EDA Blog Newsletter

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 11:15 PM CST

According to ABI Research, mobile operators and other service providers are planning mobile WiMAX networks all over the world, mainly in the 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands. ABI Research forecasts substantial numbers of WiMAX subscribers worldwide: more than 95 million using CPE devices by 2012, and almost 200 million using mobile devices, with some overlap between the two groups.

The major semiconductor and equipment makers, with the exception of Qualcomm and Ericsson, are staking out their positions for this emerging sector, while operators' enthusiasm, led by Sprint and Clearwire (a Craig McCaw startup that has received $600 million in venture backing from Intel and $300 million from Motorola) in the United States, is rising sharply. Vodafone is looking to WiMAX for some of its newer markets such as the Middle East and Eastern Europe; BT and Telecom Italia Mobile are also showing interest. In addition, ABI Research states that another as yet unnamed "major European mobile operator" is "seriously considering WiMAX."

Meanwhile chipset companies are positioning themselves to support a wide variety of device types beyond the traditional handsets and laptops, including UMPCs, mobile Internet devices, and consumer electronics products such as portable game devices, portable media players, and imaging devices.

More info: WiMAX Market Analysis and Forecasts »

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News - 2007.11.15 - Early Edition

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 11:01 PM CST

Atmel Introduces CAP Starter Kit for Customizable Microcontroller
Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced the launch of the AT91CAP9A-STK Starter Kit for its CAP(TM) Customizable Microcontroller product family. The CAP Starter Kit is the ideal vehicle for low-cost, no-risk evaluation of the customization capabilities of the CAP MCU by mapping application-specific IP blocks into its FPGA that emulates the functionality of the CAP's embedded Metal Programmable (MP) Block.

Phylinks Delivers Working-First-Silicon for PHY-820 PCIe PHY
Phylinks, Inc., an innovator of IP cores for the design of physical layer (PHY) high-speed serial interfaces, announced that it has delivered working-first-silicon of its PHY-820 PCIe PHY at the .13u process technology node. The PHY is designed with Phylinks' robust design-for-test (DFT) architecture with an extremely small footprint and low power consumption. The PHY-820 is the debut product in an upcoming lineup of high-speed mixed-signal IP with extensive DFT capabilities.

USB 2.0 Promoter Group Releases High Speed Inter-Chip 1.1 Specification
The USB 2.0 Promoter Group, responsible for the development of the USB 2.0 specification with support from the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), announced the public availability of the High Speed Inter-Chip (HSIC) 1.1 specification, a supplement to the USB 2.0 specification. The new specification supports faster chip-to-chip communication, at speeds up to 480 Mbps, allowing for multiple high bandwidth operations on devices like 3G/4G handsets, smartphones, set-top boxes, mobile internet devices and connectivity within the PC.

Echelon Announces LonWorks Worldwide Developers Conference
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON), the leading technology supplier for the widely-used LonWorks® control networking standard, announced it will host a Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California on May 14–16, 2008. The Worldwide Developers Conference attracts hardware and software developers and system integrators from around the world deploying the LonWorks platform in a variety of industries including building automation, consumer electronics, industrial control, street lighting, restaurant cooking equipment, and transportation systems. The announcement was made at the 2007 LonWorld® Conference and Exhibition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the world's largest event devoted to the LonWorks control networking platform.

Thales Naval Selects PrismTech OpenSplice DDS Middleware
PrismTech(TM), a leader in high-performance middleware and development tools, announced that it had signed a significant deal with Thales Naval for its OpenSplice(TM) DDS middleware. Under the terms of the deal PrismTech will provide Thales Naval with Software Licenses and Professional Services for the OpenSplice DDS middleware which is underpinning Thales Combat Management systems and naval applications including its flagship TACTICOS Net Centric Solution.

CEA Award Winners Feature Products with iTunes Tagging with HD Radio
iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer of digital HD Radio(TM) Technology, announced that iTunes® Tagging with HD Radio Technology is featured in two products that were Honorees of the Consumer Electronics Association's (CEA) prestigious Innovations Awards: Alpine Electronics of America's TUA-T550HD in the In-Vehicle Audio category and Polk Audio's new I-Sonic® Entertainment System 2 in the Enabling Technologies category. HD Radio receivers featuring iTunes Tagging will be on display during the 2008 International CES, January 7-10, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV, in the Innovations 2008 Showcase, Booth #70621; iBiquity's Booth #1831 in the North Hall; Polk Audio's Booth #20607 in the South Hall; and Alpine's meeting room #N101 in the North Hall, as well as many other locations.

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EDA Industry Revenue - Q2 2007

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 12:54 PM CST

The electronic design automation (EDA) industry, grew by 11.4% to $1,408.8 million in Q2 of 2007, versus $1,264.8 million in Q2 2006. The four-quarter average growth rate, which compares the most recent four quarters to the same four quarters in the prior year, was 14.6%. This increase reflects both the continuing growth of the industry as a whole and the growth of the MSS program. Companies that were tracked employed 26,164 professionals in Q2 2007, up 7.4 percent from the 24,362 employed in Q2 2006.

Revenue by Product Category

EDA's largest category, Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), generated revenue of $538.9 million in Q2 2007, 12.8 percent more than the same period in 2006. The four quarter moving average CAE growth rate was 11.8 percent.
IC Physical Design & Verification revenue increased 15.8 percent to $397.2 million in Q2 2007, compared to the same quarter in 2006. The four quarter moving average growth rate was 14.9 percent for IC Physical Design & Verification.
Semiconductor Intellectual Property (SIP) revenue totaled $269.2 million in Q2 2007, a 7.1 percent increase over Q2 2006. The four quarter moving average growth rate for SIP was 18.1 percent.
Services revenue was $84.8 million in Q2 2007, up 11.1 percent from Q2 2006. The four quarter moving average growth rate was 9.5 percent for Services.
Printed Circuit Board and Multi-Chip Module (PCB & MCM) revenue increased 1.9 percent over Q2 2006 to $118.7 million. The four quarter moving average growth rate for PCB & MCM was high at 22.3 percent.

Revenue by Consuming Region

North America, EDA's largest region, purchased $679.2 million of EDA products and services in Q2 2007, a 13.2 percent increase over Q2 2006. The four quarter moving average growth rate was 19.9 percent for North America.
Western Europe revenue was up 7.9 percent in Q2 2007 with revenues of $245.7 million compared to Q2 2006. The four quarter moving average growth for Western Europe was 8.7 percent.
2007 Q2 revenue from Japan declined 8.5 percent compared to Q2 2006 to $244.8 million. The four quarter moving average decrease was 1.0 percent for Japan.
Rest-of-World (ROW) continued to extend previous years of revenue growth by increasing 41.2 percent to $239.0 million in Q2 2007 compared to the same quarter in 2006. The four quarter moving average growth was also strong at 31.7 percent.

More info:
EDA Consortium »

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EDA News - 2007.11.14

Posted: 14 Nov 2007 12:42 PM CST

Microchip Creates QVGA Graphics Solution for Low Cost Embedded Display
Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, introduced a QVGA Graphics Solution for implementing graphics display and control into cost-sensitive graphical user interface applications. Available today, this easy-to-use offering comprises a free, highly optimized graphics library and source code; third-party library support; low-cost, full-featured development tools including the new Graphics PICtail(TM) Plus daughter board; and PIC24F 16-bit microcontrollers.

JEDEC Selects Altera for Technical Recognition Award
Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) announced its quality and reliability department was presented with the JEDEC Technical Recognition Award. The company received this award for its ongoing contributions to help JEDEC develop and improve standards in the areas of second-level reliability, high-temperature package warpage, HBM ESD testing and marking permanency.

ADENEO, TRANGO Virtual Processors Showcase Embedded CE Platform for PoS
ADENEO and TRANGO Virtual Processors(TM) announced a Windows Embedded CE® solution demonstration at the Cartes trade show in Paris. This innovative demonstration highlights the opportunity OEMs now have to securely integrate Windows Embedded CE onto their PoS (Point of Sale) platforms.

Microsoft Releases Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2
Microsoft Corp. announced the release of its Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 offering, designed for developers and device-makers wanting to quickly build smart, connected, hard real-time commercial and consumer electronics devices. With new features, including the Web Services on Devices API, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) telephony capabilities and thin-client technology enhancements, Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 enables devices to seamlessly connect to computers running Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 as well as other devices. In conjunction with this announcement, Microsoft also announced the launch of its community-focused initiative, code-named "SPARK," a joint offering between Microsoft and select hardware vendors. The program is designed to bring the benefits of embedded development on Windows Embedded CE 6.0 and Visual Studio 2005 to hobbyist developers and the academic community.

Cypress PSoC CapSense Heats Therma Blade Hockey Skates
Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY) announced that its PSoC® CapSense(TM) solution for capacitive sensing is employed in the revolutionary new heated hockey blades made by Therma Blade, Inc. Therma Blades are technologically advanced skate blades that use electronics to heat the blade, thereby reducing friction between the blade and ice surface, creating a smoother feel, and improved skating performance.

VMware Features Enablement for Mellanox InfiniBand Adapters
Mellanox(TM) Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX) (TASE: MLNX), a leading supplier of semiconductor-based, server and storage interconnect products, announced that later this year VMware is expected to provide enablement for Mellanox InfiniBand-based adapters in the newest release of VMware Infrastructure, which includes VMware ESX Server 3.5 and VMware VirtualCenter 2.5. The InfiniBand LAN networking and block storage drivers are based on the OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) version 1.2.5 and were developed by Mellanox, VMware and other participants of the VMware Community Source program. Mellanox's industry leading InfiniBand adapters seamlessly replace multiple fiber channel and Gigabit Ethernet adapters typically deployed in virtualized environments, which reduces data center power, cooling, capital expenditure and cost of ownership.

Open NAND Flash Interface Working Group Unveils 0.9 Draft of ONFi 2.0
The Open NAND Flash Interface (ONFi) Working Group, the organization dedicated to simplifying integration of NAND Flash memory into consumer electronic (CE) devices, computing platforms and industrial systems, announced the availability of the 0.9 draft of the ONFi 2.0 specification to member companies. This signals the imminent release of the ONFi 2.0 specification in January 2008. With 71 member companies supporting ONFi development, this scaleable technology secures its foothold in the industry.

MontaVista Rolls Out Linux Carrier Grade Edition 5.0
MontaVista Software, Inc., the leading provider of Linux® for intelligent devices and communications infrastructure, announced its new 5.0 release of MontaVista Linux Carrier Grade Edition (CGE), the carrier grade Linux operating system preferred by 7 of the top 8 network equipment providers (NEPs). New MontaVista Linux CGE 5.0 provides telecom carriers with new scalability features to handle unexpected jumps in protocol traffic, new functions to increase reliability, new field-serviceability features, and new NSA-level security protection.

Monotype Imaging Debuts iType Font Engine for Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2
Monotype Imaging Inc. (NASDAQ: TYPE), a leading global provider of text imaging solutions, has announced that its iType® font engine is available for evaluation as an installable option for the Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 operating system. Designed for memory-constrained environments, the iType font engine enables manufacturers and developers to build connected consumer and enterprise devices with multilingual, scalable fonts engineered for high-quality display.

Freescale Introduces S08D 8-bit Microcontrollers
Today's embedded system developers require exceptional integration and price/performance from the 8-bit devices that anchor their cost- and power-sensitive applications. To help developers get the most performance and functionality from their 8-bit designs, Freescale has introduced the S08D family of 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) — the company's most highly integrated and scalable S08 devices to date.

NXP, Sony Form Moversa Joint Venture for Universal Contactless Solutions
NXP, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, and Sony Corporation announced the formation of Moversa, a joint venture (JV) that will drive global adoption of contactless smart card applications in mobile phones using Near Field Communication (NFC).

IBM Simulates Embedded Processor Cores with Virtutech Simics
Virtutech, Inc., a leading provider of virtualized software development solutions for electronic systems, announced that its Simics(TM) product has been selected by IBM to create advanced, system-level simulation models for IBM's next-generation embedded processor cores, beginning with the PowerPC 464FP core. As part of a broader strategic roadmap designed to support its Power Architecture(TM) ecosystem, IBM will be able to leverage the high-performance virtualized development environment provided by Simics to enable software development well ahead of silicon availability, offering quality, productivity and time-to-market advantages for IBM customers. Virtutech will provide an advanced software development infrastructure for Power Architecture-based systems in the near future.

LonWorks Ports to Altera's Cyclone FPGA, Nios II Embedded Processor
Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:ELON) and Altera Corporation (NASDAQ:ALTR) announced a collaboration to extend the advantages of Echelon's LonWorks® networks to controllers used in building, industrial, and home applications. As a result of the joint collaboration, the LonWorks communications protocol (a.k.a. ANSI/EIA709.1 and EN14908) has been ported to Altera's Nios® II embedded processor which is implemented in a Cyclone® FPGA. This FPGA-based solution, in conjunction with Echelon's new FTXL high-speed network transceiver, provides a quick and easy hardware interface to LonWorks control networks.

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