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Technology Stocks : Logpoint Technologies (LGPT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mnispel who wrote (637)	5/5/1999 6:49:00 PM
From: kash johal	Respond to of 698

mnispel, Re:" One probably can assume that since LGPTs technology is made up in part by look up tables, precision is also in (large) part a function of the tables. More precision requires more bits per element per table and perhaps larger tables (rows and/or columns)." Yes, this is the compromise. One can trade off precision with memory size using their technology. As you handle large words and need more precision the memory goes up logarithmically. :-) In a general purpose machine you need to offer the maximum accuracy to fit the largest customer base. In the embedded market most 8 bitters don't even offer FPU in hardware as it is not typically required. The newer 32 bitters like ARM cover both ends I believe. There several major problems with the companies business premise: 1. That there is a crying need for a soft imprecise FPU. They have had patents for 5 years in place. They have been selling for that long and have no real revenues. Why???? It would seem to me that if there was a huge market need served there has been ample time to serve it. 2. There is a huge revenue stream here. The company has been carefull to hide what the revenue stream is. In this software utility/tool market these libraries are sold for a modest license fee with no RECURRING revenues. So even if millions of dollars of end products are shipped using these libraries the company only realises revenue up front with the sale. This is radically different from the IP business model ala Rambus or ARM. Here there are significant up front revenues and then a downstream license revenue. 3. New model. It seems that the comapany having failed with the software model is now looking at trying to move to an IP model. Here they could offer say a synthesizable LGPT core for ASIC customers to embed into an ASIC chip. This approach probably has some merit as indeed certain folks are very die size/power sensitive. However to execute you need vastly differing skillsets than these software folks have and significant semiconductor/eda expertise. In addition such a business has a payoff that is 5 years down the road even if successfull-just look at ARM's or Rambus's revenue stream. As somebody with over 20 years ASIC expertise I can warrant for the problems/resources required for such an effort. PS I had requested that they send me an NDA. Nothing forthcoming so far.

To: mnispel who wrote (637)	5/6/1999 11:29:00 AM
From: Dolfan	Respond to of 698

Interesting News out of National Semiconductor? __National Semiconductor Bows Out Of PC Chip Biz__ National Semiconductor Corp., which bought Cyrix Corp. 18 months ago to stake a claim in the market for PC microprocessors, has decided that competing with Intel in the PC space is a losing proposition. National said yesterday it will try to sell off that business, and plans to eliminate 550 of its 11,500 workers, resulting in a $250 million to $300 million charge for its fourth quarter ending May 30. National will focus on supplying microprocessors, based on Cyrix designs, for the emerging information appliances market and maintain its business of designing analog chips, CEO Brian Halla said in a conference call with analysts. The microprocessors will go in thin-client computers, portable Web devices, and set-top boxes. About 70% of National's sales are analog chips, which are used in a variety of products-- from fax machines and PC peripherals to mainframes and aerospace products. National had planned to pounce on the emerging market for inexpensive PCs when it bought Cyrix, which had developed an "integrated" chip that combines the functions of a microprocessor with other support chips within the PC. Such a configuration would reduce component costs, the vendor reasoned. But Intel came out last year with its Celeron chips and National was unable to compete with the chip giant's market clout and economies of scale. Intel will soon launch its own integrated chip, which would make it even more difficult for National to compete in that market. -- Tom Davey