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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: coopie who wrote (26461)	12/10/1997 3:43:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

VLSI doesn't see a need to integrate Web technologies in set top boxes(maybe I should mail them the Open Cable specs? Nah!)........................................... ijumpstart.com VLSI Targets Satellite and Cable for Sales in '98: Company Doesn't See Web Set-top Demand Yet <Picture><Picture><Picture> Rather than focus its technology efforts on OEMs looking to manufacture Net-enabled set-top boxes, VLSI Technology Inc.'s [VLSI] digital entertainment division is targeting the volume markets of digital satellite and cable boxes in 1998. Although every major consumer electronics company is either selling or planning to sell some kind of PC-TV product in the coming year, VLSI executives who spoke with Multimedia Week said they haven't seen a lot of demand for Web boxes. That position was echoed by Jodie Hughes, vice president and general manager for the audio, video and digital division of Sony Semiconductor Co. of America, who doesn't foresee a volume market for Web boxes before 1999. Profitable '97 The decision to go after established markets rather than emerging ones has helped VLSI increase profitability more than 350 percent during the first nine months of the year, despite relatively flat revenues. The company's net income reached $49.8 million in the first nine months of 1997 compared with $14.1 million during the same period a year earlier. "Our short-term focus is we're going where the money is," said David Tahmassebi, VLSI senior product marketing manager. "We want customers that can move products in high volume." Tahmassebi does envision PC functionality coming into the set-top box but sees it happening as a series of "baby steps" beginning with Web browsers. The best way to ensure volume in the set-top sector is by dropping prices. To reach economies of scale, VLSI engineers will sell the same base technology, with a few minor changes, to customers building hardware for satellite and cable reception and rely on software for product differentiation. Cutting Costs The company is cutting costs for OEMs with tighter integration and smaller dye size manufacturing. VLSI has shrunk the number of chips necessary to achieve MPEG-2 decoding and core set-top functionality from six to three, which will cut OEM manufacturers' costs by more than 60 percent. The company will sample the three-chip design, called Vista 98, next month and expects to sell volume shipments for less than $39. VLSI's six-chip design sold, which was introduced in 1996, for about $100. VLSI was expected to announce the chipset on Dec. 9 And prices are likely to fall even more over the next year because VLSI is looking to move from a 0.35 micron manufacturing process to 0.20 in 1999. Vista 98 consists of a satellite receiver (VES1893), an integrated set-top controller with ARM RISC CPU (VES2700) and an MPEG-2 A/V decoder (VES6100). VLSI also is making available a reference design development board called Horizon, which includes memory, connections for smart cards, serial and parallel communications, in-circuit emulation, logic analyzer tools and an infrared interface. Designed for easy upgradability, the transport layer of Vista is 1394 ready, so OEMs can add Firewire chips to the design without the cost of additional engineering. VLSI executives wouldn't say if the company plans to develop its own 1394 silicon, but it's likely they will have a sample chip available next year. (VLSI, 408/434-3000.)

To: coopie who wrote (26461)	12/10/1997 3:49:00 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 50808

Coopie, CUBE doesn't get any breaks these days when it comes to news. Today, I got the current issue of the microprocessor report. Remember they sponsored the forum that Les Kohn presented E4 at. DVx gets the top billing, with first page coverage. "DVx Sets New Standard for Digital Video" is the headline. Layout of the chip, magnified photo (the MicroSparc is just a small portion of the 162mm2 die), nice pic of Les Kohn at the conference, and four pages of analysis and discussion. After I read it about 10 more times I'll try post any major points.

To: coopie who wrote (26461)	12/10/1997 5:56:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

The market for image sensors is expected to grow from $700 million now to $3 billion over the next five years. What are they used for? Digital still and digital or analog video cameras. CCD image sensors are used in most analog video cameras. CMOS image sensors are finding a home in digital cameras. With CMOS image sensors, you can integrate other circuitry on the image sensor chip................. techweb.cmp.com A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted at 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST, 12/10/97 HP and Photobit to develop test for CMOS sensor chips PALO ALTO, Calif.--Hewlett-Packard Co. and Photobit Corp. today said they plan to jointly develop test solutions for Photobit's digital camera-on-a-chip products, based on CMOS active-pixel sensor technology. Under the agreement, HP will apply its mixed-signal chip testing capabilities while Photobit will offer its expertise in CMOS image sensors. The goal is to create an optimal production test strategy for CMOS image sensors and systems-on-a-chip designs, according to the partners. "The CMOS image-sensor market is an exciting new area for us," said John Scruggs, vice president and general manager of HP's Automated Test Group in Palo Alto. "Our HP 94000 and HP 9490 mixed-signal test systems are a great fit for the needs of this growing market. We expect video conferencing and digital-photography applications will benefit from this test solution." Photobit selected HP as a development partner because of its extensive experience in production-test solutions that closely matched the needs of image sensors, said Eric R. Fossom, chief scientist and co-founder of Pasadena, Calif.-based. Photobit was formed in 1995 to commercialize camera-on-a-chip technology developed by its founders while they worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. The market for image sensors, served today by charged-coupled devices (CCDs), is about $700 million, according to Michael Gumport, senior electronics analyst for Lehman Brothers in New York. That total only represents about 1% of the chip market, he added. "The CMOS image sensors will achieve strong penetration in this market," said Gumport, adding that he expects this segment to grow to at least $3 billion in the next five years, primarily driven by demand for digital cameras. HP plans to use its mixed-signal test systems to provide fast throughput and real-time digital signal processing. The company also plans to use its applications development environment to ease the task of creating tests for CMOS sensor ICs.