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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JGoren who wrote (97)	6/29/2000 9:03:00 PM
From: quartersawyer	Respond to of 197519

<<Texas Instruments finally gets into CDMA>> Interesting discourse on DSPs vs. ASICs, csdmag.com (June 2000) Seems to say that general-purpose DSPs are most useful where production volumes are insufficient to favor custom ASICs, that the flexibility of programmable DSPs makes them especially good for some aspects of 3G network design and for testing. The article urges the use of DSP's for network testers and test equipment, but seems to regard them as performance constrained compared to custom ASICs designed for high volume 3G applications. The release from TI notes that Dot Wireless "offers wireless system design capability for the launch of new 3G devices", which would appear to be other than capability to create the devices and the systems. Though most of this type of stuff is over my head, Q's 3G ASICs don't seem threatened here. Are they? The article from the above link closes with this excerpt: <Overall, 3G technology promises many benefits, with a 2-Mbps link to cellular phones opening up a vast range of services and thereby allowing service providers to differentiate themselves within this highly competitive market. This demand for differentiation puts pressure on the network developers and test equipment manufacturers,, as 3G is key to their business success. 2.5G systems will provide an incremental step but will still reuse much of the existing infrastructure. Although 3G is an evolution, to a certain extent it is a new network with an opportunity for suppliers to gain significant market share advantage. Under extreme pressure to demonstrate capability, deploy trial systems, and get to market sooner, the technology chosen by developers can have a huge influence on their success. With market share at stake, initial cost may actually be less of an influence than time-to-market. Whether designers ultimately opt for DSP or ASIC/FPGA designs, or a combination of both, the technology is standing by.>