TI launches software to speed up chip programing
September 20, 1999 02:21 PM Eastern Time
DALLAS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Texas Instruments Inc. TXN on Monday unveiled software it said would dramatically cut the time needed to create products based on digital signal processors, the computer chips TI manufactures.
TI said its ExpressDSP development software allowed companies that make products such as cell telephones to combine more easily existing chunks of computer code, or modules, used to program DSP chips for particular functions.
The software package also includes standards that allow different devices to use the same library of modules and allows for the faster testing of new programs, the Dallas-based computer chip maker said in a statement.
"ExpressDSP is expected to reduce development time by more than 50 percent, speeding products to market and increasing the innovation rate of new applications," TI said.
Based on experience with 40 manufacturers who tested the software, TI said it expected up to 10 times as many new applications to be developed over the next five years as would have been the case without ExpressDSP.
This would sharply raise demand for the DSP chips TI makes. The chips are at the heart of digital communications, converting sound and images into the digital signals that computers understand.
TI produces nearly half of the world's DSP chips for a growing market of wireless phones, high-speed modems and new technology still on its way to the market such as Internet audio players, which record music from the Internet for later play-back.
Texas Instruments said the time saved in development allowed manufacturers to come up with more features and to get a product to market more quickly.
"It allows you more time to focus on differentiating (a product) for competitive advantage because you don't have to spend as much time reinventing the wheel," said Leon Adams, manager of worldwide DSP strategic marketing at TI.
((Marcus Kabel, Dallas newsroom, 972 980 4192, fax 972 233 3165))
REUTERS
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