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Pastimes : The New Qualcomm - write what you like thread. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (4586)	9/16/2002 8:47:43 AM
From: waitwatchwander	Respond to of 12245

CellularRAM Offers Promise, Faces Hurdles e-insite.net By Peter Brown -- Electronic News, 9/16/2002 Taking on Game Boy? Micron Technology Inc. and Infineon Technologies AG today will move one step closer to rolling out their DRAM-hybrid technology, targeted at mobile consumer applications. The companies are positioning the memory as an alternative to PC-dependent DRAM. Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has signed an agreement with the two DRAM vendors to collaborate on the development of the CellularRAM, which is said to combine the performance of SRAM with the storage capacity of DRAM on one chip, driving down cost and increasing storage capacity. For Infineon and Micron, specifically, this will allow the companies to venture into areas outside of the PC to market their DRAM. "This is definitely worth the effort for the DRAM market makers," said Brian Matas, VP of market research at IC Insights. "If [Micron and Infineon] can offer a price-point or a less costly part at competing performance with a nice packaging setup, this will be a viable technology for them." The market for pseudo-static RAM in portable applications could be the solution DRAM makers have been searching for, said Mario Fazio, director of strategic marketing for wireless products at Micron. "We could see this market reaching the $1.5 billion range by 2005," he said. DRAM vendors have been looking to get their memory into products other than the PC—from digital cameras to cell phones—for more than a decade, said Steve Cullen, director of the semiconductor group at In-Stat/MDR. (InStat/MDR is owned by Reed Business Information, the parent company of Electronic News.) "The problem is that even though DRAM will work and be a good technology fit in these devices, these applications won't have very much of it from a vendor's perspective," Cullen said. "It won't be a savior for them." The three companies plan to roll out 32Mbit and 16Mbit devices in Q1, followed by 128Mbit and 64Mbit devices, which are slated for production in Q3. So which wireless applications will demand this much storage? The answer is many, the companies say. If cellular phone makers begin to bring high-quality games and GPS applications to phones in bulk, this memory may find a home there. Other applications could include video through the phone in either a videoconferencing-type application or television capacity, Matas said. In Asia there are already several applications for cellular phones, such as digital cameras, multiple ring tones, Web browsing and GPS capability, that consume a significant amount of memory, said Allan Nogee, senior analyst at In-Stat/MDR. The question being asked by analysts is which will come first, the memory or the software. "They could be building this memory now and then showing it to vendors who then would go and develop applications to fit this memory," Matas said. "Or these companies may already be working with OEMs which are putting together applications right now that will need this memory." However, these three companies also face another problem—Intel. At last week's Intel Developer Forum (IDF), the MPU giant introduced two software tools designed to allow handheld devices to execute instructions and applications directly from flash memory. This will allow the processor to execute in place of the RAM in a cell phone or PDA, according to Doug Patterson, software product manager for Intel Corp.'s flash products division. While it won't eliminate the need for RAM altogether, it could displace what is needed by as much as 50 percent, Patterson said. That's not a good sign for a high-density wireless memory device that has yet to hit the market. Tom Murphy contributed to this story.

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (4586)	9/16/2002 12:07:55 PM
From: waitwatchwander	Respond to of 12245

Sybase to Face Growing Competition in Second-Half Mobile DBMS Market etienglish.com By Lee Jung-hwan Monday, September 02, 2002 <... I would like cyberspace to manage my data> Competition is heating up in the mobile database management system (DBMS) market. With corporate customers rapidly expanding into the Web-wireline/wireless integrated environment, demand for mobile DBMS solutions are also picking up fast centering on financial service, telecoms, logistics, distribution and education sectors. And latecomers such as Oracle Korea, Microsoft and IBM Korea are putting spurs to their foray into the market, setting a stage for an intense battle with No. 1 player Sybase Korea. The mobile DBMS market, by industry estimates, is expected to be around $20 billion won this year. Sybase Korea, controlling the largest share in the market, has secured 100 or so business customers this year including LG Distribution, Ilyang Home Delivery, Samsung Corp., Asiana Airlines, following its SAF (sales force automation) system order contract with Daehan Insurance for some 13,000 insurance planners last year. Buoyed by the series of deals, it remains confident about keeping its No. 1 spot by leveraging proven technology and know-how. The company, which is currently providing relationship DB "ASA" and application DB for mobile handsets "Ultra Light," plans to focus its marketing strategy on that their solutions are effective in mobile link, SQL remote and replication agent by ensuring interoperability between mobile and backbone DBs, a key factor in adopting mobile solutions, and that they are embedding products tailored to mobile systems with a compact engine design and low memory consumption. The No.1 player is also set to provide a total solution for mobile systems by using mobile business applications and management solutions developed by its affiliate iAnyware. * Oracle Korea, MS, and IBM Korea on the Move Oracle Korea, a leading vendor in the domestic DBMS market, is redoubling its effort to penetrate the mobile arena with mobile DB "Oracle9i Light" and wireless Internet solution "Oracle9i AS Wireless." Having unveiled its mobile ambitions at the mobile solution seminar it hosted on July 29, the industry heavyweight now plans to introduce an open Web service standard aimed to highlight mobile business features targeting existing DB and ERP customers. The company clinched a wireless portal platform deal with KTICOM last year, and more recently forged a strategic partnership with Samsung Electronics for corporate mobile computing business this year. Microsoft is also aggressively increasing its presence. It launched mobile DBMS "SQL CE1.1" earlier this year and has so far provided it to Korea City Gas Corp., Kolon Construction, Monttesory Korea, Youngjae Education and Dongah Pharmaceutical. Poised to introduce "SQL CE2.0" late this month, it is in last-minute talks with a large business for use of the 2.0 version for a large project. IBM Korea, whose first-half performance fell short of expectations despite its acquisition of InfoMix, has set mobile DBMS as its major target for this year and started a full-scale sales and marketing campaign by linking latest release DB2 Everyplace Version 8.0 with e-business architecture "Websphere Everyplace Suite."

To: Maurice Winn who wrote (4586)	9/17/2002 8:33:15 AM
From: waitwatchwander	Respond to of 12245

New Microsoft tools aim for mobile boost star-techcentral.com By Wylie Wong Microsoft on Monday will announce new tools for building software for cell phones and personal digital assistants. The software maker will debut a second test version of its .Net Compact Framework, a programming infrastructure for writing Web services software for mobile devices. The software will be built into a forthcoming new version of Microsoft's Visual Studio.Net development tool package, allowing programmers for the first time to use the same tools to build software for PCs, servers and mobile devices. Previously, programmers needed to buy or download a separate development tool package for mobile devices. The more general .Net Framework for software that runs on PCs and servers is already built into Visual Studio.Net. "The .Net Compact Framework allows desktop developers to transfer their skills down to devices. Before, it was an arcane art for a well-trained few," said David Rasmussen, lead product manager for Microsoft's .Net mobile developer platform. Also this week, the software maker is releasing a test version of its latest Visual Studio.Net tools suite, code-named Everett, with the .Net Compact Framework built in. While the final version of .Net Compact Framework should be completed this fall, Everett should be released by the end of the year or early next year, Rasmussen said. The new technology gives Microsoft a boost in the software market for mobile devices, where it is lagging behind rival Java software sold by the likes of Sun Microsystems, IBM, Oracle and others. Motorola, Nokia and many other major cellular phone manufacturers are using software that supports Sun's Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME). Microsoft and the Java companies are duking it out in the emerging market for Web services, a method of writing software that allows businesses to interact via the Internet. "Microsoft has some significant ground to make up in terms of mind share and market share. But J2ME developers still lack good tools for building graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to a range of devices," said Illuminata analyst James Governor. "Never write off Microsoft. If there's one vendor that understands GUIs and tools for building them, it's (Microsoft). The Compact Framework is an attractive proposition because it's a single development model, deployable to multiple devices." The second test version of the .Net Compact Framework offers bug fixes and new features for building user interfaces, such as hand-writing recognition, Rasmussen said. Microsoft's .Net Framework and .Net Compact Framework are crucial pieces of Microsoft's overarching .Net Web services plan. Microsoft says that .Net simplifies Windows programming by automating many development tasks to enable software to run on a myriad of devices. Because the .Net plan includes prewritten software code, it can save developers' time, simplify a confusing array of programming interfaces and eliminate common bugs, analysts said. To further strengthen its offerings in the device market, Microsoft on Monday also released a new version of its mobile database software for handheld devices. SQL Server CE Edition 2.0, downloadable free from Microsoft's Web site, is technology that stores and collects information. It allows employees using handhelds to connect to their corporate networks, download data, work offline and then connect to the network again to sync their work. The new version of SQL Server CE Edition runs faster than previous versions and supports .Net Compact Framework, Rasmussen said.