Grand Techno-MITprof-Poobah,
Another nugget on software radios below. Can anyone (Clark, Engineer?) explain how these would work from the subscriber's perspective? How about time frame - next year, 2001, later?
Haven't seen a post from you for two days, Mikey, so presume you are hard at work on the mother of all Clinton/Lewinski/WagtheDog posts. Either that, or the recent firesale on certain communications stocks has you scurrying to pawn that old long board in favor of few more new-paradigm shares. Looks like option expiration and sexual politics have a few folks a tad edgy about owning stocks over the weekend [long-term in trader-lingo]. Oh well, this too will pass.
PS. Apple is introducing the new MacClinton computer...
It comes with a joystick and has absolutely no memory.[grrroan, sorry]
-JLF
Morphics Technology, Inc. to Provide Solutions to Enable
Low-Cost 'Software Radio' Handsets
Business Wire - August 20, 1998 15:15
CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 1998--Morphics Technology, Inc., a
privately-funded Silicon Valley start-up, has been formed to provide solutions to enable
Software-Defined Radio (SDR) as an economically viable technology for wireless handsets.
Architectures and designs based on Morphics' patented Intellectual Property (IP) leveraging
reconfigurability, will enable the development of low-cost, multi-standard, digital handsets that will
greatly reduce the number of different handsets required to be developed and supported. The
resulting efficiencies reduce costs for semiconductor manufacturers, handset manufacturers and
service providers, and result in the faster development of products that can support enhanced
multi-media services for next generation networks. Morphics intends to become a leading provider
of architectural solutions for next generation, multi-standard handsets.
The emergence of new broadband services coupled with multiple, incompatible communications
standards has complicated the design process for current and next-generation cellular and personal
communications services (PCS) handsets. Semiconductor and handset manufacturers are
increasingly challenged in their ability to develop and support a broad range of product lines to serve
the variety of services and standards. Factors currently limiting the success of developers focusing
on faster time-to-market and lower total product cost include the lack of engineering resources,
enabling technologies and tools required for creation of sophisticated wireless systems-on-silicon
designs.
Morphics enabling technologies allow a manufacturer's design resources to be more efficiently
leveraged in the continuing development of a smaller number of silicon and handset platforms for
product designs. "As digital wireless handsets become consumer products, their life cycle is
dropping to well below one year. However, development times with current IC technology and
design methodology are closer to eighteen months," says Morphics Technologies' CEO Colin
Macnab. "With a solid understanding of market needs and innovative architectures, Morphics will
be able to offer semiconductor and handset designers unique and cost-effective solutions to meet
their strategic marketing and volume manufacturing goals." Morphics is currently demonstrating
architectural solutions to the world's leading cellular/PCS handset and semiconductor vendors, with
the strong support of international service providers.
Morphics has assembled a team of industry leaders and innovators with extensive business and
technical experience and proven track records in providing successful systems-on-silicon solutions
to the wireless marketplace. The Morphics business development effort is led by
internationally-recognized professionals, each having over 15 years of relevant industry experience
in the introduction and successful product utilization of enabling technologies for wireless
communications semiconductors and systems. The resulting market understanding guides a technical
team having world-class competency spanning the disciplines of wireless communications systems
architecture, digital signal processing (DSP), reconfigurable logic application, and system-on-silicon
design methodology.
Morphics has developed and acquired fundamental intellectual property and patents regarding the
use of reconfigurable technologies in the design of SDR products. Handsets utilizing these concepts
can be configured to switch between systems based upon differing wireless standards, including
those from existing second-generation digital wireless systems such as GSM, IS-54/136, PDC, and
IS-95 CDMA; and emerging 3rd-generation (3G) systems such as UTRA, Wideband CDMA and
cdmaOne. SDR handsets will support network control of the user terminal for over-the-air
programming and downloading of value-added functionality such as Global Positioning System
(GPS) location-based services. These capabilities provide network operators with greater
opportunities for service differentiation and revenue generation.
According to John Ralston, Morphics VP of Marketing, "Morphics intellectual property will enable
development of flexible, software-differentiable integrated circuit (IC) platforms whose
reconfigurability permits application to a variety of wireless standards and new wireless multimedia
services. The resulting innovative architectures will allow cost-effective solutions for new categories
of SDR products such as wireless Internet appliances, and applications requiring embedded Java
engines." The evolution of such capabilities directly tracks findings of a recent study sponsored by
the MMITS SDR Industry Forum and BellSouth Wireless Corp.
Principals in the Morphics Technology team include: Colin L.M. Macnab, Chief Executive Officer;
N. Charles Podaras, VP, Business Development; Dr. John Ralston, VP, Marketing; David M.
Holmes, VP, Engineering; Stephen L. Wasson, Director, Reconfigurable Logic Design; Steven R.
Sweitzer, Director, Software Engineering; and Dr. Ravi Subramanian, Director, Systems
Architecture.
Morphics is supported by a Technical Advisory Board founded with the lead participation of Dr.
Jan Rabaey, Professor of Electrical Engineering at University of California, Berkeley, and Prof. Dr.
Heinrich Meyr, Professor and Chair at Aachen University of Technology, Germany. Dr. Rabaey is
acknowledged as a leading expert in the evolution of low-power reconfigurable architectural
solutions for wireless systems and electronic design automation techniques for heterogeneous
multiprocessing systems. Prof. Dr. Meyr is a leader in the area of digital communications and VLSI,
and has driven fundamental advances in the interaction of algorithm and VLSI architecture in the
creation of optimized silicon solutions for digital wireless transmission systems.
Morphics Technology, Inc. 10350 South De Anza Boulevard, Suite 2A, Cupertino, California, CA
95014 USA Voice: 408/863-6100, Fax: 408/863-6101 |
