ARM vs Intel? Just look at ARM Top Customer in 2010!

ARM vs Intel? Just look at ARM Top Customer in 2010!
by Eric Esteve on 01-16-2012 at 3:47 am

Looking at the ARM Top Ten customers list (for 2010) brings useful information about the volumes production generated by the chip makers involved in the wireless handset segment. Revenue for an ARM licensee comes from upfront license and royalties. Upfront license are in the few $ million range (max), when the below listed contribution… Read More


Thanks to Linkedin members: 24 “Like” given to “Interface Protocols, USB3, HDMI, MIPI… the winner and losers in 2011”

Thanks to Linkedin members: 24 “Like” given to “Interface Protocols, USB3, HDMI, MIPI… the winner and losers in 2011”
by Eric Esteve on 01-14-2012 at 12:53 pm

Just because it seems that the likes given to: Interface Protocols, USB3, HDMI, MIPI… the winner and losers in 2011 were numerous, I decided to count it.

Twenty-four likes received, in 11 Linkedin groups (see below), that’s good! Very goos! Thanks to all of you… And most probably thanks to IPNESTfor the quality of the… Read More


Memory Controller IP, battle field where Cadence and Synopsys are really fighting face to face. Today let’s have a look at Cadence’s strategy.

Memory Controller IP, battle field where Cadence and Synopsys are really fighting face to face. Today let’s have a look at Cadence’s strategy.
by Eric Esteve on 01-12-2012 at 9:45 am

I have shared with you last year some strategic information released by Cadence in April about their IP strategy, more specifically about the launch of the DDR4 Controller IP. And try to understand Cadence strategy about Interface IP in general (USB, PCIe, SATA, DDRn, HDMI, MIPI…) and how Cadence is positioned in respect with their… Read More


Interface Protocols, USB3, HDMI, MIPI… the winner and losers in 2011

Interface Protocols, USB3, HDMI, MIPI… the winner and losers in 2011
by Eric Esteve on 01-07-2012 at 11:30 am

Releasing a new protocol like ThunderBolt, HDMI or SuperSpeed USB has not only to do with bandwidth performance or form factor of the connector as a guarantee of success. Some non-scientific parameters also play a role in the alchemy, that’s why forecasting the success of a certain protocol is such a hard task, and can’t be reduced… Read More


eTale of Christmas: DSK, sex, economy and geopolitics

eTale of Christmas: DSK, sex, economy and geopolitics
by Eric Esteve on 12-21-2011 at 11:14 am

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has spoken at a conference organized by a Chinese Internet company, NetEase.com Inc. in Beijing last Monday, and he was rather pessimistic about the future of European economy, at least if politician keep focus on Continent’s dept problem and not enough… Read More


IP-SoC 2011 Trip Report: IP again, new ASSP model, security, cache coherence and more

IP-SoC 2011 Trip Report: IP again, new ASSP model, security, cache coherence and more
by Eric Esteve on 12-13-2011 at 9:05 am

For the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of IP-SoC, we had about ten presentations, most being really interesting; the conference has provided globally a very good level of information, speakers coming from various places like China, Belarus, The University of Aizu (Japan), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), Silesian and Warsaw… Read More


IP-SoC 2011: prepare the future, what’s coming next after IP based design?

IP-SoC 2011: prepare the future, what’s coming next after IP based design?
by Eric Esteve on 12-03-2011 at 2:58 am

IP-SoC 2011is the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary for the first Conference completely dedicated to IP. IP market is a small world, as EDA a small market if you look at the generated revenue… but both are essential building blocks for the semiconductor industry. It was not clear back in 1995 that IP will become essential: at that time,… Read More


100 USB 3.0 IP Design-In…Is PLDA rocketing SuperSpeed USB technology?

100 USB 3.0 IP Design-In…Is PLDA rocketing SuperSpeed USB technology?
by Eric Esteve on 11-29-2011 at 10:19 am

Did we (the analyst) completely underestimate SuperSpeed USB take-off, or is the company tweaking the meaning of “USB 3.0 IP Design-In”? This PRfrom PLDA could be understood as a claiming from the IP vendor that they have achieved the 100[SUP]th[/SUP] design win for their USB 3.0 IP… Let’s try to understand how PLDA can make more… Read More


How to use NoC to avoid routing congestion

How to use NoC to avoid routing congestion
by Eric Esteve on 11-23-2011 at 5:21 am

Network-on-Chip (NoC) is an emerging paradigm for communications within large VLSI systems implemented on a single silicon chip. Sgroi et al. call “the layered-stack approach to the design of the on-chip intercore communications the Network-on-Chip (NOC) methodology.” In a NoC system, modules such as processorRead More


A tribute to Research on Interface IP Market

A tribute to Research on Interface IP Market
by Eric Esteve on 11-17-2011 at 10:03 am

Denali acquisition by Cadence in May 2010, ChipIdea, Virage Logic, and nSys acquisitions by Synopsys in 2009, 2010 and 2011 (resp.) shows that IP market is consolidating… but new IP vendors are still emerging! So we need to know on which product the Interface IP market leader will tend to a dominant position, which new products… Read More