I have it on pretty good authority that IBM has in fact come to terms with GlobalFoundries on the sale of their semiconductor business, or so I blogged last month. Did I mention that my grandparents and their many siblings settled in Upstate NY in the early 1900s from Italy via Ellis Island? So yes, I do qualify as an insider:
ECDH Key Exchange is Practical Magic
What if you and I want to exchange encrypted messages? It seems like something that will increasingly be desired given all the NSA/Snowden revelations and all the other snooping shenanigans. The joke going around is that the motto of the NSA is really “Yes We Scan,” which sort of sums it up.
Encryption is essentially scrambling a … Read More
G.fast on the copper quick road for broadband
After a four year gestation period typical of global communications standards, G.fast has reached the point where chipset makers can implement parts against stable specifications. Formal approval of the physical layer spec, G.9701, is expected by the end of 2014. G.9700, dealing with power spectral density issues, was approved… Read More
Imec and Coventor Partner Up
Today imec and Coventor announced a joint development project for 10nm and 7nm process development. Imec, which is in Leuven Belgium, is a partner with pretty much all the semiconductor companies that are planning work at these advanced nodes. It mostly does pre-competitive research and development. This type of research is … Read More
Xilinx UltraFast Design Methodology Guide will save you time and money
Well today, i’m easing my way back in from vacation. Took a camper, 6 kids, 1 wife with bun in the oven and saw the great USA. 17 States, roughly 5500 miles. It was great fun and tiring at the same time. The Grand Canyon was a blessing but I really enjoyed the ‘The Four Corners‘ where UT, CO, NM, AZ all meet. I had each kid… Read More
Designing Hardware with C++ and its Advantages
Very recently, I was seeing intense discussions on the need for agile hardware development just like agile software and ideas were being sought from experts as well as individuals. While in software world it has already evolved, in hardware world it’s yet to see the shift in paradigm. My point is that the end goal of agile hardware… Read More
The IoT and the Forbidden Fruit
A tremendous froth of press and promotion has arisen in the last year concerning the Internet of Things. Nearly every High Tech firm on the globe has begun to advertise their offerings as an integral part of it, positioning their products and services as both essential to the IoT and as a vital component of its future. As the smartphone… Read More
Cliff Hou at TSMC OIP
I attended Cliff Hou’s keynote at TSMC OIP Forum earlier this month. OIP is a huge undertaking. It currently has over 100 ecosystem partners, 10 technology generations, 7600+ IPs, 60+ EDA tools, 7000+ tech files and 150+ PDKs.
Most of Cliff’s presentation gave details on where TSMC are with the various processes. … Read More
3 reasons to focus on hardware dependent software
Why is software for modern SoCs so blasted expensive to develop? One reason is more software is being developed at the kernel layer – hardware dependent software, or HdS. Application software often assumes the underlying hardware, operating system, communication stacks, and device drivers are stable. For HdS, this flawed assumption… Read More
Sensing, Processing and Connecting: IoT Fundamentals
Internet of Things, or Internet of Everything, is certainly the buzzword of the year. Does IoT describe one product family? Not really as the acronym describes a family of concepts, each of these concepts could effectively be turned into a family of products, if this concept reach the market, or fulfill a market need. Nevertheless… Read More
The Data Crisis is Unfolding – Are We Ready?