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To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	5/3/2002 9:05:43 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Intel to announce new P4s and chipset By John G. Spooner Staff Writer, CNET News.com May 3, 2002, 2:00 PM PT news.com.com Intel plans to turn up the wick on desktop PC performance Monday. The chipmaker will announce three new Pentium 4 chips for desktop PCs, along with a new version of its 850 chipset. The new chipset offers a faster 533MHz bus and supports a speedier version of Rambus memory, 1066MHz RDRAM, sources said. Intel's new flagship Pentium 4 will be a 2.53GHz chip. The other new Pentium 4's will run at 2.26GHz and 2.4GHz. All work with the faster bus. The added clock speed, faster bus and new RDRAM could translate into an overall performance boost of roughly 10 percent to 15 percent over current high-end desktop PCs, some sources have said. The bus provides a data pathway between the processor and memory. Maintaining a proper ratio between the bus speed and the clock speed of the processor is an important element for preserving performance as processors get quicker. Boosting the bus will make room for faster Pentium 4's. But it also helps Intel up the ante in its desktop performance race with rival Advanced Micro Devices. AMD and Intel have been trading blows on the desktop since the introduction of the Athlon in late 1999. The latest move may give Intel the upper hand for a while. However, AMD has several tricks up its sleeve, including Thoroughbred, a new processor that will bring higher clock speeds later in the year. In early 2003, PC makers will also begin shipping systems based on ClawHammer, a new chip that AMD says will begin at 2GHz speeds. Currently, AMD's fastest desktop chip is the 1.73GHz Athlon XP 2100+. Despite the difference in clock speed, the Athlon chip offers competitive performance to the 2.4GHz Pentium 4, reviewers have said. While Intel may pull away with the 2.53GHz and its associated performance enhancements, AMD won't be far behind with its forthcoming 1.8GHz Athlon XP, the model number of which has yet to be announced. Intel introduced the 2.4GHz Pentium 4 in April, but the transition to a faster bus is somewhat forward-looking. Intel has said, for example, that the Pentium 4 will reach 3GHz in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, raising the bus speed helps Intel make room for new Celeron chips based on Netburst, the processor architecture debuted with the Pentium 4. Forthcoming Celerons can jump from their current 133MHz bus to the 400MHz bus used by the current Pentium 4 platform, sources have said, and sport much higher clock speeds than current Celerons. With the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 announcement Monday, a cadre of PC makers will also announce new high-end desktops. Compaq Computer, Dell Computer, Gateway and others are expected to offer the new Pentium 4's in their performance PC lines. New high-end machines, fitted with the 2.53GHz chip, the 533MHz bus, large allotments of 1066MHz RDRAM and 80GB or so hard drives are expected to start around $2,200 to $2,300. The machines will be available for order Monday. Intel declined to comment on unannounced products.

To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	5/4/2002 12:22:41 AM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Gartner Dataquest Says Worldwide Semiconductor IP Market Grew 25 Percent in 2001 Story Filed: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 4:01 AM EST EGHAM, United Kingdom, Apr 30, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- While the overall worldwide semiconductor market struggled in 2001, the worldwide semiconductor intellectual property (IP) market continued to achieve success, with revenue totaling $892 million in 2001, a 25 percent increase from 2000, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). In 2000, worldwide semiconductor IP revenue reached $714 million. Gartner Dataquest defines a semiconductor IP block as a predesigned function to be implemented in a semiconductor device such as an ASIC, ASSP or PLD. The top three vendors, ARM, Rambus and MIPS Technology, continue to dominate the market, although the three leaders as a group lost share compared to smaller vendors (see Table 1). "The reduction in market concentration is a demonstration of IP market immaturity. There was relatively little merger and acquisition activity among market leaders, so new market entrants have tended to dilute the market. This will change as the market matures," said Jim Tully, chief analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Semiconductor Industry Worldwide group. Table 1 Top 10 Worldwide Semiconductor IP Vendors by Revenue (Millions of U.S. Dollars) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2001 2001 2000 2000 2000-2001 Revenue Market Revenue Market Growth Company Share(%) Share(%) (%) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARM 179.0 20.1 130.1 18.2 37.6 RAMBUS 107.3 12.0 95.1 13.3 12.8 MIPS Technologies 70.2 7.9 88.5 12.4 -20.7 Synopsys 45.0 5.0 33.8 4.7 33.0 TTP Com 34.9 3.9 24.1 3.4 44.9 Virage Logic 34.8 3.9 22.8 3.2 52.9 Mentor Graphics 30.5 3.4 34.1 4.8 -10.5 Parthus Technologies 30.0 3.4 16.1 2.3 86.8 Artisan 27.8 3.1 20.8 2.9 33.6 DSP Group 26.6 3.0 25.1 3.5 6.0 Others 305.5 34.3 223.0 31.3 37.0 Total Market 891.6 100.0 713.5 100.0 25.0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Gartner Dataquest (April 2002) Led by ARM and MIPS Technology, microprocessor blocks dominated worldwide IP revenue, reaching $292 million in 2001. Bus interface blocks such as PCI, USB and IEEE 1394 have proven to be popular functions for third-party IP providers because of the ease of verifying a standard function. Bus interface is the second largest category, reaching $140 million. Gartner Dataquest analysts said business models for IP vendors are an important factor in this market. There is a large amount of experimentation taking place, but this is to be expected in view of the relative newness of the market. "Throughout this experimentation, vendors need to find out where the value is. Far too little attention is given to the value proposition in IP transactions," said Tully. "Value can lie in unique technology, applications expertise, support services or simply making it easy for customers to evaluate and buy the product. Wherever it lies, this must be at the core of a successful business model." More details are available in the Gartner Dataquest Perspective titled "Semiconductor Intellectual Property Market Rises 25 Percent." This document reports on the market, product categories and market share by region.

To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	5/6/2002 4:31:14 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

New Pentium 4 Processors Unveiled Story Filed: Monday, May 06, 2002 2:03 PM EDT SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- Intel Corp. on Monday introduced new versions of its Pentium 4 microprocessor line and a set of accessory chips to go with it. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based semiconductor giant said its fastest Pentium 4 will now operate at a frequency of 2.53 gigahertz, up from 2.4 gigahertz for a chip introduced in early April. Intel has picked up the pace of new-chip introductions since last year, partly to counter competition from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The new chip will be priced at $637 in 1,000-unit quantities. To ensure computers can take advantage of the increased speed, Intel also is introducing accessory chips, called chipsets, that connect Pentium 4 chips to memory and other components at a speed of 533 megahertz, up from 400 megahertz previously. The chip set is designed to support a variety of fast memory that is based on a design from Rambus Inc. Intel also introduced new Pentium 4s operating at frequencies of 2.40, and 2.26 gigahertz. Those processors, which also have a 533 MHz system bus speed, are priced at $562 and $423 in 1,000-unit quantities.

To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	5/6/2002 6:52:27 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Sony Working on New PlayStation Mon May 6, 8:51 AM ET TOKYO (AP) - Sony Corp (news - web sites). has begun developing the next generation of its PlayStation video game for sale by 2005, when it plans to roll out a console that would allow gamers to play opponents over high-speed Internet networks, a news report said Sunday. The new game console will run on a computer chip expected to be around 200 times faster than those currently installed in personal computers and game units, Kyodo News agency said. It quoted Sony sources it did not identify. Developing the chip will cost the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant about $400 million, Kyodo said. Sony has set its sights on online gaming as the new frontier and is trying to take control of the market before rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. come up with their own versions. Microsoft makes the Xbox (news - web sites), and Nintendo has GameCube. Microsoft and Sony both have said they will sell adapters and software for games that can be played over the Internet later this year. The new PlayStation would work over super-fast fiber-optics connections and would be Sony's first console to run games without a digital video disc, Kyodo said. Sony also is considering offering the new chip to other companies for use in televisions and electronics equipment, Kyodo said. Worldwide, Sony has shipped more than 28 million PlayStation2 (news - web sites) machines. Nintendo says 2.7 million GameCube consoles have been shipped worldwide, about half of those in Japan. Microsoft expects to ship 3.5 million to 4 million Xbox consoles worldwide by the end of June. dg> P.S. Oops! Sorry for the dupe!

To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	5/6/2002 6:57:00 PM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Next-generation PlayStation coming TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) --Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony has begun developing a games console to succeed its popular PlayStation 2 after 2005, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday, citing company sources. No one at Sony could be reached for comment. The third-generation PlayStation will feature a powerful microprocessing unit (MPU) that would be about 200 times faster than those used now for video games machines and personal computers, it said. Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., a unit of Sony, Toshiba and International Business Machines (IBM) plan to spend $400 million to develop the MPU, Kyodo said. Sony plans to develop the console by 2005, with a view to putting it on the market when fiber-optic networks become widespread, the sources told Kyodo. The new machine would be designed for online use on high-speed fiber-optic networks, meaning it would probably be free of memory devices such as DVDs. The PlayStation series has been a runaway success, dominating the game machines market. But competition has increased with the recent launch of Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's GameCube. In the business year that ended March 31, Sony shipped 18 million PlayStation 2 machines, boosting its game sales by 52 percent

To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	5/9/2002 11:52:58 AM
From: Don Green	Respond to of 93625

Tanisys Announces Product Shipment and Release of New Test System for DDR Memory Story Filed: Thursday, May 09, 2002 9:45 AM EST AUSTIN, Texas, May 9, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Tanisys Technology Inc. (OTCBB:TNIS) ("Tanisys"), a leading supplier of automated test equipment for a wide variety of semiconductor memory technologies, manufactured under its DarkHorse(R) Systems brand name, announced the receipt of orders for multiple Model 400 test systems to customers in Europe and USA. These orders are scheduled to ship in the current quarter. Also, Tanisys released the Model 400e, a reduced cost, networked version of the popular Model 400 Test System for DDR333/PC166 SDRAM. The newly released Model 400e is capable of running independently of the proprietary Model 200 controller required previously. The system is now controlled by a lower cost Windows NT(R) based PC controller, further reducing system cost. Featuring a complete at-speed testing solution, the Model 400e is the ideal test system for companies that manufacture, market or integrate advanced DDR and SDRAM modules used in state-of-the-art computer systems. "We are excited about the release of our newest version of the Model 400 platform for DDR," said John Bennett, Tanisys VP of Sales and Marketing. "The industry emphasis is to reduce cost of test, and the Model 400e does exactly that while maintaining all the capability and powerful test features of the original Model 400. The system also includes several newly developed engineering tools for device and module characterization." "Tanisys is also very pleased about the latest shipments of the Model 400. As the industry begins showing signs of recovery, our customers are now looking to add capacity for their growing volumes of advanced DDR memory," added Bennett. C. Lee Cooke, Jr., chairman and CEO of Tanisys, stated, "We continue to invest in research and development to design new test systems and enhance current test systems to meet the market demands for testing of new memory technologies and to market these test systems to the world's semiconductor and memory module manufacturers. The market ramp of DDR technology has provided a major opportunity for us as we currently enjoy a backlog of orders." Tanisys Technology Inc. is an industry-leading provider of automated test equipment for a wide variety of memory technologies, including DRAM, SDRAM, DDR, RDRAM(R)and Flash. Tanisys products include the market-leading DarkHorse memory test systems (SIGMA 3(tm) Model 300, 400, 800 and the SIGMA 4(tm) Model 500). For more information, visit Tanisys Technology's Web site at tanisys.com. New Century Equity Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq:NCEH), a holding company focused on high growth, technology-based companies and investments, is the lead financial investor in Tanisys Technology.

To: Estephen who wrote (82181)	11/1/2002 2:05:08 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Rambus Shares Rise After Toshiba Agrees to License Chip Design By Jason Kelly Los Altos, California, Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Rambus Inc. shares rose as much as 13 percent after the company said Toshiba Corp. agreed to be the first manufacturer to license the computer memory-chip designer's newest product. The shares increased 70 cents to $6.28 at 12:39 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They had fallen 30 percent this year. Toshiba will be the first customer for Yellowstone, a design made for computer graphics and consumer electronics by reducing power use and moving signals more efficiently in and out of memory chips. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Prior Rambus designs are used in Toshiba chips for Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 video-game console and in Samsung Corp.'s high-definition televisions. ``It looks to me like Yellowstone is the frontrunner to power PlayStation 3,'' said Mike Crawford, an analyst with B. Riley & Co. who rates the shares of Los Altos, California-based Rambus ``buy'' and owns them.