D&R Headline News (March 2010)

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 31, 2010

Top Story

Silicon Image Reorganizes to Bring Increased Focus to Its Products and Intellectual Property Businesses

Silicon Image has formed two new business groups around its semiconductor and IP products, each with integrated marketing and sales teams. Eric Almgren, formerly vice president of business development and IP licensing, has been appointed vice president of the IP business group.

• Altera's Stratix IV GT FPGAs Interoperate Directly with 40G QSFP Optical Modules
• Elliptic Technologies Offers First Security Engine for Multi-Core System-On-Chip Designs
• CriticalBlue and MIPS Technologies Enable Software Developers to Quantify Benefits of Migrating to MIPS32-Based Multicore Platforms
• SiliconBlue Selects Synopsys as FPGA Synthesis Partner for Its iCE65 mobileFPGA Family
• Konica Minolta Adopts EVE's ZeBu Emulation Platform to Dramatically Accelerate Validation of Image Processing LSI Designs

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 30, 2010

Top Story

Faraday Launches Its USB 3.0 PHY in UMC 90nm

Faraday Technology today announced the availability of its commercial USB 3.0 physical layer (PHY) at UMC 90nm high-speed (HS) process. With smaller size and lower power consumption than peers', this new component is developed based upon USB 3.0 version 1.0 specification functionally and electrically, achieving the maximum speed of 5.0Gbps.

• MIPS Technologies Names Ravikrishna Cherukuri Vice President of Engineering
• Terawins, Inc. Selects MIPS Technologies' Processor IP for Next-Generation Multimedia ICs
• Avago Technologies Files Optical Sensor IP Lawsuit Against STMicroelectronics
• MPEG LA Lawsuit Against Alcatel Lucent Settled

Headlines for Monday Mar. 29, 2010

Top Story

MIPS Technologies and Virage Logic Partner to Offer Optimized Embedded Memory IP

MIPS and Virage Logic today announced they are teaming to offer optimized embedded memory IP for joint customers. With SRAM memory instances from the Virage Logic ASAP 90nm and SiWare 65GP High Density SRAM compiler families specifically optimized for MIPS32® processors, customers can speed development of complex SoCs targeted for Blu-ray DVD, HDTV, IPTV, set-top box and broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) devices.

• EnSilica launches major new version of its eSi-RISC Development Suite
• TSMC applies to take 10% stake in SMIC
• Pigeon Point Systems Delivers New MMC Management Solution using Smartfusion Intelligent Mixed Signal FPGAs
• Altera Rolls Out Production Shipments of Low-Cost, Low-Power Cyclone IV FPGAs
• Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Fell by More Than 10 Percent in 2009, According to Final Results by Gartner
• Design Compiler 2010 Doubles Productivity of Synthesis and Place and Route

Headlines for Friday Mar. 26, 2010

Top Story

MoSys Acquires MagnaLynx Inc.

MoSys today announced that it has acquired MagnaLynx Inc. a developer of high-speed, low-power serial chip-to-chip communications technology.

• Dolphin Integration announces the availability of a brand new Front End generator: spRAM Haumea for the 130 nm G process

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 25, 2010

Top Story

Kilopass First to Offer Logic Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) in TSMC 40nm and 45nm Low-Power (LP) Processes

Kilopass Technology today announced that its XPM™ embedded one-time programmable (OTP) NVM technology is the first to complete TSMC IP-9000 Level 4 qualification and skew characterization in both the TSMC™ 40nm and 45nm low-power (LP) process technologies.

• Bluespec High-Level Synthesis Toolset is Selected by Panasonic

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 24, 2010

Top Story

Virage Logic Introduces Industry Leading MIPI D-PHYs and Controllers on 40LP Process

Virage Logic today announced the availability of its SiPro(TM) MIPI Rx D-PHY and MIPI Tx D-PHY as well as CSI Rx (camera serial interface receiver) and DSI Tx (display serial interface transmitter) controllers on the 40LP process node in Q2 of this year which are based on the production proven D-PHYs announced last year.

• Intilop corporation (formerly intelop) releases a series of new TOE IP solutions that offer the fastest with lowest latency, highest TCP/IP performance and smallest size
• Synopsys Completes Acquisition of CoWare, Inc.
• Denali Software and Carbon Team for Transaction-Level Model Distribution
• IP Cores, Inc. Ships an AES Encryption Core Supporting the EAX' Encryption Mode of ANSI C12.22
• IC Mask Design Completes Physical Design of Video Processor IC on 65nm Technology Node
• IntegrIT Joins Tensilica's Xtensions Partner Network for DSP Software Services

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 23, 2010

• The MathWorks and Mentor Graphics Outline Joint DO-254 Workflow for Model-Based Design
• Open Virtual Platforms (OVP) Releases Vendor-Verified High Performance Models of Virage Logic's ARC Processors
• Virage Logic Names IBEX Technology as Japanese Sales Representative

Headlines for Monday Mar. 22, 2010

Top Story

Rapid Bridge Acquires QThink IC Design

Rapid Bridge announced today that it has made an asset purchase of QuantumThink Group, a San Diego-based, privately-held IC design services company with offices in San Jose and Bangalore, India. The acquisition will enable Rapid Bridge to offer its clients full front-to-back IC design services.

• 4G/LTE chips coming . . . but first, a little chaos
• Dolphin Integration completes their catalog of Standard Cell Libraries with a new stem optimized for low leakage: LL-BTF
• Vitesse's New Forward Error Correction Technology Accelerates Migration to 100G
• Mindspeed Achieves LTE Standards Compliance for Transcede Reference Software Using Agilent Technologies' SystemVue Environment
• Multiple Tensilica IP Cores Power NEC, Fujitsu and Panasonic Mobile Communications Fully Functional LTE Handset SOC for Major Japanese Wireless Carrier
• Intilop (formerly Intelop) corporation's TCP Offload engine IP solution delivers amazing TCP/IP throughput as reported by customers in system level performance testing

Headlines for Friday Mar. 19, 2010

Top Story

Chip market to slow in second half, says TSMC's Chang

TSMC Chairman Morris Chang has said he expects chip market growth to slow in the second half of 2010, before picking up again in 2011, according to a Taiwan Economic News report.

• Imagination Technologies Group plc - Interim Management Statement
• Intrinsix to Host New England Semiconductor Council Networking Event April 7th

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 18, 2010

Top Story

Lessons for IP reuse

In the ten years or so that it has taken for design reuse, or design with IP, to go from a niche interest to mainstream chip implementation, teams have developed an understanding of what it can do for them, and how to budget accordingly. However, there are still surprises to be negotiated, as some aspects of design reuse are counter-intuitive, especially when it comes to reusing some piece of IP developed in-house in another chip. Designers

• Updated: Sequans' WiMax chip drives Sprint Nextel's first 4G phone
• Arteris Announces Support For New ARM AMBA 4 Interconnect Specification
• Who is largest buyer of chips?
• Analyst: Tabula won't have immediate market impact

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 17, 2010

Top Story

ViaSat Announces New 100G Optical Transport Forward Error Correction (FEC) Products and Digital Signal Processing Services

ViaSat is introducing a family of forward error correction (FEC) products for 100G optical transport. These FEC and digital signal processing (DSP) products, available in either FPGA or ASIC cores, can provide major cost savings over optical compensation techniques, increase optical channel capacity, and extend the range of transmission for optical cables.

• MIPS Technologies and DMP Collaborate on Android(TM) Development for MIPS(R) Architecture
• CoWare Announces Software Development Solution for ARM Cortex-A5 and ARM Cortex-M4 Processor-Based Designs
• Innovative Silicon's Z-RAM Technology Meets Low Voltage and Bulk Silicon Requirements of DRAM Memory Manufacturers
• Aldi Nord, Aldi Sud and Lidl Sued for MPEG-2 Patent Infringement
• Actel Corporation Updates First Quarter Guidance

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 16, 2010

Top Story

ARM to Reshape the Smartcard Market with Industry's Smallest and Most Energy-Efficient Securcore SC000 Processor

ARM today announced the launch of the highly compact and energy-efficient ARM® SecurCore™ SC000™ processor, designed specifically for the highest volume smartcard and embedded security applications.

• NEC Electronics and Renesas Announce the New Organizational Structure and Personnel Changes Following Merger
• Xilinx Demonstrates Cost and Power Reductions for 40G OTN Muxponder With Partial Reconfiguration Technology
• Topscomm Selects Accent for China Smart Grid Powerline Communication Applications
• Mentor Graphics to Extend Cooperation with STMicroelectronics for Advanced Chip-Development Design Solutions

Headlines for Monday Mar. 15, 2010

Top Story

Samsung Electronics Licenses Kilopass' Embedded Non-Volatile Memory Technology for its Foundry Business

Kilopass Technology today announced that Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. will support Kilopass’ one-time programmable (OTP) antifuse memory, XPM™, in its foundry business’ advanced logic processes.

• Semiconductor Industry at Most Profitable Level in a Decade
• Tabula Launches ABAX Family of 3-D Programmable Logic Devices Delivering Unprecedented Capabilities at Volume Price Points
• Ensphere Solutions Announced the Availability of a High Accuracy Temperature Sensor Intellectual Property
• Evatronix Optimizes its I2S Audio Interface Controller by Adding TDM Support and Single Channel Operation
• Rockchip Deploys CEVA MM2000 Programmable Multimedia Solution for Android-Powered HD Multimedia Processors
• SpringSoft Unveils Unique Automated Custom Digital IC Place and Route Tools
• Tensilica Introduces Third Generation Diamond Standard Controllers Optimized for Low Power, High Performance Applications
• Arasan Chip Systems to deliver a keynote at Design & Reuse's IP-SoC Day seminar in Santa Clara

Headlines for Friday Mar. 12, 2010

• Dolphin Integration are gearing up to celebrate their 25 years of age thanks to a strategy subtle and in constant evolution
• Noesis Technologies releases fully configurable N-point FFT/IFFT core

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 11, 2010

Top Story

Sonics Announces Support for AMBA 4 Specification

Sonics, Inc.®, announced that its on-chip communications solutions will support phase one of the new AMBA® 4 protocol unveiled this week by ARM. This ensures that chip designers who currently use the AMBA 3 specification will have an easy migration path to AMBA 4 products as design upgrades are rolled out. ARM indicates further enhancements to the specification will be available later this year.

• Khronos Unleashes Cutting-Edge, Cross-Platform Graphics Acceleration with OpenGL 4.0
• IC Insights Raises Worldwide 2010 IC Market Growth Forecast to +27%
• Gennum Expands Snowbush IP Support to Customers in Japan with Inventure Inc.
• Intelop announces new web address

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 10, 2010

Top Story

Tier Logic announces innovative 3D-FPGA technology: low-cost FPGAs & no-risk, timing-exact ASICs

Tier Logic, Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company, today introduced its new 3D-based technology for FPGAs and ASICs, known respectively as its TierFPGA™ and TierASIC™ devices. Tier Logic separates user circuits and configuration circuits into three-dimensional (3D) stacked layers. Reducing the configuration overhead from the base-layers of silicon allows Tier Logic to produce smaller, denser, faster, lower-power, and more reliable FPGAs.

• Silicon Hive Introduces HiveLogic Configurable Parallel Processing Platform
• TSMC February 2010 Sales Report
• Evatronix invites SoC developers to its free technical 8051 and USB seminars in Beijing,China and Hsinchu, Taiwan
• LSI licenses Silicon Hive's Configurable Parallel Processing Platform HiveLogic
• Lighting and Display Industry Leaders Join Rambus
• InterDigital Signs Casio Hitachi Mobile Communications to Worldwide 2G and 3G Patent License Agreement
• eMemory collaborates with MagnaChip to offer 0.11um HV embedded NVM technology
• TowerJazz Joins IPL Alliance to Achieve Interoperability of Process Design Kits for Analog/Mixed-Signal Designs
• GigOptix Receives Approximately $500,000 Funding to Enable New Era of Ultra Fast Hybrid Silicon-Organic Integrated Circuits Based on Proprietary Polymer
• CEVA to Demonstrate Software-Based LTE UE PHY and HD Video Platforms at CTIA Wireless 2010
• Mentor Graphics Adds AMBA 4 Verification IP to the Questa Multi-view Verification Components Library

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 09, 2010

Top Story

nSys Announces Functional Coverage Test Suites for Major Standards/ Protocols

nSys Design Systems, offering the world’s largest portfolio of Verification IPs, announced the availability of Functional Coverage Test Suites for its nSys Verification Suite (nVS) portfolio. Coverage Driven Methodology checks whether all possible significant combinations of variables, assertions & transitions have been covered in verification.

• S3 Group ICs Drive New Iridium 9602 Satellite Data Transceiver
• Imagination Announces Quarter of a Billion POWERVR Devices Shipped
• POSEDGE announces Ultra Speed, High Performance, and Low Gate Count SD/SDIO/eMMC Host Controller IP

Headlines for Monday Mar. 08, 2010

Top Story

ARM AMBA 4 Specification Maximizes Performance and Power Efficiency

ARM today announced availability of phase one of the new AMBA(R) 4 specification, providing increased functionality and efficiency for complex, media-rich on-chip communication. Phase one of the AMBA 4 specification includes definition of an expanded family of AXI(TM) interconnect protocols including AXI4, AXI4-Lite and AXI4-Stream. The AXI4 protocol adds support for longer bursts and Quality of Service (QoS) signaling, and is a natural extension of the AMBA 3 specification.

• Altera's Stratix IV FPGAs Pass Interlaken Interoperability Test
• Tilera Receives Investment From Broadcom
• Carbon Unveils New Generation of ARM Models with Availability of Mali Models
• Lattice Ships Over 200 Million ispMACH 4000 CPLD Devices
• Arasan Chip Systems releases NAND Flash File system Software
• Lantiq Sues Network Equipment Manufacturer Billion Electric
• OSCI Completes First Analog/Mixed-Signal Standard for SystemC-based Design

Headlines for Friday Mar. 05, 2010

• MIPS Technologies Simplifies Android Application Development with Tools for the MIPS Architecture
• Forte Design Systems Ships Latest Version of CellMath Designer
• MindTree Releases ONVIF 1.01 Software Stack

Headlines for Thursday Mar. 04, 2010

Top Story

Altera: Industry faces 'platform collision'

During a presentation at the Semico Outlook Conference here, an executive for programmable logic vendor Altera Inc. outlined the current and future challenges for the semiconductor industry

• Landshut Silicon Foundry Chooses ChipStart as Solutions Partner
• Imagination Technologies adopts XJTAG to speed development of system-on-chip designs
• Nangate announces 45nm Open Cell MegaLibrary and easy access to Nangate Design Optimizer evaluation
• X-FAB First to Deliver Single-Block Embedded NVRAM as Pure Play Foundry Solution
• eASIC Announces Immediate Availability of Aeroflex Gaisler's Leon4 Processor

Headlines for Wednesday Mar. 03, 2010

Top Story

Mentor CEO: IC design costs to hit $100M

Chip design costs are expected to soar, but software--not hardware--is playing a much greater role in the problematic equation, according to the top executive of Mentor Graphics Corp.

• Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. Announces Termination Of Distribution Agreement With Xilinx, Inc
• Synopsys System Studio Speeds DSP Algorithm Development With New Matrix Data-Type Support
• Lattice Semiconductor Raises Guidance for First Quarter 2010 on Robust Growth
• Xilinx Lowers Cost and Power of High-Performance Video Processing for Industrial Imaging Applications
• Xilinx Simplifies Development of Real-time Ethernet Networks for Industrial Automation Applications

Headlines for Tuesday Mar. 02, 2010

Top Story

Actel Introduces SmartFusion Devices - FPGAs with ARM Cortex-M3 Processor and Programmable Analog

Actel unveiled SmartFusion™, the world's first intelligent mixed signal FPGA. Available in production quantities, SmartFusion devices feature Actel's proven FPGA fabric, a complete microcontroller subsystem built around a hard ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor and programmable analog blocks on a flash process.

• CSEM introduces a new generation of ultra low power DSP RISC cores for portable applications
• Crack Semiconductor Releases Performance Data For The CS256-ECC and CS1024-PKA Processors
• iSine Inc. Releases Extreme ECC(tm) for NAND Flash SOC's optimized for ASIC and Xilinx FPGA implementation
• Actel Releases Comprehensive Development Environment and Ecosystem for SmartFusion Intelligent Mixed Signal FPGAs
• Xilinx and Inova Semiconductors Simplify Design Integration of High-Bandwidth Video Connections for Automotive Applications
• Xilinx Expands Market-Leading Automotive Silicon Portfolio With Spartan-6 FPGAs Optimized to Reduce System Cost

Headlines for Monday Mar. 01, 2010

Top Story

Tabula Introduces Breakthrough Spacetime Programmable Logic Architecture

Tabula, Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company developing 3-D Programmable Logic Devices (3PLD), today introduced Spacetime, a groundbreaking programmable logic architecture that uses time as a third dimension to deliver unmatched capability and affordability.

• DOLPHIN Integration introduces EMBLEM-MATH: a library of mathematical equations to build complex behavioral models
• CoWare Unveils Next-Generation, System-Centric Analysis for CoWare Platform Architect and CoWare Virtual Platform
• T-Venture Makes Strategic Investment in Lantiq
• ARM Launches DS-5 Development Tools For ARM Linux-Based Systems
• Noesis Technologies releases NIST FIPS-197 compliant Low Power AES IP core
• New Freescale Processor Helps Lower Costs and Foster Innovation for Next-Generation eReaders