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September 15th, 2005
CURRENT Improves Utilities’ Efficiency, Brings Utilities into Internet Provider Market
CURRENT Communications Group, LLC, a broadband over powerline (BPL)
service provider, has selected Intellon's Turbo chipset (INT5500CS) as the basis for its powerline communications products.
CURRENT’s products enable utility companies to offer electric socket based Internet communications and improve the overall
efficiency of the utility’s electric distribution networks. These systems gives utilities the capability to read electric
meters, identify power outages, monitor utility capacitor banks and manage security cameras.
CURRENT’s broadband systems also permit high-speed broadband
access over every electrical outlet in a customer’s home. According to Richard Goldstein, CEO of CURRENT "Intellon's
HomePlug chipsets provide a cost-effective, robust networking solution that enables our BPL infrastructure to serve multiple
purposes for utilities and end-users. We have been a long-time supporter of HomePlug technology. One important factor we considered
in our selection of a powerline technology was that Intellon's solution is based on the HomePlug industry standard, thus ensuring
end-to-end compatibility with existing and future HomePlug-enabled devices, while providing a cost-effective 85Mbps infrastructure
solution."
September 6th, 2005
Texas Instruments Announces Plans to Add Over 50 New Ultra Low Power Microcontrollers
In an effort to meet continued demand for lower power from the industrial, medical and consumer markets, Texas Instruments
Incorporated (NYSE: TXN) (TI) has embarked on a major product development effort to bring 50 new microcontroller chips to
market in the next 18 months. The product series of MSP430 ultra-low power microcontrollers are based on TI’s new F2XX
architecture. That architecture features an active current of just 200 microamperes per MIPS, and inactive current of less
than 1 microampere. The MSP430F20xx 16-Bit MCU series, in a 14 pin 4X4 mm package with a price range as low as $0.49, have
been specifically designed to take the load off batteries, enabling smaller batteries for total lower portable system design
costs.
"Our customers challenged us to provide a tight-fit MSP430 MCU solution for cost sensitive consumer and security systems
applications without sacrificing ultra-low power, performance and ease of use," said Mark Buccini, TI's advanced embedded
controls director of marketing. "We made no compromises. At only 4x4mm, the MSP430F20xx is one of the smallest
MCUs available and runs at 16 bits for the price of other 8-bit MCUs. It also packs 16 MIPS and less than 1 micro-amps
standby with the choice of performance analog converters. These pin-compatible devices operate from 1.8V - 3.6V and
unlike competitive devices, the series is fully loaded and is 100% code compatible with all existing MSP430 families, allowing
developers to leverage a single MCU platform from the most basic to the most sophisticated applications."
All devices of the series feature in-system programmable flash memory with density levels from 1 KB to 2KB with options
for comparators and either 10 or 16 bit analog-to-digital converters (ADC). The MSP430F20x3 MCUs are sampling now with
production scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2005.
August 30th, 2005
Dynex Reports Shift in Revenue Momentum to Positive
Side
Dynex Power Inc. has reported that it has turned the corner in revenue.
For its second quarter ended June 30, 2005, the maker of power semiconductor chips, reported revenue of $5.56 million Canadian
dollars, up for $5.34 million Canadian dollars for the same period last year.
Noting an increase in order book rates was Dr Paul Taylor, CEO,
"although these results are still far from acceptable, there has been a number of underlying improvements in our operations
that are contributing to our return to profitability. Our order book has grown by 28% over the first six months of the year
as our customers continue to display their confidence in and appreciation of our products. This customer support will enable
us to grow revenue again next quarter. We have also continued to enjoy strong support from our suppliers through what has
been a difficult period and our workforce has shown its determination to ensure that goods are shipped as soon as possible
and that all unnecessary costs are identified and eliminated."
Also expressing confidence of further growth in revenues and improved
profitability was Bob Lockwood, Chief Financial Officer, "the results are in line with the plan we developed at the start
of this year to enable the Company to return to profitability. We are confident of further strong growth in revenue over the
next six months that should see us operating at or close to break-even in the third quarter with a return to profitability
in the fourth quarter.”
August 26th, 2005
Summit Microelectronics Introduces EEPROM Programmable Power Supply Manager
Chip – Targeted at Portable Device Market
Summit Microelectronics has announced its next generation programmable power manager. The chip, called the SMB122, follows
Summit’s tradition of providing system designers an easy path to cross-platform custom power supply chip design. With
Summit’s chip solution, power supply designers can program in a number of features and even output pin functionality
for different portable devices with the same chip footprint - simplifying and reducing manufacturing costs for power supply
companies that must meet a wide variety of demands from consumer electronics companies.
Specifically, the SMB122 has been designed to meet the custom power supply needs for portable consumer applications such
as digital still cameras, digital camcorders, GPS terminals, MP3 players, personal digital assistants (PDAs), LCD TV's and
the upcoming ground swell of advanced cellular handsets. According to Abid Hussain, Summit's Director of Marketing, "The SMB122
Programmable Power Manager extends Summit's leadership in consumer applications where power subsystem complexity has created
a design bottleneck. OEMs are under intense pressure to develop high performance, feature-packed products with shorter development
cycles than ever before. The SMB122 offers unequaled flexibility needed to speed development while providing the highest integration
to meet the cost metrics of high volume production." The company also indicates that The Dynamic Voltage Management feature
of the chip has been targeted for the high volume ARM and Xscale microprocessor markets.
In order to greatly simplify the customization of the chip for different power supply platforms, the SMB122 chip comes
complete with on-chip EEPROM memory. With a laptop plug and play evaluation board along with associated graphic user interface
design tool, the designer can program the chip’s power supply features and functions and verify that it works in an
variety of different designs. Once the designer has finalized the programmable power manager chip options and verified the
prototype power supply meets the applications needs, the Summit design solution generates a HEX data file. That file can then
be transmitted to Summit for review and final approval.
The SMB122 includes step-down, step-up, inverting and low drop-outputs as well as functions such as slew rate control,
dynamic output voltage control and a fully programmable battery charger. Configuration data is stored in the on-chip EEPROM
memory with Summit’s design tool. The configuration data can be set permanently or changed by the user when it is alive
in a system through the use of a industry standard I2C interface.
The SMB122 is available now in production quantities. Summit reports that the chip is priced at $6.12 each 10,000 unit
quantities.
August 23rd, 2005
IDT Introduces Notebook Clocks – Reduces Power 50 Percent
Integrated Device Technology, Inc., (NASDAQ:IDTI), has introduced a series of PC clock devices that
the company reports reduces power consumption 50 percent over the company’s previous clock chips. According
to Tom Kao, director of marketing, IDT PC clock product line, "Notebook PC manufacturers have issued a clear call to action
to all their suppliers, requesting that they reduce power consumption across the board. Today's announcement underscores our
continued efforts to deliver industry-leading PC clock solutions to the market. By lowering the power consumption of our PC
clock devices by up to 50 percent, we are doing our part to reduce overall power in computing systems, while ultimately contributing
to the greater cause of providing consumers with a better user experience."
The company indicated that the advancement was a result of power reduction
technology related to the I/O of the devices. I/O (Input / Output) cells are used to connect the small transistors within
the chip to the package lead that connects the circuit to the printed circuit board traces. Because of the need to drive the
high capacitance loads of the package and PC board traces, I/O circuits within the chip consist of larger transistors and
are responsible for a disproportionate share of power consumption in integrated circuits.
The new low-power PC clocks have been designed for present day and future
Intel laptop microprocessors such as the Centrino. The clock chips are priced from 99 cents in quantities of 10,000.
August 22nd, 2005
SatCon Technology Corporation(C) (NASDAQ NM: SATC), a company with operations in microelectronics,
motors and electronic power management systems for the renewable energy market, reported that it recently has completed a
financial transaction that involved the sale of 4.7 million shares of common stock and warrants. The company recorded proceeds
from the stock and warrants of about $5.8 million. The company reported that it plans to use the proceeds for its marketing
and sales efforts in the alternative energy and power grid markets. According to SatCon President, Millard Firebaugh, "The
proceeds from this sale of common stock and warrants will allow SatCon to continue aggressive growth in the Alternative Energy,
Hybrid-Electric Vehicle and Grid Support markets. These markets are growing at accelerating rates. The Energy Policy Act further
reinforces the future market potential. SatCon already has successful products in these markets from which we are experiencing
our most rapid growth in product revenue. We are positioning for success with appropriate investment."
The company also released financial information with the announcement of the financing, "Our revenue for the quarter
was $8.2 million dollars compared to $8.6 million in 2004," said David Eisenhaure, CEO at SatCon. "However, we have an additional
$1.3 million in deferred revenue related to the shipment of a Rotary UPS made during the quarter, and $1.5 million in revenue
deferred from Q2 for the EDO program. Our operating loss for the third quarter was $2.2 million, compared to $0.7 million
in 2004. That loss was primarily due to higher costs of manufacturing as we ramp up our support in the Power Systems Division
for planned increased production in the Alternative Energy, HEV and Grid Support market sector."
The company also indicated that the solar market was on its list of business opportunities.
August 18th, 2005
China’s Power Management Fabless Chip Companies
Merge
Power Analog Microelectronics (PAM), a provider of both digital audio amplifiers
and power management integrated circuits has acquired another China based power management chip company, MicroSilicon. With
the merger, the merged company plan to address several consumer markets. These include the personal multimedia player, portable
digital TV and multimedia handset markets. With the acquisition of MicroSilicon, PAM obtained access to both power management
and signal processing technology used for camera, PC, PDAs and wireless applications.
MicroSilicon, a design house focused on CMOS produces within the 0.35 to
0.6 micron range, was founded in 2004 and is based in Shanghai. PAM was also established in 2004.
August 16th, 2005
Transmeta Corporation (NASDAQ:TMTA), which low-power microprocessor
and power management technology, has reported second quarter revenue of $24.7 million for its quarter ended June 30, 2005.
This compares to $6.0 million for the second quarter of 2004. The company, which recently changed its business model to an
Intellectual Property (IP) model, for the second quarter broke down its revenue. It includes $10 million in license
revenue, $7.6 million in service revenue and $7.1 million in product revenue. For the second quarter of 2004, the company
did not have any IP license revenue, but had $0.3 million in service revenue and $5.7 million in product revenue.
The company indicated that the increase in product revenue was a
reflection of end-of-life product sales. The company also reported deferred revenue of $15.5 million in the recent second
quarter, which was an increase of $1 million compared to the first quarter of 2005.
Transmeta also released numbers for the six months ended June 30,
2005 and June 30, 2004. For the latest six months revenue was $31.56 million compared to $11.2 million for the same period
in 2004. Of the $31.6 million, $10.0 million was from licenses, $8.08 million from service revenue and $13.47 million was
from product revenue. For the six months ended June 30, 2004, there wasn’t any license revenue, service revenue was
$0.52 million and product revenue was $10.68 million.
August 3rd, 2005
Primarion’s Digital Power Technology Exceeds $22 Million in Funding
Support
Primarion, a fabless semiconductor company with digital power management technology for today’s
high-speed microprocessors, has received a new investment from W Capital Partners as well as has received investments from
its existing financiers, Accel Partners, APV Technology Partners and Lehman Brothers. The investments, part of a Series D
equity financing arrangement, total over $22 million for the company.
Primarion produces digital controllers for use in today’s
high-speed computer, communications and graphics applications. Specifically, their multiphase controllers are used to provide
regulated power for popular microprocessors that operated at and beyond the GHz frequency range. Primarion also offers
I/O chips, which are used for digitally controlled optical links in storage, networking and computer applications. These
optoelectronics ICs include VCSEL drivers and transimpedence amplifiers. The company also notes that its digital power solutions
permit VR-11-compliant voltage regulators to achieve efficiency levels of 90 percent.
Ron Van Dell, CEO at Primarion, on the announcement, noted the company’s
strong year and its capability to meet the low power requirements of future electronic devices, "The last year has been incredibly
strong for Primarion. Through this round of funding, our investors recognize that Primarion is building substantial momentum,
thanks to our innovative approach to meeting the current and future demands for digital power. The next generation of processors
for computing, graphics, and data communications present the engineering community with difficult power requirements. With
our digital power solutions in production, Primarion is ideally suited to help companies overcome these challenges."
Intersil, a major supplier of power management chip solutions, is
also an investor in Primarion.
JULY 26th, 2005
PowerPulse Develops Low-Cost Chip to Extend Battery Performance 20 – 200 Percent
From the Dallas Morning News comes news that an innovative Texas company, PowerPulse Technologies
LP based in Richardson, has developed an electronic circuit that will significantly extend the battery life of any battery.
According to the Dallas Morning News, the ASIC chip will increase battery life from 20 to 50 percent. PowerPulse;s web site
however states that the overall perfornance of a battery could be improved anywhere from 20 to 200 percent – depending
on the application.
Fundamental to the design is the premise that most batteries supply
too much power – often because the battery and load are often not matched to maximize power efficiency. The ASIC chip
apparently overcomes this problem by minimizing the electric current flow between the battery and the load.
The technology, which is available by license from PowerPulse has
been targeted initially at the electric appliance market. Hair dryers, irons and hair curlers are the first targets according
to the Dallas Morning News. PowePulse lists a number of other markets on its web site. These include cell phones, flash
lights, laptop computers, space heaters, toys and electric and hybrid cars – adding up to a very large end-market for
the company.
PowerPulse was founded in 2003 is reportedly now generating
revenues, awaiting over $3 million in funding, with products expecting to hit stores this year.
JULY 26th, 2005
Micronbonds, Inc., a company that has developed a new integrated
circuit wire bonding technology, a process necessary for the packaging of silicon chips, has completed a $7 million (Canadian)
financing round. The funding was led by Whitecastle Equity Partners.
Microbonds' calls its new interconnect technology the X-Wire Technology, a technology the company indicates permits
the actual bonding wires to physical touch, but without shorting. The company’s wire bonding technology is based on
new wire materials, which provides an effective insulation shied over the wire. The technology is critical in reducing the
packaging requirements in that it, unlike bare wire bonding, the X-Wire doesn’t require any minimum spacing. In fact,
the X-Wire technology can be criss-crossed over other wires with no concern about short circuits. This gives package and silicon
designers a great deal more flexibility for the routing of package wires, offering them the capability to more precisely match
the silicon area to the smallest package. The company says that the technology permits new geometries through area array and
multi-row wire bonding and direct to ball bonding, which offers reduced substrate layers.
Besides a reduction in the size of the package, the new technology
also offers a number of other benefits that integrated circuit companies need to compete. These include the lower package
cost that comes along with a reduced package size and improved electrical characteristics. Because X-Wire maximizes routing
options, package design engineers are able to route bonding wires with shorter lengths. This in turn reduces the delay and
power consumption associated with the IO bonding wires, which have been traditional major source of delay and power in a
silicon chip – not to mention a source of large transients - which often plague the reliability of a design.
Microbonds also has recently entered into a strategic alliance with
Tanaka Denshi Kogyo K.K., a supplier of bare gold bonding wire. Under that agreement, the two companies plan to market a line
of insulated gold bonding wires targeted at the array wire bonding, stacked die and rapid prototyping markets.
Shinji Shirakawa, General Manager, Technical Development Division
of Tanaka Denshi Kogyo K.K. also listed the benefits of the insulated X-Wire technology, "Tanaka is delighted to
work with Microbonds to introduce this exciting new development in wire bonding technology, which we believe will significantly
extend and expand the dominance of the wire bond industry. The X-Wire Technology leverages existing dominant wire-bonding
infrastructure and expertise and can be integrated with minimal disruption; yet the unique, insulated approach permits wires
to touch and cross, enabling significant increases in interconnect densities for a wide array of new chip and package designs.
For users, this technology is easy to use and delivers powerful benefits such as yield improvements, performance enhancements
and cost savings."
JULY 26th, 2005
Rapport Incorporated, a fabless semiconductor start-up, focused
on the development of the Kilocore configurable multiprocessor computer architecture, has closed a $7 million Series A round
of financing. The funding, which was led by Techfarm Ventures, is expected to be used to commercialize Rapport’s low-cost
and low-power solution for applications that have been traditionally the domain of static microprocessors.
Gordon Campbell, executive director of Techfarm Ventures will serve
as Rapport's Chairman of the Board. The former head of once well-known Chips & Technologies, long ago acquired by Intel,
commented on the extremely low-power of Rapport’s solution, "The Kilocore approach to silicon will revolutionize IC
computing by delivering computing density and design flexibility at orders of magnitude lower levels of power. Companies innovating
breakthrough technologies with this level of industry impact for growth markets are what we look to support and fund at Tech
Farm."
JULY 20th, 2005
Swiftech, a thermal management company has announced its STORM
water-block product. The technology has been released with a great deal of enthusiasm by the company as the ultimate way for
computer users to cool their microprocessor and increase the power of the computer systems- microprocessors and other types
of chips can operate faster at lower temperature.
Swiftech reports that it has been working with several microprocessor
chip leaders as well as the large graphic chip companies. Swiftech states that it manufactures its air and liquid cooling
solutions for Intel and AMD, considered the two leaders in the microprocessor market, and NVIDIA and ATI, the two leaders
in the graphics chip market. Swiftech also puts PC and component manufacturers on its customer list. These include Corsair
memory and Voodoo PC. Swiftech is also out their on the streets selling its product. It names Internet reseller, Newegg.com
and Fry’s Electronics, a big box consumer and PC electronics and components store as distribution outlets.
Giving out preorder numbers, a brief history, and a positive outlook
for the company’s third quarter revenue was the Chairman of Swiftech, Gabriel Rouchon, "Swiftech acquired the manufacturing
rights for the extraordinarily efficient Storm G4 water-block from well-known Australian engineer Stew Forster (AKA Cathar).
The resulting product combines Swiftech's manufacturing expertise and attention to detail to deliver the most advanced water-block
ever produced by our company. With the release of our Storm water-block, our revenues for the third quarter should increase
dramatically. Our retail partners have waited patiently for this product and have accepted over 700 pre-orders to date. Their
continued sales efforts should assist us in exceeding our third-quarter revenue projections. The Storm product is the first
of many thermal cooling products that Swiftech will be releasing within the next few months."
Swiftech notes that its principle business is air and liquid cooling
solutions for the IT industry and that it has over 60 distributors worldwide. Additionally, the company has won numerous awards
for its products.
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