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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, February 20, 1998Intel considers bailout of Samsung(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/20/98)Intel Corp. is reportedly having discussions with Samsung Electronics Corp. about making an investment in the struggling Korean electronics company, a move that could give Samsung a means to buy chip production equipment and snare Intel a stable supply of DRAMs.
Curtain lifted slightly on Merced processor(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/20/98)Intel Corp. architects revealed a bit more o f the IA-64 architecture and its Merced implementation at the Intel Developer Forum earlier this week. In addition to more detailed descriptions of how the highly speculative EPIC (Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing) scheme works, the company discussed some of the chip- and board-level aspects of the project.
Faster ATA interface slows move to 1394(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)Quantum Corp. and Intel Corp. are teaming up to double the PC's disk-drive interface speed to 66 Mbytes/second. The move is being made because of delays in acceptance of the new 1394 interface, but both companies say they are trying to ease--not undercut--the transition to 1394.
Seagate provide peek at optical technologies and next-generation drives(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)Seagate Technology Inc. has offered a peek at the transition from magnetic to magneto-op tic storage technology. In describing the next-generation work of its Quinta Corp. subsidiary, Seagate said Quinta's hybrid M-O and Winchester approach will provide revenue "in a year or two" and keep capacity moving ever upward, even after magnetic technologies run out of steam.
Small players may use USB as a lever into the instrument market(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)The appearance of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) in PCs could change the competitive picture in the instrumentation industry. National Instruments sees USB as a lever that new players could use to pry open the door to the multibillion-dollar instrument industry, or that smaller players could use to level the playing field.
Intel lays out plans for high- and low-end PCs(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)Intel Corp.'s plan to maintain hegemony in high-end desktop platforms while extending its reach into low-end PCs came into sharper focus this week at the Intel Developer Forum, where the company unveiled a far-reaching plan to prepare the hardware and software community for its next-generation IA-32 Katmai processor next year and provided more detail about its low-end Covington platform.
Proposal addresses copy protection of digital data(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)A five-company coalition submitted a proposal to an industry group on Wednesday that addresses the copyright protection of video and audio in digital format. Based on input from the film and recording industries, the proposal appears to be the frontrunner as a standard for digital copyright protection, which many view as a requirement for the deployment of digital broadcast TV in the United States.
Thursday, February 19, 1998Delay predicted on shift to 300-mm wafers(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)Asia's econo mic turmoil has put plans for as many as 20 semiconductor fabs on hold, setting the semiconductor-equipment industry up for depressed sales this year and pushing the transition to 300-mm wafers out to the year 2000 or later. That was the conclusion of financial analysts and equipment suppliers at SEMInvest '98, the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International's second annual investment conference held in New York earlier this week.
Intel proposes server initiative(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)Intel Corp. announced this week an industry initiative for specifying a server-system infrastructure (SSI) for three classes of servers addressed by its Enterprise Server Group. The goal is to standardize system elements that are generally designed over and over again yet add little value or market differentiation to servers, said Paul Prince, platform architecture manager for Intel (Santa Clara, Calif.).
Venture group leads initial LMDS bidding(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)WNP Communications Inc., a collection of seven East Coast venture capital funds, led all bidders by a wide margin after the first day of the federal government's wireless-spectrum auction.
Intel technologist hints at future of the IA32 architecture(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/19/98)Albert Yu, senior vice president and general manager at Intel Corp. said on Wednesday that Intel's IA32 microprocessor architecture still had a long future and a lot of performance headroom.
U.S. plays catch-up as robots crawl into new applications(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)Their sci-fi image notwithstanding, robots have proven their real-world utility for performing myriad tasks deemed too onerous, dangerous or repetitive for humans-from Pathfinder's Mars mission to toxic-w aste cleanups to automation of semiconductor fabs. Robotics has even conquered the networking realm, with remote-controlled tasks conducted over the Internet.
Price pressures slow DRAM transitions(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)Surging sales of low-cost PCs coupled with the financial hardships of Asian memory suppliers has extended the life of 16-Mbit DRAMs and will slow the transition to Direct Rambus DRAMs, according to officials at Intel Corp. and to memory suppliers at the Intel Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif. on Tuesday.
Group tackles compatibility of net-linked subsystems(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)As suppliers race to gain an edge in the skyrocketing market for disk arrays and other storage subsystems that attach directly to networks, roughly 80 major corporations have banded together to form an industry group to promote compatibility in an arena populated by mul tiple architectures.
General Instrument to provide satellite receivers(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)General Instrument Corp. (Horsham, Pa.) will supply integrated receiver decoders to Primestar Partners, the nation's second largest provider of broadcast satellite services, under a deal valued at more than $180 million.
Wednesday, February 18, 1998GTE readies short-range RF for personal networks(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)GTE Corp. is preparing to throw a new wireless-networking option into the mix of mobile-systems technologies. Tentatively named Body LAN, the short-range RF technique is aimed at giving mobile devices such as cellular phones, pagers and handheld PCs a smart way to interact with one another.
Tellabs acquires Coherent for $670 million(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)Tellabs Inc. has acq uired Coherent Communications Systems Corp. (Ashburn, Va.), an echo-cancellation subsystem specialist, in a stock offering valued at $670 million. Coherent has stayed in the forefront of speech-processing DSP technology for wireline-circuit voice, wireless low-bit-rate voice and voice-over-packet switched networks. Tellabs will manage Coherent as a subsidiary operation.
Network expert arraigned on sabotage charges(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)U.S. prosecutors have nabbed a computer network expert who they say caused $10 million in computer sabotage 20 days after he was fired by a company whose equipment is used by the government.
Acquisition of GEC Plessey raises Mitel's semiconductor profile(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/18/98)The purchase of GEC Plessey Semiconductors, based here, by Mitel Corp. (Kanata, Ontario) cre ates a substantial Canadian merchant semiconductor company with annual sales of nearly $500 million. The acquisition, at a knockdown price of $225 million in cash, also moves Mitel Semiconductor closer to the leading edge in chip manufacture. At the same time, it represents the end of any significant U.K.-controlled chip making, along with a tradition that goes back to the beginnings of the industry.
Formal education isn't cutting the leading edge in computer science, report finds(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)A new report on computer-science education and its relationship to the labor market suggests that formal education programs are only taking workers so far.
Reuse redraws the design job(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)While design reuse has been called essential for next-generation ICs, designers are just beginning to understand the profound meth odology changes that reuse will require. If you plan to create reusable intellectual-property blocks, or take existing blocks and integrate them into a system-on-a-chip design, much about your design approach and environment is likely to change.
Micro Linear preps video filter to replace discrete functions(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)Micro Linear Corp. has developed a dual video filter that replaces the last remaining discrete functions of consumer video products such as DVD players, satellite decoders, cable set-tops and digital VCRs.
Avant! moves into reticle inspection(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)Avant! Corp. has taken a further step into the semiconductor manufacturing market by agreeing to supply KLA-Tencor Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) with a software framework and simulation tools for photomask inspection products. The agreement was initially reached between KLA-Tencor and Technology Modeling Associates (TMA), which was recently acquired by Avant!
Technique tests board interconnects 'at speed'(9:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)LogicVision Inc. is heading to the European Design Automation and Test Exhibition in Paris next week with an innovative approach to testing pc-board interconnections. The company's proprietary embedded technique, called jtag-XLi, performs at-speed testing to reveal delay defects caused by cold solder joints, non-uniform traces, bad drivers, incorrect terminations and the like.
Tuesday, February 17, 1998SOI anticipates demand from sub-1-volt designs(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)While issues of cost and process complexity continue to dog silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, the challenges will be worth facing when portable p roducts demand sub-1 -volt CMOS devices.
Startup shifts focus to intellectual property cores(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)Armed with a new name and a new focus, Integrated Intellectual Property Inc. (I 2 P) has announced its mission as a provider of intellectual property . The company launched a family of Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) synthesizable cores last week.
AMD to license Alcatel's ADSL technology(3:00 p.m. EST, 2/17/98)Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) will license and make asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) Discrete Multitone technology developed by Alcatel for both "full-rate" and ADSL "Lite" approaches.
DVD suppliers work on a jump-start from China(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)A handful of component makers are betting on the wild card of the vast but unproven Chinese market to jump-start DVD sales, which have been slow to take off in the West. If the gambit proves successful, China would become not only a key consumer of DVD but also a production engine for exported players. That could accelerate the downward price curve for players and jeopardize the ability of the technology's Japanese and European pioneers to recoup their investments.
Invest or die: Intel's life on the edge(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)With about $600 million to pump into venture companies this year, Intel Corp. has joined the major leagues of venture-capital firms. But the unique imperative that drives the microprocessor giant to invest gives it influence disproportionate to even this large sum. For Intel, venture investments are not just a source of income; they are a vital tool in the fight to survive.
Intel to detail the SDRAM detour on its Rambus route(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)The road to bringing 800-MHz Direct Rambus memory technology into the PC mainstream should become clearer at the Intel Developers Forum, set for next week in San Jose, Calif. Intel Corp. is expected to describe a plan to put synchronous DRAMs on a 100- or 133-MHz Rambus module, effectively making SDRAMs mimic the Rambus architecture. At the same time, Intel is considering adding a 66-MHz SDRAM specification to its soon-to-be-announced 440BX chip set, which was initially earmarked for only 100-MHz SDRAMs.
Canada's Mitel buys U.K.'s GEC Plessey(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)Mitel Corp. (Kanata, Ontario) has bought GEC Plessey Semiconductors (GPS) from General Electric Co. plc for $225 million in cash. That's considerably less than GPS's expected sales in 1997. Mitel will merge GPS with its own semiconductor subsidiary.
Advanced Library Format standard proposal divides EDA vendors(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)A standards effort critical to EDA interoperability has grown more controversial and divisive, as four major tool vendors announced their support of an ASIC library format proposed by Open Verilog International (OVI). The proposed standard, Advanced Library Format (ALF), competes directly with the ".lib" library format licensed by Synopsys Inc.
ASIC Council weighs library formats(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)The ASIC Council will meet with Aart de Geus, chief executive officer of Synopsys Inc., at a two-day gathering starting in Austin, Texas on Monday. Synopsys has proposed that the Council support Synopsys' .lib ASIC library format as an open standard. Synopsys would retain .lib technology development under the proposal.
Real-time softw are world raises the reliability bar(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)Nobody wants to be flying on a plane with a software problem, or to be downwind from a chemical plant's systems-software snafu. The increasing need to ensure reliability in those and other embedded systems has the real-time industry scurrying to banish bugs that can lead to catastrophic failures.
DVD cards from C-Cube, Zoran snap onto i740 boards(8:45 p.m. EST, 2/13/98)MPEG-2 chip makers are ready to leap on the bandwagon of Intel Corp.'s i740 3-D graphics processor with multimedia add-ons, some of which will be launched next week.
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