My take on LSI
I believe that the next big opportunity for the embedded market lies in the rollout of broadband enhancing technology. I believe LSI's slow year while it transitioned to new market target and is now IMO in the best position for growth in many years. The new suite of products is winning awards and is truly innovative. My bet we have seen the lows for LSI during this product cycle and the size of the opportunities in the new market are huge.
Norden
LSI Logic Integra Architecture Forms the Foundation of New Acer Set-TopBox Design
New Set Top Box Developed for Use With Japan's SKYPerfecTV Digital Direct Broadcast Satellite Service
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The Consumer Products Business Unit of the Acer(R) Group (Taipei, Taiwan) has incorporated LSI Logic's (NYSE: LSI) Integra(R) architecture and design expertise in a set-top box design specifically developed for the SKYPerfecTV digital direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service in Japan. The new Acer ST300S set-top box delivers all the key functions needed for viewers to take full advantage of SKYPerfecTV's extensive channel offerings, sharp digital image, MPEG-quality video and multi-channel sound.
"By combining LSI Logic's advanced architecture, technology and application support with our highly-efficient manufacturing infrastructure, we can create set-top box designs that meet the price, performance, application and volume requirements of SKYPerfecTV in Japan," said Mr. Carlie Wang, Senior Director, Consumer Products Business Unit, Acer Group. "With our working relationship with LSI Logic, we can develop other cost-effective set-top box designs for digital direct broadcast satellite customers throughout the world."
Based on its CoreWarea technology, and backed with its system-on-a-chip expertise, and the LSI Logic Integra architecture consolidates an entire set-top box into a few integrated circuits. The Integra architecture is based on three major components: the L64724 single-chip satellite receiver, the L64005 MPEG-2 audio and video decoder and the L64108 single-chip transport chip, which offers Japan-compliant transport and Multi2 decoding. Combined in a low-cost system design, these devices enable Acer Group's set-top box to support up to 150 channels of programming and to offer integrated conditional access for smart-card functionality, while meeting affordable consumer price points.
"Acer Group can gain worldwide presence in the set-top box marketplace by extending its manufacturing expertise from the PC markets," said Arlen Chou, Strategic Marketing Manger for Set Top Box applications, of LSI Logic. "By basing their designs on LSI Logic's Integra architecture and using our application support, Acer Group can quickly develop products that meet the cost, performance and standard requirements of multiple direct DBS services without requiring major redesign and extensive development activities."
About SKYPerfecTV
SKYPerfecTV! (Japan Digital Broadcasting Services Inc.) produces an array of quality television programs and services including: digital broadcasting technology and transmission services, production facilities for licensed broadcasters, and subscriber services such as issuance and management of IC cards.
About The Acer Group
Established in 1976, Acer is the world's third-largest PC manufacturer, fifth-largest mobile PC manufacturer, and seventh-largest PC brand, offering a broad selection of industry-leading, high-end multi-user servers, multimedia PCs, notebooks, computer peripherals & components, and semiconductors. The Acer Group employs more than 23,000 people in 120 enterprises spanning 44 countries worldwide, supporting dealers and distributors in over 100 countries. The Acer Group's revenue in 1997 was US $6.5 billion. For more information about the Acer Group, visit our Web site at acer.com.
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LSI Logic Offers New Ultra2 SCSI Solution for Workstation and Server Markets
MILPITAS, Calif., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI) today announced a new PCI-Ultra2 wide SCSI host adapter developed especially for desktop, workstation and server systems. The Symbios(R) SYM8952U host adapter board (HAB) is a universal Fast/Ultra/Ultra2 SCSI solution that offers OEMs and system integrators superior performance, longer cable lengths and lower costs. This low-cost Ultra2 solution is ideally suited for OEMs requiring an external 68-pin high-density (HD) connector.
According to Robin Wagner, director of I/O standard products marketing, "With the addition of the SYM8952U host adapter board to the Symbios HAB family, designers will realize increased flexibility to define cabling environments and upgrade paths of their high performance systems." The SYM8952U device transfers data at twice the speed of Ultra SCSI, provides broader bus bandwidth and offers excellent connectivity and reliability.
The foundation of the Symbios SYM8952U HAB is the Symbios SYM53C895 chip. An industry first, the SYM53C895 chip features LVDlink(TM), LSI Logic's implementation of Universal Low Voltage Differential (LVD) integrated transceivers. SCSI signal lines also feature TolerANT(TM) technology for improved signal reliability in noisy cable environments. The SYM8952U controller offers up to 80-MBps bandwidth plus transfer rates at the speed of the PCI system bus. This flexible device also supports Fast/Ultra wide, single-ended SCSI devices. Because of its higher performance, broader bandwidth, greater flexibility, and longer cable lengths, the SYM8952U is ideally suited for demanding I/O devices in high-performance desktop and workstation platforms.
The LSI Logic complete HAB solution includes powerful utilities and drivers. Developed in-house and certified by major operating system (OS) vendors, SDMS (SCSI device management system) software is based on industry standards and makes HAB installation and configuration tasks fast and easy. SDMS drivers, approved through the Microsoft WHQL, Novell Labs, SCO and Sun Solaris certification processes, are compatible with all major OS platforms and are continually updated to incorporate new OS systems, features and upgrades. The SDMS software suite is supplied to customers on a CD.
The SYM8952U device extends the cabling capabilities of the industry's first Ultra2 SCSI host adapter, the SYM8951U, by offering an external 68-pin high-density connector in place of the SYM8951U's very high-density interconnect (VHDCI) external connector. Like all LSI Logic host adapters, it is backed by extensive SCSI system expertise and industry-leading technology pioneered by Symbios, Inc. LSI Logic HABs are widely used in many environments: high-end desktop, workstation, RAID subsystem, server and clustered-server applications.
For OEM evaluation, the SYM8952U will be available in the first quarter of 1999 as either board-only or as a complete solution kit. Each kit includes the HAB product, user's manuals, software drivers and utilities for most major operating systems, and an internal 5-position, SE Fast/Ultra - Ultra2 cable with built-in LVD auto-termination. The SYM8952U host adapter will be available for under $100 per unit when ordered in OEM quantities.
LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI), The System on a Chip Company(R), manufactures and sells the Symbios host adapter products and is a leading supplier of standard I/O products, and custom high-performance semiconductors with operations worldwide. The company enables customers to build systems using standard I/O products, and complete systems on a single chip with its CoreWare(R) design program, thereby increasing performance, lowering system costs and accelerating time to market. LSI Logic develops application- optimized products in partnership with trendsetting customers, and operates leading edge, high-volume manufacturing facilities to produce submicron chips. The company maintains a high level of quality, as demonstrated by its ISO9000 certifications. LSI Logic is headquartered at 1551 McCarthy Boulevard, Milpitas, California 95035, 408-433-8000, www.lsilogic.com.
The LSI Logic design, CoreWare, The System on a Chip Company, LVDlink, TolerANT, and Symbios are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Logic Corporation. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Logic Corporation since not all the trademarks in the list are registered.
The Symbios SYM8952U product is available through LSI Logic's Storage Components Group. For further product information and information about LSI Logic, please call 1-800-856-3093 or visit www.lsilogic.com. To request copies of annual reports or other investor information, please call 1-800-574-4286.
SOURCE LSI Logic Corporation
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LSI Logic Eases Quality of Service Implementation With Low Power, High SpeedATM Product
MILPITAS, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- LSI Logic Corporation (NYSE: LSI) has announced its continued commitment to the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) market with the introduction of the ATMizer(R)II+ device, an enhanced version of its second-generation ATM standard product optimized for high-speed ATM Wide Area Network (WAN) and Local Area Network (LAN) applications.
The ATMizer II+ device has already gained significant design wins among some of the biggest names in the networking equipment business. At Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., the ATMizer II+ is an important part of ATM interfaces in many of the company's routers and switches, according to Yakov Zbinovich, Manager Hardware Engineering in Cisco's Enterprise Line of Business. "It provides the flexibility and power we need to support the ever increasing and changing demands of the applications we support."
Newbridge Networks, Kanata, Ontario, has integrated the ATMizer II+ into its industry-leading MainStreetXpress(TM) 36170 Multiservices Switch. The switch is the cornerstone for the Newbridge(R) portfolio of multi-service, multi-access solutions. It offers a comprehensive suite of advanced services, such as frame relay, LAN interconnections, IP, circuit emulation and cell relay. "Newbridge selected the ATMizer II+ because its hardware features and RISC core provide the versatility required to meet the highly varied and rigorous demands placed on our switches," said Ric Hearn, Manager, Cell Relay Hardware Development at Newbridge.
The single-chip ATMizer II+ device supports full-duplex transmit and receive operation at OC-3 rate (155 Mbits/sec). Its embedded high-performance MiniRISC(R) CPU, hardware Segmentation-And-Reassembly (SAR) Engine, and enhanced Rate Scheduling Unit with multiple calendar tables, offers telecom and networking equipment designers both a flexible and high-performance ATM solution to implement Quality of Service (QoS).
ATM has captured the interest of both the telecommunications community as a broadband carrier for Integrated Services Digital network (ISDN) and the networking industry, which views ATM technology as a strong candidate for high-speed LAN backbones. It is no surprise then that the ATM equipment market is expected to reach a value of $6.7 billion by the year 2001, according to Vertical Systems Group, a Dedham, Mass. market research and consulting firm that specializes in the networking industry.
LSI Logic created the ATMizer II+ device with an ATM Processing Unit (APU) based on a CW4011 MiniRISC CPU core, to meet both flexibility and performance requirements. The MiniRISC CPU core delivers 160 MIPS peak performance (110 MIPS sustained) when operating at 80 MHz. The embedded MiniRISC CPU is compatible with R3000 and R4000 32-bit instruction sets. Special instructions have been added to the MiniRISC CPU to facilitate easy implementation of ATM rate algorithms.
The ATMizer II+ scheduler block meets the ATM Forum guidelines by featuring six levels of priorities of traffic. The scheduler unit supports four independent Calendar Tables, making rate management for multi-PHY environments more efficient. The scheduler maintains the calendar tables in its external memory and performs traffic management functions on a large number of connections with arbitrary cell rates.
For additional processing flexibility, an enhanced (Direct Memory Access) DMA controller performs the AAL-5 SAR function in hardware. The DMA controller also assists the user in memory management, allowing more efficient use of the chip and system resources. The ATMizer II+ device provides a 32-bit, 33 MHz PCI V-2.1 compliant bus interface for host access and a 32-bit 80 MHz local memory interface for data and control structures, and an 8-bit 50 MHz UTOPIA level-2 compliant port for PHY interface.
"The rise of the Internet has caused new requirements for communication networks. These networks must now be robust, dependable, versatile, while providing increased performance and guaranteed quality of service," said Jordan Plofsky, vice president and general manager of networking products at LSI Logic. "The ATMizer II+ device provides telecom and networking equipment manufacturers the power and performance necessary to meet these growing demands."
The ATMizer II+ standard product is manufactured with LSI Logic's G10(R)-P 0.35-micron CMOS process for low power and higher speed applications. The ATMizer II+ is available now in a 240 pin MQUAD package and is priced at $90 apiece for 5K piece volume orders.
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LSI Logic Supplies Siemens With System-on-a-Chip ASICs for Their EWSD Switches
Siemens Chose a System-on-a-Chip Approach and Reduced System Configuration
Space by 4X and Development Time by 25%
BRACKNELL, England, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- LSI Logic Corporation, (NYSE: LSI) The System On A Chip Company(R), today announced that it is supplying three high-performance system-on-a-chip ASICs for Siemens' EWSD (Digital Electronic Switching System/Elektronisches Waehlsystem) Power Node switch, the world's leading narrowband switching product.
The three ASICs, which are integrated in the message buffer unit of the EWSD, are true system-on-a-chip designs as they integrate a processor core, application-specific IP and memory elements on a single chip, and together, they define the function of the system. These ASICs are responsible for routing the messages, handling the protocols and doing maintenance, and they serve as the interface between the coordination processor and the switching network.
Siemens made a strategic decision to move away from standard components and adopt a system-on-a-chip approach to enable them to achieve maximum performance and scalability for their next generation system. With this innovative implementation, they were able to reduce the system configuration space of the message buffer by a factor of four, increase the system performance and offer a scalable system that gives the EWSD the headroom to handle the increasing switching demands into the millennium. Siemens also dramatically cut the prototype testing time by using co-verification techniques.
To achieve the system performance, price and scalability requirements, three different ASICs were specified for three separate boards, and each ASIC required an embedded microprocessor. Siemens selected LSI Logic's MiniRISC(R) CW4003 MIPS CPU core and HDLC (High-Level Data Link Controller) protocol core from LSI Logic's CoreWare(R) library for these designs.
"By applying system-on-a-chip technology to a multiprocessor switch design, we were able to achieve our targets of more power for higher performance switching, innovative system design to enable new features like web access and, finally, bringing to market a state-of-the-art product that redefines switching architecture's of the future," said Mr. Johann Haslinger, director R&D, Siemens AG. "For this kind of achievement, it is essential to work closely with your semiconductor supplier, and we had outstanding support from LSI Logic throughout the entire design process."
The message buffer's complex system configuration, which when fully configured will comprise up to 76 processors populating 15 boards and all connected by high-speed point-to-point serial links, required a robust design methodology to include hardware and software co-verification, on-chip software debug and built-in-self-test that achieved 90% fault coverage. To ensure the highest system reliability, the built-in-self-test feature also operates in the working system, enabling Siemens to identify any problems and make repairs without interrupting the system.
Co-verification was an essential element in the success of the message buffer project and produced substantial time-to-market advantages. LSI Logic provided the VHDL models of the processor and HDLC cores. The co-verification environment comprised LSI Logic's MiniSIM(R) instruction set simulator, Synopsys' Eagle-I hardware/ software co-verification tool and Synopsys' Cyclone(R) hardware simulator.
With this approach, software engineers were able to debug the target software on the virtual devices and see the interaction of the three different ASICs. Once verified, a substantial part of the target software could be used for system verification and this was completed in half the time compared to the previous generation design. Siemens was then able to bring up the hardware and run the system integration tests which only took three months, half of the time it took for the previous design.
A key feature of LSI Logic's CW4003 CPU core is the ability to customize the cache and RAM sizes. This gave Siemens the flexibility to tune the microprocessor subsystem for the application and optimize the design for price/performance.
"Fundamental to our success as The System on a Chip Company is our underlying ASIC technology and methodology which are being selected by market leaders, like Siemens, to produce very complex, highly integrated solutions," said John Daane, executive vice president of Communications, Computer, Storage Components and ASIC products. "We are extremely pleased to have been selected as the system supplier for the Siemens' message buffer designs. This is yet another example of our strategy to serve trendsetting customers in selected markets, and it demonstrates how LSI Logic's core competencies are being used to deliver true system-on-a-chip devices, with time-to-market, performance and price advantages."
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