Broadcom Introduces New Mobile Chip To Monitor Health Parameters

Irvine, California-headquartered Broadcom Corporation has announced the release of a new system-on-chip that will enable people to monitor certain key health parameters while on the move.

The new chip is called BCM2049, and is the first in a series of new-wave chips that will be built on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology and specifications. Mobile phone and other device manufacturers can incorporate this chip in their handsets and sell as value-add to customers. The chip allows mobile phones to be conveniently connected to sensors and monitors to aggregate and display data such as tracking the progress of their workouts, monitoring their heart rate, etc. This information can be displayed on the handset screens.

The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology has been ratified by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), which means that soon, the market is expected to see a new wave of devices which require very little power which can be drawn from coin-sized batteries. And since consumers are already familiar with Bluetooth, the acceptance of these new devices shouldn’t be difficult, according to analysts.

Read about the latest technology that can enable people to monitor their health while on the move, here.

A New Chip For Mobile Devices From Broadcom

A new processor and transceiver solution for the mobile domain has been introduced in the market by Irvine, California-headquartered Broadcom Corporation. The solution is called BCM21553 HSUPA (short for “high speed upstream packet access”).

The new HSUPA solution targets the 3G mobile and cellular market, and is touted as a “3G phone-on-a-chip” and RF solution. It utilizes an integrated ARM11 processor which can run operating systems such as Windows Mobile and Android. This implies that the need for an external apps processor is eliminated altogether, thereby reducing costs, size, system complexity and battery drainage.

The underlying technology supports 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) releases 6 and 7. These releases define specs for up to 5.8 Mbps upstream connectivity, 7.2 Mbps downstream connectivity and also support CS (circuit switches) over HSPA services. Another technology built into the solution is PRISM, which handles interference from radio signals coming from neighboring cells. A 3D graphics core has been incorporated into the solution to enhance user interfaces, and to support encoding and decoding of H.264 video at 30 fps.

The Radio Frequency transceiver is called BCM2091. This provides RF connectivity for the BCM21553 processor.

Read more about the revolutionary new processor for mobile devices, brought out by Broadcom, here.

Micron To Acquire Numonyx

Boise, Idaho-headquartered Micron Technology Inc has announced its plans to acquire Switzerland-based Numonyx B.V.

Numonyx is reckoned a leader in the semiconductor industry. The company manufactures and supplies a full complement of integrated NOR, NAND< RAM and phase change non-volatile memory technologies and products that go into cellular, data and embedded markets. Some of its trademarks and brands include Numonyx Axcell Flash Memory, Numonyx Forte Serial Flash Memory, Krypto Security Technologies, and StrataFlash Technology. The company’s manufacturing and R&D facilities are located around the globe, such as in Italy, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, China, Philippines, US and Israel. Mr. Brian Harrison is the President and CEO of Numonyx.

The acquisition is the outcome of an agreement between Micron and Numonyx, per which Micron will issue 140 million Micron common shares to Numonyx shareholders, Intel Corporation, STMicroelectronics, N.V. and Francisco Partners. The entire transaction will cost Micron about USD 1.27 billion.

With this acquisition, Micron hopes to position itself as a world-leading memory company, integrating the expertise of Numonyx in its portfolio. Micron will also be able to leverage the tremendous manufacturing capabilities of Numonyx to make inroads into the newly-emerging embedded and mobile markets.

Read more about the latest business acquisition that will shake up the memory technology industry, here.

Western Digital Posts Financial Results For Q2 2010

Lake Forest, California-headquartered Western Digital Corporation has announced the financial results for Q2 2010 that ended January 1, 2010.

The company has reported revenue of USD 2.6 billion, yielding to a net income of USD 429 million. This translates to USD 1.85 per share. The revenue compares well with the revenue of USD 1.8 billion and net income of USD 14 million reported in Q2 2009.

The company had undergone restructuring at a cost of USD 113 million in the previous fiscal, which partly explains the low net income of the corresponding quarter.

In Q2 2010, Western Digital shipped 49.5 million units of hard drives, compared to 35.5 million units shipped in the same quarter last year.

The quarter has also been bountiful as is proven by the record USD 557 million cash generated from operations. The company now sits on a cash and cash-equivalent pile of USD 2.4 billion.

Founded in 1970, Western Digital has been at the forefront of designing and manufacturing solid state drives and hard drives for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics environments.

Read more about the latest financial performance announced by Western Digital, here.

Intel Launches Itanium 9300

Santa Clara, California-headquartered Intel Corporation has launched the Itanium 9300, a processor targeted at mission-critical computing environments. This processor was codenamed “Tukwila” during its design stages.

The new processor ranges in price from USD 946 to USD 3,838 in quantities of 1,000. The family comprises 9310 with 2 cores and 4 threads, and 9320, 9330, 9340 and 9350, all with 4 cores and 8 threads.

The Itanium 9300 processor operates at 1.73 GHz base frequency and up to 1.86 GHz at peak workloads. The processor includes various platform ingredients such as QuickPath Interconnect, which has a bandwidth of 4.8 GT/s, and Scalable Memory Interconnect. In addition, the processor also has 7500 Scalable Memory Buffer which exploits the capabilities of DDR3 memories. The processor can address up to 1,024 terabytes of memory. The i/o hub is the standard 7500 chipset, which allows i/o devices to be assigned to virtual machines.

The processor comprises 2 billion transistors, four cores, more cache and 800% more interconnect bandwidth than the predecessors. The second generation of virtualization technology has been incorporated into its innards to increase performance and robustness, according to the company release.

Read about the latest mission-critical processor launched by Intel, here.

Next Page »