D&R Headline News (March 2009)

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 31, 2009

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Denali Software First to Ship PCI Express 3.0 Controller IP Cores

Denali today announced availability and first customer shipments of the latest Denali Databahn(TM) controller IP cores, based on the current preliminary version of the PCI Express® (PCIe) 3.0 specification, for use in next-generation chip designs.

• On2 Technologies Receives Patent for Video Encoding Methods
• TSMC Qualifies New 0.18-Micron Embedded Flash Family
• Sonics Memory Scheduler Improves Memory Efficiencies in High-Bandwidth SoCs
• Cadence and NEC Electronics Announce Encounter Digital Implementation System To Support NEC Electronics' System LSI with Built-In V850 CPU Core
• Virtutech defines full systems virtualized development with Simics 4.2

Headlines for Monday Mar. 30, 2009

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Keil Enables Prototyping of Cortex-M Processor-Based Systems with the Microcontroller Prototyping System

The Keil MPS is the first prototyping system incorporating a full-speed Cortex-M0 or Cortex-M3 processor implemented in FPGA which can be integrated with third-party peripheral IP to deliver a prototyping system for hardware and software application development.

• InterDigital to Expand Technology Development and Licensing, Realign SlimChip Business to Monetize IP
• Mixel's MDDI PHY IP Embedded In QuickLogic's Proven System Block (PSB) targeting Qualcomm-based mobile products
• Cambridge Consultants demonstrates Centaur GSM PHY reference design IP
• SiliconBlue Introduces New iCEman65 Evaluation Kit for Ultra Low-Power, Single-Chip iCE65 SRAM FPGAs
• MIPS Technologies Continues To Gain Traction in Portable Market with Multimedia Phone Design Win
• Accent Licenses ARM Cortex-M3 Processor For Wireless Platform Solutions
• Atmel's MPCF-II Technology Brings ARM Processor-based Custom SoCs to 10K-unit Apps With No License Fees
• CoWare Releases New Platform-Centric Software Analysis Tool to Increase Multicore Software Development Productivity
• Gartner: ASIC design starts to fall by 22% in '09
• Product Announcement: New Fast Models for the Cortex Processor Roadmap
• Tensilica HiFi 2 Audio DSP Supports HE AAC by Dolby in Digital Radio Mondiale; Now Offers Decoders for All Major International Digital Radio Standards

Headlines for Friday Mar. 27, 2009

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Chip industry outlook improving, says TSMC's Chang

The prospects for the semiconductor industry are better than they were a month ago, according to a Reuters report that quotes Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) as its source.

• eInfochips Announces Availability of Two Reference Designs Featuring Marvell Sheeva CPU Technology
• eInfochips Launches HD Codecs - H.264 AVC and H.264 SVC - for Digital Media Processors From Texas Instruments
• SPIRIT Audio Engine Licensed by Thomson To Ensure the Best Quality Sound for the Innovative DECT Phone
• Dolphin Integration Announces Memory Compiler Haumea at 65 nm
• Macraigor Systems Provides MIPS32 24KE On-Chip Debug Solutions with Eclipse Ganymede

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 26, 2009

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Agilent Technologies Restructures Electronic Measurement Businesses

Agilent today announced a major restructuring of its Electronic Measurement businesses in response to the most severe global downturn in the company's history. Fiscal 2009 revenue in the company's Electronic Measurement Segment is expected to be down roughly 30 percent from 2008 to the lowest level in the company's 10-year history.

• Arasan Chip Systems announces the World's First 75-in-1 Multi-Card Controller IP
• Gennum Reports 2009 First Quarter Results
• Mentor and NXP Achieve Major Milestone in Silicon Test Partnership
• Visualon Integrates On2 VP6 Video Into Mobile Multimedia Applications
• Strength of the ARM Ecosystem Demonstrated at ESC 2009 With More Than 45 Partners Showing ARM Technology

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 25, 2009

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Comsys Mobile Announces Unique multimode mobile WiMAX/GSM-EDGE smartphone reference design platform

Comsys Communication & Signal Processing Ltd. has announced the launch of their latest ComMAX™ reference design platform, the CM1125RD - an optimized multimode mobile WiMAX/GSM EDGE smartphone reference design platform.

• MAZeT offers EnDat-IP for customized applications
• Sequans Speeds Tapeout of 65-Nanometer Mobile WiMAX Single Die Baseband Chip with Cadence Low-Power Solution
• Jasper Extends Formal Verification Technology Lead With Four New Patents
• Audience, a voice processor company, closes $15 million round of funding
• SilTerra Ready For 110nm CMOS Logic Technology Pilot Production

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 24, 2009

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GDA Positioning to Make a Major Impact in 3GPP and WiMAX/LTE Being a Power Architecture VAR

GDA Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of configurable, reliable and production-proven Intellectual Property (IP) solutions and services for Communication, Storage and Consumer markets, today announced that it has entered into an agreement to become an IBM Power Architecture Power Design Center. The agreement provides GDA the right to directly sublicense PowerPC processor cores as part of its IP and Services offerings.

• Tensilica Strengthen its Focus on Audio, Video and Baseband DSP by Adding Mahesh Venkatraman As New VP of Marketing, Vertical Segments
• Xilinx Demonstrates Next-Generation 100GE Interface with Best-in-Class Ecosystem Support
• ARC Extends Reach in Medical Device Market On New License Agreement with Boston Scientific
• Northwest Logic and Tokyo Electron Device Enter Into A Distribution Partnership
• Ciranova and TSMC Announce Strategic Partnership on Advanced PDK Technology
• ST-Ericsson Extends EDGE Leadership with Fully Integrated Single-Chip Solutions for Feature-Rich, Low-Cost Handsets

Headlines for Monday Mar. 23, 2009

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NXP demonstrates world's first functional Cortex-M0 silicon

NXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today announced the world’s first functional ARM® Cortex™-M0 silicon. The Cortex-M0 processor represents a breakthrough in terms of size, low power and energy efficiency while its simplicity makes it one of the easiest architectures to use on the market today.

• Unisys Corporation Purchases Moore Microprocessor Patent Portfolio License
• MIPS Technologies Appoints Semiconductor Industry Veteran Art Swift as Vice President of Marketing
• Digital Core Design joins Actel's CompanionCore Partners Program
• ARM Outlines Vision for Next Generation of Mobile Gaming
• Giga Solution and Global Unichip Launch the Industry's First RF SiP Test Solution for Mobile TV Tuner Mass Production
• Broadcom Announces Industry's First 65nm All-DSP, Dual PHY Solutions for 10GbE SFP+ Applications
• K-micro Introduces Second Generation Burst Mode CDR SerDes for GPON OLTs
• Offshoring backlash rises as layoffs mount
• Multicore CPUs face slow road in comms

Headlines for Friday Mar. 20, 2009

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Gennum Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Tundra Semiconductor

Gennum and Tundra today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement providing for the acquisition by Gennum of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Tundra, a supplier of system interconnect products and intellectual property (IP) to the world’s leading communications, computing and storage companies. The transaction, which is valued at approximately Cdn$86 million, adds new digital switch and bridge products and functionality to Gennum and builds on Gennum’s growth strategy of extending its high-speed signal integrity expertise and solutions to a broader set of markets.

• Sarance Technologies Releases 40G/100G Ethernet IP for General Availability
• Aeroflex Gaisler Announces LynxOS Support for the LEON processor

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 19, 2009

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MAZeT offers Interbus-IP for customized FPGA and ASIC implementation

MAZeT GmbH offers IP cores for the Interbus protocol (SUPI4 / Phoenix Contact) for implementation in FPGAs and ASICs. The protocol chip for serial communication interfaces in automation technology was developed and maintained by MAZeT.

• GCT Semiconductor Leverages MIPS Technologies' Analog IP for Mobile WiMAX(TM)
• 4M Wireless Licenses LTE Protocol Stack to 4G Baseband Chip Vendor
• CriticalBlue Delivers Prism, The First Embedded Multicore Development System to Leverage Unmodified Sequential Software

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 18, 2009

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MIPS Technologies Achieves Technical Milestones for USB 2.0 High-Speed PHY IP

MIPS Technologies today announced that its 40nm USB 2.0 High-Speed PHY IP achieved certification from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) and met TSMC’s TSMC9000 standards in its 40nm LP process.

• apt-X expands Licensing business in Consumer Electronics following the sale of its APT Broadcast hardware division
• Tokyo Electron Device Announces Quad Virtex-5 FPGA Platform For High-Speed Computing
• Faraday Offers 0.13um miniIO with around 40% Area-Saving and Robust ESD Performance
• MindTree Adopts Mirabilis Design's VisualSim to Deliver Architecture Exploration Services to its Semiconductor and Hardware Customers

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 17, 2009

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IPextreme Levels the Playing Field with Constellations Program

IPextreme today announced another business model innovation for the semiconductor IP industry, its Constellations™ program. Constellations provides the business level infrastructure for enabling an open community of independent semiconductor IP companies to collaborate at the sales level by sharing sales intelligence and market wisdom to provide a virtual world-wide sales footprint.

• Rapid Bridge announces Value and Innovate Pricing Plans
• Sun and Wind River Deliver Carrier Grade Linux for Next-Generation Networking on Sun's UltraSPARC(R) T2 Processor
• SpringSoft Completes Acquisition of Certess
• Altera Ships Industry's Highest Density Transceiver FPGAs

Headlines for Monday Mar. 16, 2009

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Silistix Announces Industry's First Mixed Synchronous/Asynchronous Network-on-Chip Solution in CHAIN(R)works 3.0

Silistix Inc. today announced CHAINworks 3.0, enabling architects and designers of complex chips to synthesize Networks-on-Chip (NoC) using both synchronous and asynchronous circuit techniques.

• Denali IP Product Deployed in Celeno's Latest HD Video Wi-Fi Chip
• ON Semiconductor to Offer New Intellectual Property Blocks for Industry-Standard Interfaces, Microcontrollers and Peripherals
• WiMedia Announces New Agreements with Bluetooth SIG and Wireless USB
• Imagination Technologies launches advanced, highly-efficient POWERVR SGX543MP multi-processor graphics IP family
• Altera's Embedded Systems Development Kit Accelerates the Creation of Cyclone III FPGA-Based Embedded Designs
• Actel Announces SoftConsole Version 2.2 -- Free Embedded Software Development Environment
• Coresonic Joins ARM Connected Community
• DAFCA Appoints Dennis Shepard CEO and Introduces Two New Products
• Cadence Enhances Low-Power Solution Enabling More Predictable Power-Efficient Design
• Synopsys Announces Yield Explorer - Design-Centric Yield Management for Product Engineering Teams
• Synopsys Introduces Lynx Design System

Headlines for Friday Mar. 13, 2009

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Full debugging features at the lowest silicon cost with Dolphin Integration 16-bit microcontroller thanks to the innovative Virtual Clone

Offering to 8051 software developers a complete set of debugging features - unlimited watchpoints, unlimited breakpoints, unlimited trace memory depth, etc - at practically no silicon expense is achievable with the patented solution of Virtual Clone.

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 12, 2009

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Xilinx CEO: Venture capital won't return to semis

Venture capital funding is in short supply and won't return to the semiconductor industry even after the current recession, according to Moshe Gavrielov, president and CEO of programmable logic supplier Xilinx Inc.

• Lattice Semiconductor Updates Guidance for First Quarter

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 11, 2009

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Carbon Announces Availability of ARM Cortex Models

The newly released Carbon Models include implementation-accurate models for all variations of the ARM® Cortex™-A9 MPCore™ multicore processor and PrimeCells®, including the AMBA® 3 Interconnect (PL301) matrix.

• MIPS Technologies Announces Multi-Core Milestone
• ViXS Systems Selects Virage Logic's High-Performance Intelli(TM)DDR 2/3 Memory Interface IP Solution for Video Processing Systems
• Key Information in Litigation against Semiconductor Industry Uncovered by Article One Partners Community
• Lenovo Sued for MPEG-2 Patent Infringement

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 10, 2009

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Synopsys DesignWare USB 2.0 nanoPHY and PCI Express 1.1 PHY IP First to Achieve Compliance in UMC's 65-Nanometer Process Technologies

Synopsys, Inc. , a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design and manufacturing, today announced that the DesignWare® USB 2.0 nanoPHY IP and PCI Express® 1.1 PHY are the first IP cores to achieve compliance in UMC's 65-nanometer (nm) SP and LL process technologies.

• Evatronix Releases High Resolution Display Controller IP Core
• Analyst sees ARM CPUs in most netbooks by 2012
• CebaTech Takes Intellectual Property Business to the Next Level with CebaRIP Rapidly Tunable Cores
• U.S. District Court Enters Final Judgment for $397M Against Hynix in Favor of Rambus
• TSMC Announces February 2009 Sales Report and Revises First-Quarter Business Guidance
• LogicVision Announces Memory BIST & Repair Solutions for 45nm SOI Foundry Customers
• Rambus and Hynix Agree on Damages and Terms for Compulsory License
• Sonics Marks Licensee Milestone with Total Shipments Surpassing 500 Million Units

Headlines for Monday Mar. 09, 2009

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Gennum's Snowbush IP Group Delivers Industry's First Available USB 3.0 Integrated PHY and Controller IP

The integrated Snowbush device PHY and controller solution satisfies the 5 Gb/s speed requirement of USB 3.0, and exceeds the critical specifications for jitter and jitter tolerance, providing substantial margin to designers for creating robust products with excellent interoperability.

• Gennum's Snowbush IP Group Enables Proliferation of PCI Express Gen 2 Products With Industry's First 9-Port Switch IP Block
• Chartered Updates Guidance for First Quarter
• Interview: IEC Executive Perspectives DesignCon 2009 with Xerxes Wania, President and CEO, Sidense Corp.
• Tundra Semiconductor Selects Synopsys as Its Primary EDA Partner
• Actel's New Fusion Embedded Development Kit Showcases Unique Mixed-Signal FPGA Design Capabilities
• K-micro Announces Availability of CatsEye Development Systems
• Intelop announces 10 G bit Ethernet MAC + PCIe + AMBA 2.0 Core which Receives and Transmits 64 - 1518 Byte packets at full line rate and is customizable for implementing differentiated application features
• Conexant Expands Audio Portfolio With New Speaker-On-A-Chip Semiconductor Solutions
• Agilent Technologies' New System-Level Communications Design Software Speeds Development Cycle

Headlines for Friday Mar. 06, 2009

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Dolphin Integration announces New High Density library Back-Tracking-Free in 180 and 65 nm

Dolphin Integration pursues its unique strategy in the field of standard cells with their unique "Reduced Cell Stem Libraries" by enhancing its celebrated ultra High Density library “SESAME uHD” with the patented Back Tracking Freedom (BTF).

• Software a hurdle for ARM-based netbook hopefuls
• Faraday Monthly Sales Report - February 2009

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 05, 2009

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Alvand Technologies Announces Industry's Lowest Power, Smallest Die-Area Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) Intellectual Property (IP) Solution in Advanced 65nm Process Node

Designed in UMC’s leading 65nm manufacturing process node, the ALVADC10_205M65U IP solution from Alvand is a robust 10-bit, 205 Mega-samples-per-second (MSPS) pipeline ADC that features excellent dynamic range performance, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 58.5 dBFS, and high immunity to substrate noise.

• Synopsys DesignWare IP for PCI Express First IP to Pass Agilent Technologies' Inline Error Injection Testing
• Alvand Technologies' Ultra-Low Power ADC/DAC IP Has Been Selected By Faraday Technology for High-Performance, and Next-Generation Mixed-Signal ASICs
• Wi-LAN Reports First Quarter 2009 Financial Results
• NEC Electronics Introduces new SoC for Car Audio Systems

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 04, 2009

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ARM Invests in Japanese Software Vendor eSOL

ARM and eSOL today announced that ARM has made a strategic investment in eSOL Co., Ltd , a leading Japanese embedded software developer, and that the two companies plan to collaborate on a series of initiatives aimed at leveraging their combined strengths and delivering compelling ARM® processor-based solutions to the automotive industry, in addition to the digital consumer products.

• S2C Offers Northwest Logic's High-Performance Memory Interface IP in China
• Zocalo Tech, Inc. Introduces First EDA Tool Dedicated to Assertion Library Productivity

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 03, 2009

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Analysis: Intel, ARM seen on collision course

Heading towards a collision course with ARM Holdings plc in the embedded world, Intel Corp. for the first time will transfer a processor technology outside to a silicon foundry.

• Xilinx Narrows March Quarter Guidance
• Fujitsu chooses ARM Cortex technology for automotive applications
• NXP Semiconductors and MIPS Technologies Introduce Industry's First 45nm HDMI 1.3 Receiver IP Solution
• MIPS Technologies Continues to Drive HDMI into Portable Applications with 40nm Interface IP
• New Java Technology SoC Simplifies Smart Infrastructure Developments
• Altera Updates First Quarter Guidance

Headlines for Monday Mar. 02, 2009

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Intel, TSMC Reach Agreement to Collaborate on Technology Platform, IP Infrastructure, SoC Solutions

Intel Corporation and TSMC today announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on addressing technology platform, intellectual property (IP) infrastructure, and System-on-Chip (SoC) solutions. Under the MOU, Intel would port its Atom processor CPU cores to the TSMC technology platform including processes, IP, libraries, and design flows. The collaboration is intended to expand Intel’s Atom SoCs availability for Intel customers for a wider range of applications through integration with TSMC’s diverse IP infrastructure.

• Wind River to Offer Linux Support for Altera's Nios II Embedded Processor
• Triad Semiconductor Introduces Mocha Family to Extend Via-Configurable Array Benefits to Mixed-Signal ASIC Design
• LatticeECP2M FPGA Enables Low Cost PCI Express Bridge for VOIP Platforms Based on Intel Architecture
• Kilopass Adds Industry Veteran Bill Cibulsky as VP of Worldwide Sales
• Virage Logic Selected by NEC Electronics as Trusted IP Partner for Advanced 40nm Technologies
• CEVA, Inc. Adopts Rule 10b5-1 Stock Repurchase Plan
• Keil Delivers Streamlined Development Environment for Embedded Software Development
• Nuvation Introduces Three New Video Security Reference Designs Featuring TI's DaVinci DM357
• Intelop announces customization services for their TCP-Offload Engine SoC IP for customers to target specific protocol implementation or differentiated features