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To: 100cfm who wrote (32035)	9/21/2000 11:38:29 PM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

100 cfm I replied to your post on the SNDK thread and appreciate the fact that you are keeping us on our toes. The reply is as posted here and there is a link within the post that may be of interest... Message 14426142 I am upset that Intel pre-announced as it will drag most techs down regardless. It would have been decent of Intel to say something like... "Were in not for the insatiable demand for our flash memory products the expected revenue shortfall would have been significantly worse." Intel had just released the following information about a competing flash product. As was mentioned earlier on this thread, Internet functionality, among other newer functions, will increase flash use in handsets.... "Intel Corporation, the leader in flash memory, today announced that Sony Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation will use 3 Volt Intel® StrataFlash(TM) Memory for new Internet cell phones. This is the first ever Internet cell phone application for the high density, low-cost Intel StrataFlash Memory product. Intel StrataFlash technology stores two bits of information in every memory cell and, like all flash, remembers data even when the power is turned off. Intel is the only producer in the world to offer Intel StrataFlash technology. As voice and data applications converge in the wireless Internet economy, next-generation handheld devices such as the Internet cell phone will require significantly larger amounts of flash memory. Intel StrataFlash Memory incorporates multilevel cell technology to provide twice the density in a single cell at a lower cost. The higher density enables Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and other manufacturers to enhance cellular features for its customers to include storing audio music files, Web caching and more. [snip] "When Intel StrataFlash Memory was introduced, it quickly achieved success in the networking and wireless infrastructure applications," said Darin Billerbeck, general manager, Intel Flash Products Group. "Now, we are seeing growing interest from cellular OEMs as the density requirements in cell phones are rapidly increasing due to Internet use." biz.yahoo.com I am actually happy that Intel is making inroads with regard to higher density embedded flash applications. I recently read on a competitor's thread that most handsets require only 256KB of flash memory. This may have been true the last few years, however it would appear that the old saying -- "you can never have too much memory" -- is applicable in this situation. This also means that the more demanding (and desirable) handset applications will lead to a migration into higher densities of NOR based flash where SanDisk excels. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 100 cfm, you specifically mentioned Bluetooth applications electing to use alternatives to flash (which I believe will be EEPROM) and I wanted to offer the following in reply. The following is from the latest issue of Technolgy Investor Magazine: Bluetooth Bluetooth architecture resembles any wireless system. Ith as three key parts: a radio frequency (RF) block, a digital baeband logic block with a microprocessor, and a ROM or flash memory component..The first Bluetooth devices will have one chip for each block. For volume production of Bluetooth devices to be feasible, chipmakers will have to produce fewer and cheaper chips per device. Incorporation of the RF and baseband sections on a single chip is already in the works. This will create a single CMOS chip that handles the radio frequency tasks and the Bluetoth protocol logic. Another approach, the ASIC plus RF chip set, puts as many functions as possible onto existing digital baseband chips, but still requires a separate RF chip. Broadcom signaled its seriousness about Bluetooth with two acquisitions in May and June. [snip] Pivotal gives Broadcom a family of single-chip Bluetooth solutions -- all the chips are buile on 0.18 micron standard-logic CMOS. [snip] Innovent pioneered the full integration of RF functions into pure digital CMOS. In a few months it plans to launch a fully integrated RF CMOS transceiver and an ASIC baseband solution. THis approach will still need an external flash memory. [snip] National Semiconductor now offers a $20 three-chip Bluetooth solution, but is hard at work on a two-chip RISC product which it plans to show in the fourth quarter. FWIW, Aus