a high-end system to be introduced later this year, Merge hopes to catapult from its basic-rate ISDN business to the test and emulation of primary-rate ISDN and, possibly, digital subscriber lines.
I nnovative cable design delivers 'last mile' of telecom transmission pathKhamsin Technologies Inc, a small San Diego company, and New World Paradigm Ltd. (Raleigh, N.C.), a communications-systems developer, are launching a development project that they say will solve the telecommunications industry's "last mile" problem. The solution will use a novel hybrid cable developed by Khamsin that has the capacity to electronically transmit video, data and voice information on a single composite cable composed of both wire and optical fiber. The information can be delivered at 622 Mbits/second at a cost of less than $100 per month, the company said. Mitchell Cotter, chief scientific officer at New World, said Khamsin's cable will be the basis for a completely new communications infrastructure.
EDA startup pushes gridless place-and-route toolA nine-person startup called Everest Design Automation Inc. will officially enter the EDA market next wee k with a goal of nabbing high-end IC place-and-route customers from Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Avant! Corp. In April, Everest will release an as-yet unnamed gridless, flat place-and-route tool for IC design that offers greater usability and higher functionality than competitive gridless routers, while maintaining speeds comparable to gridded hierarchical tools, the company said.
Tuesday, January 27, 1998Compaq swallows DECStyling itself as an enterprise-class computer company for the next century, Compaq Computer Corp. announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire Digital Equipment Corp. The $9.6 billion deal was billed as the computer industry's largest merger ever. The acquisition broadly expands Compaq's portfolio of high-end systems and its global staff, while raising questions about Compaq's future product road map. The company largely deferred addressing those questions until the deal closes in the second quarter.
IBM leads charge to SiGe productionRunning one step ahead of an avalanche, IBM Microelectronics is driving its silicon-germanium (SiGe) heterojunction transistor technology into production through an unprecedented network of foundry relationships.
High-voltage FEDs go on displayThe Motorola Flat Panel Display Division (Tempe, Ariz.) conducted the first public demonstration of its high-voltage field-emission displays (FED) at the Display Works conference here last week.
Intel reconsiders Rambus transitionIntel Corp. may be rethinking its plan of shifting the PC industry to Rambus-Direct DRAMs. Sources told EE Times that Intel is developing a memory-interface spec, reportedly called P133L, that will support both Rambus-Direct and synchronous DRAMs.
Startup offer s alternative to behavioral synthesis at DesignConStartup CompiLogic Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) will introduce a product at this week's DesignCon 98 show that could make system-level design a lot easier. The company will unveil a compiler that claims to automatically translate C-language descriptions into synthesizable register-transfer level (RTL) Verilog.
Euro vote likely to shape mobile-comm futureThe future of the world's mobile communications industry could be decided here on Thursday and Friday by a subcommittee of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
Monday, January 26, 1998Optical computing comes into focusA little-known device called an optical correlator is helping to drive the conversion of all-optical processing systems into powerful processing products for such lucrative commercial applications as fingerprint recognition and m edical imaging. The miniaturization of optical components and their hybridization with digital electronics promise a new wave of systems that could far exceed the processing power of today's electronics.
Asia's fiscal flu stalls plans for 300-mm wafersCash-strapped Asian IC companies are delaying plans to move to larger, 300-millimeter (12-inch) wafer lines by at least a year, as they scrounge for capital-equipment loans in the midst of the region's deepening financial crisis, according to equipment suppliers gathered here last week for Semicon Korea. The delays come after a carefully orchestrated push to shift the global industry to the larger wafer size in record time.
Merced grips Intel in verification viseThe rustic setting at Intel's Jones Farm Campus, here, belies the feverish activity under way inside the facility's semiconductor validation laboratory. Buffeted by the disclosu re of two Pentium-related bugs last year--and with lingering memories of the infamous Pentium FDIV floating-point flaw of 1994--Intel in recent months has dramatically increased its efforts to develop improved techniques to stamp out glitches before microprocessor designs hit the fab lines, according to company sources.
UltraCaps rev up hybrid cars, power palmtopsFarads can now fit in the palm of your hand. That's the message of Maxwell Technologies Energy Products Inc., a new venture here that is commercializing capacitor R&D funded by the Department of Defense. The company is using a proprietary activated-carbon fabric technology to produce capacitors ranging from a 15-farad can with a volume of only 2 milliliters, up to an astounding 2,700-farad cell that's smaller than a quart of milk and weighs only 800 grams.
Trio leads coalition to reshape ADSL landscapeA generation of digi tal-subscriber-line chip sets and service trials could be scrapped if a coalition of PC companies and local telephone providers succeeds in a bid to deploy a DSL variant to be formally launched at ComNet next week. A push from an alliance with the clout to to roll out both modems and services could set a much-needed direction for the xDSL industry. But analysts and long-time DSL players are wondering at what cost.
Virtual-display pioneer scores partnershipOmron has agreed to manufacture and sell the miniature virtual displays of Reflection Technology Inc., based here. Omron has also agreed to fund Reflection's continuing development of the company's Scanned Linear Array (SLA) technology, and to participate in joint-development efforts.
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