D&R Headline News (February 2010)

Headlines for Friday Feb. 26, 2010

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AuthenTec Acquires SafeNet's Embedded Security Solutions Division

AuthenTec, a leading provider of smart fingerprint sensors and solutions, announced today that it has acquired SafeNet, Inc.'s Embedded Security Solutions Division in a cash and stock transaction which further strengthens AuthenTec's offering of security and identity management solutions.

• Six reasons why no one wants an Atom-based SoC
• Magillem introduces Rev.Enge, the first platform tackling the obsolescence issue in the electronic CAD flow
• Presto Engineering Offering Semiconductor Test And Analysis Services in New European Hub

Headlines for Thursday Feb. 25, 2010

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TSMC's R&D boss addresses 40-nm yields, high-k, litho

At the TSMC Japan Executive Forum in Yokohama this week, Shang-Yi Chiang, senior vice president of R&D at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC), addressed several issues about the silicon foundry giant. Chiang discussed TSMC's 40-nm capacity, yield issues, high-k and lithography.

• Intel-TSMC Atom partnership reportedly on hold
• Octera and Cytech Sign Global Alliance Agreement
• Rochester Electronics re-creates, manufactures critical end-of-life semiconductors, enabling customers to avoid system re-qualification
• STMicroelectronics Introduces SPEAr Microprocessors for Embedded-Control Applications
• Tokyo Electron Device Announces TB-6V-LX240T, LX365T, LX550T, AND SX475T-PCIEXP Large-Scale PCI Express Gen 2 Evaluation Platforms With Virtex-6 FPGAs
• Gartner Says Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue to Grow 20 Percent in 2010
• Networking & Storage Leaders Adopt 100/ 40G Ethernet Verification IP from nSys

Headlines for Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010

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Comment: ARM must beware of the 'tied-selling' trap

The success of ARM Holdings plc with its series of low-power processing cores, and its relatively small-scale success - so far - with its Mali graphics processing cores puts ARM in a potentially dangerous position.

• ExpertIO announces PCI Express System Verification Component
• Samsung Expands Green Line-up with Industry's First Volume 40nm-class 4Gigabit DDR3
• MDA Adds Significant Flexibility to its Unique Analog Design Platform M-Design

Headlines for Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010

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Xilinx confirms: TSMC in, UMC out at 28-nm

Xilinx said it will use TSMC as one of two foundry suppliers for its 28-nm FPGAs, a major strategy shift that has been the subject of industry rumors and analyst speculation for weeks.

• Duolog Tools Auto-generate OVM Verification Environment
• Korea's Leading Fabless Semiconductor Company Selects Sonics for Mobile Digital Multimedia Product
• GateRocket Enhances Industry's Most Effective FPGA Debug Solution with New Features to Reduce Design Bring-up Time by 50% or More
• MOSAID Technologies Inc. Announces Closing of $31.0 Million Bought Deal Financing
• Altera Transitions its 40-nm Arria II GX FPGAs to Production
• Ittiam Systems Unveils its Audio Processing Software for the ARM Cortex-M4 Processor
• Cortus Announces uCLinux for the APS3 Family of Processors
• Xilinx Picks 28nm High-Performance, Low-Power Process to Accelerate Platforms for Driving the Programmable Imperative
• Accent Confirms Commitment to Quality by Receiving ISO 9001:2008 Certification

Headlines for Monday Feb. 22, 2010

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ARM Launches Class-Leading Cortex-M4 Processor For High Performance Digital Signal Control

ARM today announced the launch of the innovative Cortex™-M4 processor to provide a highly efficient solution for digital signal control (DSC) applications, while maintaining the industry leading capabilities of the ARM® Cortex-M family of processors for advanced microcontroller (MCU) applications.

• Avery Design Systems Announces AMBA AXI and AHB Verification Solution
• Dolphin Integration widens their catalog with libraries targeting both Low Power and High Speed
• NXP Licenses ARM Cortex-M4 Processor for 32-bit Microcontroller Signal Processing Applications
• CoWare SPW Boosts Signal Processing Prototyping for Advanced Wireless Systems
• STMicroelectronics Announces World's First 55 Nanometer Embedded Flash Process Technology for Automotive Microcontrollers
• OneSpin Solutions Announces Customizable Integration Between 360 MV Verification Solution and Platform LSF Infrastructure
• Jasper Releases New Formal Verification Proof Kits For LPDDR1, LPDDR2 and DDR3
• EDA chiefs hazard no guesses on 2010 market
• Arasan Chip Systems introduces Ethernet Technology for Real-time environments at Ethernet Technology Summit 2010
• Samsung Electronics and Xilinx Announce Full Production Qualification for Xilinx's Spartan-6 FPGA Family on 45nm Low-Power Process Technology
• Reference Virtual Platform of ARM Model Running Linux Under SystemC/TLM-2.0 Released by Open Virtual Platforms (OVP)
• TowerJazz Rolls Out Full Library of Patented Y-Flash Non-Volatile Memory Blocks
• SpringSoft Releases Industry's Most Robust OA-Compliant Custom IC Solution

Headlines for Friday Feb. 19, 2010

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SiliconGate Introduces the First Ultra Fast DC/DC IP for Process Technologies Ranging from 0.25um to 40nm

SILICONGATE today announced the availability of silicon-proven SGC67120, the first in a family of synchronous step-down DC/DC converters designed to operate from a 1.8V to 5.5V input and deliver up to 3A to 0.6V to 3.6V outputs. With an extremely fast 1.5µs response time, this new converter promises to reduce the external capacitor size and overall solution cost for portable applications.

• Google Closes On2 Technologies Acquisition

Headlines for Thursday Feb. 18, 2010

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Denali Software Delivers Industry's First 40/100Gb Ethernet Verification IP Solution

Denali today announced the industry's first PureSpec-Ethernet verification intellectual property (VIP) product to support the preliminary 40/100 Gigabit(Gb) specification from the IEEE Ethernet Task Force and delivery to current networking and communication customers for use in deploying next-generation Ethernet products.

• Synopsys Posts Financial Results for First Quarter Fiscal Year 2010
• A dissenting opinion on the 'programmable imperative'
• SoftJin announces High Performance JPEG Encoder and Decoder IP

Headlines for Wednesday Feb. 17, 2010

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CEVA DSP Powers Samsung's First Generation LTE Modem

CEVA today announced that Samsung Electronics has deployed CEVA DSP core technology in their first generation commercial Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem. The Kalmia modem chipset supports download speed up to 100Mbps and upload speed of 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency bandwidth.

• Intrinsic-ID names Tim Smith as Vice President of Sales in North America
• PLX to Demonstrate World's First PCI Express Gen 3 Switch
• eSilicon Names Ajay Lalwani as Vice President, Strategic Sourcing
• Open Virtual Platforms (OVP) Initiative Releases High Performance Models of Advanced MIPS Technologies Processors
• Open-Silicon and Virage Logic Partner to Deliver Silicon Proven IP for SoC Design
• Arasan Joins Atrenta's SpyLinks Partner Program

Headlines for Tuesday Feb. 16, 2010

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Silicon Hive Announces Technology Collaboration with Intel Corporation

Silicon Hive B.V. announced a technology collaboration with Intel to apply its parallel processing technology across mobile and embedded segments based on the Intel Atom Processor roadmap. Previously, Intel Capital had led a $7M investment round in Silicon Hive.

• Elliptic Technologies Offers Solution to Longstanding Security challenge - implementing asymmetric or public key cryptography
• Imagination unfazed by Samsung's Mali move
• Comsys Mobile Announces Baseband Development Platform for LTE UE SoC
• MindTree Unveils Bluetooth(R) Low Energy Stack on TI's WiLink 7.0 Solution
• CoWare Releases Renesas' SH-4A Core Model and Reference Virtual Platform for Automotive, Consumer and Wireless Designs
• Triad Semiconductor Announces First Mixed-signal ARM Cortex-M0 Processor with 16-bit ADC and 12-bit DAC
• Imagination's POWERVR SGX540 Demonstrated in Texas Instruments' Latest OMAP 4 Platform
• Beceem Selects CEVA-XC DSP for 4G Multi-Mode Baseband Chipsets
• Intelop corporation's TCP Offload engine IP delivers amazing TCP/IP throughput

Headlines for Monday Feb. 15, 2010

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GLOBALFOUNDRIES and ARM Define the Standard for Mobile Technology Platform Innovation at MWC 2010

GLOBALFOUNDRIES and ARM today unveiled new details on their leading-edge System-on-Chip (SoC) platform technology for powering the next generation of wireless products and applications. The new chip manufacturing platform is projected to enable a 40 percent increase in computing performance, a 30 percent decrease in power consumption, and a 100 percent increase in standby battery life.

• NXP's New 120 MHz ARM Cortex-M3 Microcontrollers Top DSP Benchmarks
• Lantiq Successfully Closes Acquisition of WLAN Assets and Intellectual Property from Metalink
• New multicore system-on-a-chip architecture from Texas Instruments to deliver 5X performance and simplified design for communications infrastructure equipment
• ST-Ericsson and ARM Enable Support for Android on Next-Generation Multicore Mobile Platforms
• Mixel and Graphin Announce a MlPl M-PHY Strategic Partnership
• Mixel's MIPI D-PHY IP Licensed by Canesta
• Samsung and ARM Expand Relationship to Drive Graphics Processing for Future Mobile and Consumer Products
• Imagination extends standards supported on ENSIGMA UCCP310 with Wi-Fi and ATSC, demonstrates SoC test chip
• CEVA Unveils Industry's First Multipurpose Programmable HD Video and Image Processing Platform for Connected Multimedia Devices
• Mindspeed Licenses Intellectual Property Cores for Next-Generation Radio Network Interfaces from Radiocomp
• Imagination Technologies and Adobe showcase the potential of a GPU accelerated Adobe Flash Player 10.1 mobile experience at MWC 2010
• Discretix to Provide Android and Windows Mobile DRM Security for Sony Ericsson
• Ittiam Enables 720p High Definition Multimedia on Portable Devices With Smart Codecs on the Texas Instruments OMAP3 platform
• Imagination's POWERVR SGX passes 100 OEM products milestone
• SiliconBlue Enables Differentiated Mobile Broadband Products with New P-Series mobileFPGA Devices

Headlines for Friday Feb. 12, 2010

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Blue Wonder Communications Uses 4M Wireless LTE Protocol Stack to Complete LTE Reference Platform

Blue Wonder has integrated its LTE baseband solution with the 4M Wireless LTE protocol as part of a complete LTE terminal reference platform.

• Teleca and Imagination Technologies bring Adobe Flash Platform to life
• ArrayComm and CEVA Partner to Develop LTE Wireless Infrastructure Solution
• Agilent and Silicon Hive to Demonstrate Programmable Digital Radio-Frequency Processing

Headlines for Thursday Feb. 11, 2010

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Silicon Hive announces World's First Programmable Digital Radio Frequency Processor for Smart Phones

Silicon Hive announces HiveFlex CSP2500 Digital RF Processor. The silicon-proven CSP2500 processor enables fully C-programmable, multi-standard smart phone transceiver platforms targeting EDGE, UMTS, LTE, cdma2000, WiFi and WiMAX technologies.

• Carbon Design Systems, VeriSilicon Form IP partnership
• Micron-Numonyx deal: What analysts are saying
• Anite, Blue Wonder and 4M Wireless Showcase LTE Interoperability
• Eureka Technology Supports PLB Bus Interface for Most of Its Popular IP Cores

Headlines for Wednesday Feb. 10, 2010

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ARM to detail power-efficient design technique

Researchers from ARM and the University of Michigan have demonstrated a 52 percent reduction in power on a 65-nm ARM processor running at more than 1 GHz, using a hybrid technique for dynamic detection and correction of timing errors, according to a paper scheduled to be presented at the International Solid State Circuits Conference.

• TSMC January 2010 Sales Report
• Athena Delivers Powerful 3GPP LTE Multi Radix FFT Processor Core
• IPextreme and Lauterbach Announce Interoperability of Lauterbach's Trace32 Debug System and IPextreme's IEEE 1149.7 cJTAG Semiconductor IP
• IPextreme and Globetech Solutions Announce Availability of Industry's First Complete IEEE 1149.7 cJTAG IP Solution
• Imec and Holst Centre present ADC with record figure of merit suited for low energy radios
• Imec, Renesas and M4S report a single-chip reconfigurable multi-standard wireless transceiver in 40nm CMOS
• Comment: Inside Apple's A4 processor
• Texas Instruments leads adoption of IEEE 1149.7 standard for improved JTAG functionality
• TES announces the availability of MAGiK : An OMAP based Graphics and Media application platform
• MIPS Technologies and SySDSoft Partner to Enable LTE on MIPS Architecture
• MIPS Technologies and Mavrix Technology Collaborate on Mobile SoC Development
• MIPS Technologies Partners with Intrinsyc Software to Bring 3.5G Telephony to the MIPS Architecture
• Leading Provider of 4G Mobile WiMAX Semiconductors Taps MIPS Technologies' Processor Cores
• Tensilica and mimoOn Partner for LTE Baseband Handset Solutions
• Sequans Selects CEVA DSP Core for LTE / WiMAX Chipsets
• Mymo Wireless Technology announces the release of the MW1000 LTE Air-interface and Protocol Stack
• S3 Group and Texas Instruments Deliver First Continua Certified Platform for Faster Development of Telehealth Devices
• Coreworks CWda60 IP wins IEC's 2010 DesignVision Award

Headlines for Tuesday Feb. 09, 2010

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Synopsys to Acquire CoWare, Inc.

Synopsys today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CoWare. When completed, the acquisition will expand Synopsys' portfolio of system-level design and verification products used in wireless, consumer and automotive design.

• STMicroelectronics Announces an Agreement for the Combination of Numonyx into Micron Technology, Inc.
• Cortus APS3 CPU family now has full support from Lauterbach TRACE32 Power Tools
• Numetrics Taps Veteran Software Executive as VP Engineering
• Arasan Chip Systems to exhibit in the MIPI Alliance Zone at 2010 Mobile World Congress
• Bluespec Delivers Plug-and-Play Library for Algorithm and Datapath Design
• HiSilicon, a Division of Huawei, Licenses Tensilica's Xtensa Dataplane Processor and ConnX DSP IP Cores
• Trident Microsystems and NXP Complete Transaction to Combine Set-Top Box and Television Systems Business Lines

Headlines for Monday Feb. 08, 2010

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Rambus Unveils Mobile XDR Memory for Next-Generation Mobile Products

Rambus today unveiled its Mobile XDR(TM) memory architecture for next-generation mobile products. Mobile XDR memory offers a high-bandwidth, low-power memory architecture to enable devices that exceed the power and performance targets for next-generation mobile products.

• CoWare Teams with Xilinx to Accelerate LTE Basestation Design
• MIPS Technologies Licenses Processor IP to Taiwan's IC Plus Corp.
• Tatvik Announces High Performance Video Codecs Optimized For Cortex-A8 Using ARM NEON Technology
• CEVA Introduces Comprehensive Partner Program Accelerating the Development of LTE, WiMAX and SDR Wireless Communications Solutions
• CEVA's New LTE Software Library Accelerates 4G Modem Development
• New CEO Sandeep Vij forms 'Team MIPS'
• Tensilica Introduces Second Generation ConnX BaseBand Engine DSP for Demanding Algorithms for LTE/4G Wireless Handsets and Base Stations
• Paradigm Works Releases Free Open Source Software for VMM-based Verification
• SpringSoft Simplifies Verification of Low-power Chips with Advanced Power-aware Debug Solution
• Tensilica Introduces ConnX Atlas Reference Architecture for LTE
• Broadcom Introduces 65nm 3G HSPA Chipset Solution to Enable High-Speed, Low Cost Smartphone Devices
• WiLAN and TELUS Sign Letter of Intent to Settle Lawsuit

Headlines for Friday Feb. 05, 2010

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Wind River to Add Virtutech Simics Products to Comprehensive Embedded Software Portfolio

Wind River, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation, today announced it will add the Virtutech product line to its embedded software product portfolio after the completion of Intel Corporation's acquisition of Virtutech signed earlier this week.

• MoSys, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Financial Results
• Actel Announces Fourth Quarter 2009 Financial Results and CEO Transition
• Silicon Image Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2009 Financial Results

Headlines for Thursday Feb. 04, 2010

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Sonics on Track to Reach One Billion Units by Year End

Company Surpasses 750 Million Unit Milestone as Customer Demand for On-Chip Network IP Increases

• GlobalFoundries wants 30% of foundry market, says report
• IP Cores, Inc. Announces a Family of Low-Latency AES/GCM IP Cores Supporting IEEE 802.11ad and WiGig Standards
• Marvell Selects Denali VIP Products for Next-Generation Products Enterprise-Wide Including Storage, Wireless, and Printer Businesses
• Blue Wonder Communications Launches LTE-IP Product BWC200
• Posedge Announces ONFI-2.2 Compliant Universal Flash Controller IP Core
• Panel: Outsourcing is 'cruel' but necessary
• Cadence Reports Q4 and Fiscal Year 2009 Financial Results
• Virage Logic Reports First Quarter Fiscal Year 2010 Results
• Design team execs left Apple to form startup
• Veteran chip exec envisions Brazilian mega-fab
• HDMI Licensing, LLC Makes 3D Portion of HDMI Specification Version 1.4 Available for Public Download

Headlines for Wednesday Feb. 03, 2010

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Synopsys Acquires VaST Systems Technology Corporation

Synopsys today announced it has acquired VaST Systems Technology to extend its virtual prototyping solutions into the automotive and consumer application space. The acquisition adds a comprehensive set of processor sub-system models frequently found in automotive and consumer applications to Synopsys' virtual prototyping portfolio.

• New IEEE Standard Enables Creation and Exchange of IP in Automated Design Environments
• Silicon Storage Technology to be Acquired by Microchip Technology
• Wind River Delivers Suite of Multi-architecture Embedded Software Development Tools
• Green Plug Announces Series B Investment In Its Environmentally-Friendly DC Power Technology
• Cambridge Consultants gives developers head start in Bluetooth product design with DEVA
• Giesecke & Devrient and ARM Protect Mobile Applications From Data Theft
• Cyclic Design Releases Advanced BCH Error Correction IP for Next Generation NAND Flash Applications

Headlines for Tuesday Feb. 02, 2010

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ARM lays out roadmap with three more cores

ARM Holdings plans to launch three processor cores during 2010. The cores, codenamed Eagle, Heron and Merlin, all have lead licensing customers and deliveries of intellectual property will start either in 2010 or early in 2011 depending on the core, said ARM CEO Warren East.

• SMSC Launches MediaLB Device Interface Macro IP Supporting 6-Pin MediaLB
• MoSys Announces Breakthrough Bandwidth Engine ICs and Serial Chip-to-Chip Communications Interface for Next Generation Networking Applications
• Black Sand Announces Acquisition of CMOS PA Intellectual Property
• Innopower Offers Industrial-leading Miniaturized Cell Library, the miniLib+ and miniIO+, in 130nm, 110nm, 65nm and 55nm Technologies
• Arasan Chip Systems offers a complete line of Memory Card Controller IP Cores and Software stacks
• IP Cores, Inc. Announces an Update of its Elliptic Curve Crypto Accelerator
• Macraigor Systems Extends On-Chip Debug Support to Intel’s Atom Processor
• SMIC and SHHIC in Commercial Production of 0.162um Embedded EEPROM
• ARM Holdings plc Reports Results For The Fourth Quarter and Full Year Ended 31 December 2009
• TranSwitch Corporation Announces a Workforce Reduction and Other Cost Savings Initiatives
• RF Engines Ltd (RFEL) launches highly configurable, multichannel RF signal generator
• Mixel Achieves Full-Chip Verification of a Programmable 3.2Gbps Quad Transceiver IP with Infinisim RASER
• IP Cores Selects Phoenix Technologies for Israel

Headlines for Monday Feb. 01, 2010

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Altera Unveils Innovations for 28-nm FPGAs

Altera announced today new innovations that will be incorporated into upcoming 28-nm FPGAs. Embedded HardCopy® Blocks, a new method for partial reconfiguration and embedded 28-Gbps transceivers will dramatically improve the density and I/O performance of next-generation Altera® FPGAs and further strengthen their competitive position versus ASICs and ASSPs.

• EDA pundits confront market projections for 2010
• Tata Elxsi extends portfolio of LTE solutions - LTE UE protocol stack accelerates time-to-market for LTE terminal devices
• Intelop announces a new Development platform based on Xilinx V5 FPGA for their TCP-Offload Engine SoC IP for customers to easily develop networking applications
• MOSAID Signs Wireless Patent License Agreement With Sony
• Evatronix and CMP collaborate to provide Universities and Research Laboratories with advanced IPs
• NEC Electronics and Renesas Announce the New Executive Team Following Merger
• Tensilica Introduces HiFi EP DSP Core for High Quality Audio in Home Entertainment and Smartphone Applications
• Chips&Media to Demonstrate Latest IP at Mobile World Congress 2010
• NetLogic Microsystems Enables Significantly Richer LTE and IPTV Network Services with the World's First Knowledge-based Processor with High-Speed Serial Interface
• Samsung Develops Most Advanced Green DDR3 DRAM, Using 30nm-class Technology
• Virage Logic's 45nm and 28nm SiWare Memory Compilers Automatically Support Calypto's PowerPro MG tool
• Cypress and Keil Team Up to Deliver High-Performance Compiler Options for Cypress's New PSoC 3 and PSoC 5 Architectures