Editors' Blog

More Accurate I/O Models

I/O models have become increasingly important as we’ve moved from dumb 5-V-swing full-rail CMOS I/Os (remember those?) to the tight, sensitive kinds of I/Os needed for serial connections and DDR memory. Along with that we’ve gone from no need for models to the need for very accurate models to ensure that signals will get where they’re going without being swamped by noise.

IBIS models have served that purpose, but they also were pretty rough and ready in their earlier incarnations, requiring manual work to create them.

The Other KBP

by Bryon Moyer

We looked today at Netlogic’s NETL7 “knowledge-based processors” (KBPs). But the KBP category contains more than just this family: it also contains one called Sahasra.

But the Sahasra products aren’t just more of the same of what’s in NETL7. NETL7 deals with packets all the way to the application layer (layer 7) in the OSI stack. That’s the essence of deep packet inspection (DPI): you’re not just looking at various enclosing headers, you& … Read More → "The Other KBP"

A Hunk of Metal that Computes

by Bryon Moyer

Quantum3D recently announced some new ruggedized computers. Ruggedness seemed to be a hot topic some years ago (remember Grid?), but you don’t hear so much about it these days. The Quantum3D boxes are aimed squarely (if not exclusively) at military.

I got a chance to talk to them a bit at ESC some months ago. They described their casing as “a big heat sink”: they rely on conductive cooling, not convective, or air, cooling. The machine inside averages to the power of a laptop, but they have models ranging from netbook-class … Read More → "A Hunk of Metal that Computes"

Catapult C Changes Hands

by Bryon Moyer

High-level synthesis (HLS), somewhat synonymous these days with electronic system-level (ESL) design , has been a bloody business. Companies have come and, mostly, gone over the years. The one stable standout seemed to be Catapult C from Mentor.

Yeah, there were complaints that it was priced only for SoC design, with each seat costing six digits per year, but, literally, Mentor wrote the book on HLS.

So it came as a shock this morning when Calypto announced that it had acquired Catapult C. Mentor didn’ … Read More → "Catapult C Changes Hands"

IC Manage Fires Back

by Bryon Moyer

So… the Methodics/IC Manage saga continues. Last week’s revelations must have caught them somewhat unprepared, so it took them some more time to provide a broader explanation of what they say has been going on. Here is Mr. Sikand’s statement:

“Due to Methodics LLC CEO Simon Butler’s recent email campaigns and postings maligning IC Manage, Inc. and the personal attacks against me, I am writing to provide the background behind my acquisition of the methodics.com domain … Read More → "IC Manage Fires Back"

A new way to do metal

by Jim Turley

I noticed an interesting release courtesy of Leti, the French research consortium. It concerns a new way of depositing metal that looks so easy that it clearly must not be (or else everyone would have been doing it).

Copper has become the standard metal for logic processes. It uses a series of standard photolithographic steps to deposit, pattern, and etch the metal. The problem is that the cost of this process has been prohibitive for other smaller non-logic chips whose price can’t support such a process.

A French company, Replisaurus, has developed a … Read More → "A new way to do metal"

More smart grid standardization work

by Bryon Moyer

Almost a year ago we took a look at smart grid technology. One of the obvious things that emerged when looking at how smart grids are evolving is the fact that it’s very fractured: each country or region has its own way of doing things. There may well be overlap, but that’s not necessarily due to strategic collaboration; sometimes it just happens.

So it was with interest that I saw that CEVA announced approval by the Israeli Chief Scientist (who knew that countries … Read More → "More smart grid standardization work"

This is unbelievable.. doesn’t t

by Amelia Dalton

This is unbelievable.. doesn’t the VP of Engineering at IC Manage have something better to do than troll around competitor websites buying up domains and posting lies and disinformation? Just plain sleaze.. why would anyone do business with a company like this?

… Read More →

The Veil is Lifted on Methodics.Com

by Amelia Dalton

You may remember something of a kerfuffle about Methodics, which uses the methodics-da.com domain, finding that a page at methodics.com that said that Methodics was out of business, pointing them to IC Manage instead.

While it was all suspicion at the time, it turns out that Methodics did a Uniform Domain Name Resolution complaint. This process is used when someone has a domain that infringes someone else’s trademark for less than honorable purposes. According to the policy, there are three … Read More → "The Veil is Lifted on Methodics.Com"

Multicore with GPUs

by Amelia Dalton

We recently took a look at multicore software automation, and one of the efforts in play was the generation of so-called “recipes” for helping parallelize a program. The idea is that a tool from Vector Fabrics helps you decide how to parallelize a sequential program, and then you get a set of instructions that tell you how to transform your program into a parallel version.

Typically this is done by inserting pthread or OpenMP constructs. But Vector Fabrics recently announced a new … Read More → "Multicore with GPUs"