32/28Nm Design Platform For Embedded Announced

A new design platform has been announced that will enable the design and manufacture of advanced mobile and embedded devices.

This platform has come about through technology collaboration between the following 5 industry giants: ARM, IBM, Samsung, GLOBAL FOUNDRIES and Synopsys. The new platform builds upon a manufacturing collaboration that was already in place between IBM, Samsung and GLOBAL FOUNDRIES, and they called it the “Common Platform”. The Common Platform model features 28nm, 32nm, 45nm, 65nm and 90nm process technologies in domains of high-k metal gating, 193nm immersion lithography and ultra-low-k dielectrics.

The idea behind the Common Platform model was to enable customers of chips to source their designs to multiple 300mm foundries without having to make major changes in their design work. To the same Common Platform, the other companies have contributed with their unique expertise.

ARM has contributed low-power processor architecture and optimized suite of physical IP, including standard cells, power management kit, memory compilers and interface IP. Synopsys has contributed Lynx Design System and DesignWare portfolio of interface IP, which reduce risk and overall design costs.

The collaboration has already come out with 10 test chips in 32 and 28nm HKMG process technology, validating the platform in all its dimensions.

The new platform is expected to be a standard for manufacturing 28nm low-powered HKMG semiconductors for the next generation of mobile devices and embedded machines.

Read more about the latest disruptive technology developed through collaboration, here.

VideoCore From Broadcom Supports WebM Specs

Irvine, California-headquartered Broadcom Corporation has announced that it has developed a new family of processors that are in the domain of mobile multimedia, and that support the WebM video specifications. The new family is called “VideoCore”, and the chip number is BCM2763.

The VideoCore family is geared to playback WebM video content at full resolution, and it can support myriad variety of smart-feature and smartphone displays. For this purpose, the VideoCore processor deploys a hybrid architecture whose hardware accelerators are programmable. The reasoning behind this programmability is to develop and support new audio and video codecs. The BCM2763 VideoCore IV processor has the capability to support WebM video up to WVGA (800X640) resolution, working at 30fps. Smartphones with BCM2763 processor can playback WebM videos for up to 8 hours, while HDTVs connected through an HDMI interface with a BCM2763 chip installed in it can playback WebM videos for up to 14 hours.

The WebM multimedia format is in the final stages of being released to the market. IT biggies such as Broadcom and Google are working on the specifications.

Read more about how Broadcom is moving quickly to maintain its leadership position in emerging markets, here.

New Platform From Intel For Smartphone Industry

A new platform has been unveiled by Santa Clara-headquartered Intel Corporation that is targeted towards the smartphone segment.

The new platform, codenamed “Moorestown”, comprises the company’s Atom processor Z6xx Series family, the controller hub MP20 and a dedicated mixed signal IC (MSIC). Each of these components have a history: the Z6xx used to be called “Lincroft”, the MP20 used to be called “Langwell”, and the MSIC was better known as “Briertown”.

The Z6xx is built from the basic 45nm processor core, and includes functionalities of 3-D graphics, video encode/decode, and memory and display controllers on a single chip – the classical System-on-chip (SoC) design. Together with the MP20 and the MSIC, the platform is capable of operating on power that is several times less than its predecessors. What this means to the end user is that when a smartphone runs on its batteries and not external power-supply, the processor will be able to run for more than 10 days, the audio playback can play for 2 days non-stop, and the browsing and video can work for 4 to 5 hours without let.

Read more about the latest technological breakthrough from Intel, here.

New Physical Layer Transceivers From Broadcom

Two new transceivers for the physical layer have been introduced in the market by Irvine, California-headquartered Broadcom Corporation. The model numbers of these transceivers are BCM8155 and BCM8157.

These transceivers support data rates ranging from 8.5 Gbps to 11.352 Gbps. The two models are fully integrated MSA-compliant, multi-rate SONET/SDH, 10GbE, 10FC and OTU-2 optical transport network devices that operate at 8.5 GFC, OC-192, 10GbE, 10FC or FEC data rates. The two devices support NRZ (Non Return to Zero) and DB modulation.

According to the company release, the transceivers are capable of providing low jitter generation of less than 200 femtoseconds (or 2mUI RMS) and provide ample margin for designs required to meet the ITU and Telcordia maximum specs limit of 10mUI RMS for jitter generation.

The BCM8157 is aimed at metro applications where it can be deployed in line cards in order to interface to XFP modules.

The BCM8155 has very advanced features such as the capability of RZ modulation, duo-binary encoder, dispersion compensation, 10GHz clock output, 10G transmit pre-emphasis and pseudo random binary sequence (PRBS) pattern generation and detection capabilities. This makes the transceiver especially suitable for OTN equipment that uses 300-pin MSA-compliant modules for long haul transmission.

Read more about the new technology brought to the market by Broadcom, here.

Movies Come Preloaded On Seagate Hard Drive

Scotts Valley, California-headquartered Seagate Technology LLC and Hollywood based Paramount Pictures Corporation have entered into an agreement, whereby 20 movie titles from Paramount have been preloaded into the hard drives of Seagate. Customers who buy these specially-marked hard drives will get to watch these movies after buying the license keys to unlock them.

The hard drives that have received this special treatment are Seagate’s 500GB FreeAgent Go ultra-portable hard drives. The movie that can be unlocked for viewing without any additional cost is “Star Trek”, the 2009 version. The other 20 movie titles require online purchase of the license keys, whose cost ranges from USD 9.99 to USD 14.99. This amounts to over 38 hours of movie viewing on a small, packet-sized hard drive.

The movies range from the classic “The Manchurian Candidate” (2004) to science fiction “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”, from “The Italian Job” (2003) to “The Love Guru”, and from “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to “Enemy at the Gates”.

Paramount has now shifted its business model from the traditional cinema hall / DVD to distribution of its products on online, mobile and portable devices, videogames and emerging technologies.

Read more about this interesting arrangement between Seagate and Paramount, here.

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