Freescale Introduces 64-Bit Multi-Core Chips for Control Plane Apps.

Freescale Semiconductor this week introduced two 64-bit QorIQ P5 family control plane processors. The quad-core QorIQ P5040 and dual-core P5021 products operate at 2.40GHz and feature a mix of accelerators, high-speed interfaces and security features, resulting in advanced embedded solutions ideally suited for power-conscious control plane applications.
Built on Freescale’s 64-bit Power architecture e5500 core, all QorIQ P5 family products are pin- and software- compatible. Software reuse is further enhanced with hybrid 32-bit mode capabilities, which support legacy software and help ensure a seamless transition to 64-bit computing. The family now includes single-core, dual-core and quad-core chips operating at 2.0GHz or 2.40GHz with power consumption from sub-15W.
Integration of application-specific accelerators and advanced I/O on a single embedded device means customers of both new products benefit from reduced system development cycles and thermal management costs. Processing efficiency is optimized in part via CoreNet on-chip fabric that is designed to feed accelerators and cores while eliminating bus contention. A RAID 5/6 engine offloads the processors’ cores from parity calculations for storage applications. The devices integrate high-speed connectivity support for PCIe, SGMII, XAUI, SATA, Aurora and multiple 1GigE and 10GigE. Double precision floating point support is included to address key industrial market requirements.

“Freescale continues to expand its broad range of highly successful QorIQ multicore processors with the new P5040 and P5021 devices. These products are engineered to help our customers maintain best-in-class power efficiency while handling the tremendous control plane processing demands associated with the rapid global growth of wired and wireless data,” said Bernd Lienhard, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s networking processor division.
The newQorIQ P products are designed for industrial, storage, military/aerospace and networking applications including core routers and data centers. They feature advanced security capabilities including secure boot of application code, tamper detect circuitry and secure debug, as well as hardware-assisted acceleration of cryptography protocols. Key to establishing highly secure systems, Freescale’s embedded trust architecture prevents cloning and unauthorized cores from running on a system.
Freescale plans to offer initial samples and a P5040 development board in June 2012, with full qualification for both products expected in the first quarter of 2013.

Fujitsu and Lenovo Unveil USB 3.0 Dock Stations with DisplayLink Connectivity.

Fujitsu and Lenovo Group on Wednesday introduced new docking stations for latest notebooks that enable additional display connectivity through common USB 3.0 interface and special DisplayLink chips that let monitors to be connected to PCs through USB 3.0 ports. The new dock stations enable additional expansion capabilities for mobile computers. All users have to do it to plug them to USB 3.0 ports.
“Lenovo’s latest ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock takes full advantage of the bandwidth offered under SuperSpeed USB to achieve exceptional graphics and video performance in an unprecedented form-factor,” Said John Cummins, vice president of sales and marketing for DisplayLink.
The Lenovo ThinkPad USB 3.0 dock is powered by the DL-3900 dual head graphics chip with integrated Gigabit Ethernet and audio. The new DisplayLink certified USB docking station packs wide expansion opportunities in a small form factor, including dual video connections offered via two DVI ports enabling multiple displays to be connected for enhanced productivity,  five USB 3.0 ports for peripheral expansion and always-on mobile device charging, Gigabit Ethernet and audio connectivity.
“Incorporating virtual graphics technology from DisplayLink into Fujitsu’s port replicators makes it easier for mobile workers to connect to a more ergonomic, richer desktop display experience, no matter which desk they choose,” says Dieter Heiss, head of workplace systems at Fujitsu technology solutions.
Fujitsu USB 3.0 port replicator is also based on DisplayLink’s DL-3900 chip and provides a Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, a DisplayPort connection that supports ultra-high resolutions of up to 2560*1600, DVI-I port with an external VGA adapter, as well as 3.5mm audio in/out ports with stereo (2.1) and surround sound (5.1) support.
Specifically designed chips from DisplayLink can receive a compressed video stream via such interfaces as USB, Ethernet or WiMedia (a wireless data-transfer standard with a throughput up to 480Mbps), uncompress it into video and output it in various formats to displays.

Inventor of LiquidMetal: Material Will Be Ready for PC Production in Several Years.

Materials used to make modern electronic products are very different and have their own pros and cons. Plastic is inexpensive, but not durable; glass is fragile; aluminum and stainless steel are hard to produce in complex shapes. According to the inventor of liquidmetal, a family of amorphous alloys that combine advantages of the aforementioned, the new material could be a solution for future electronics devices, but only several years down the road.
Liquidmetal, which is currently used in various medical, military, industrial, sports and technical applications, can be cast in various forms and will maintain good look, superior strength, scratch and corrosion resistance and other advantages, e.g. relative light weight. Unfortunately, mass manufacturing infrastructure is currently not ready for liquidmetals. Although Apple has bought exclusive rights to use liquidmetals in its PCs, phones, tablets and other electronics, it will take hundreds of millions of dollars and several years before the company starts to use the new material in large scale.
"I would not say Liquidmetal was perfected. This is a technology that has yet to be matured and perfected both in manufacturing process and application development. I should note that this is a completely new and different metal technology. Therefore, there is no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of this alloy technology. For example, I estimate that Apple will likely spend on the order of $300 million to $500 million - and three to five years - to mature the technology before it can used in large scale," said Atakan Peker, one of the inventors of the Liquidmetal alloy, in an interview with Business Insider web-site.

There are several instances of liquidmetal usages in personal technology: Apple used the material for SIM-removing pin, Nokia and Samsung made flip phones of liquid metal. At present Apple uses aluminum to create cases for MacBook laptops, but since it involves milling cutter, it is very hard and expensive to produce them in volume. Liquidmetal could help, but at present it is not ready for it.
"First evolutionary substitution of current materials and secondly, and more importantly, in a breakthrough product made only possible by Liquidmetal technology. Apple’s exclusively licensing a new material technology (specifically for casing and enclosures) is a first in the industry.  This is very exciting. Therefore, I expect Apple to use this technology in a breakthrough product. Such product will likely bring an innovative user interface and industrial design together, and will also be very difficult to copy or duplicate with other material technologies," added Mr. Peker.

Dell Unveils World's First Microserver Based on Intel Xeon "Ivy Bridge" Chip.

Dell on Tuesday introduced the industry's first microserver based on yet unannounced Intel Corp.'s E3-1200 v2-series microprocessors with reduced thermal design power. Dell's new PowerEdge C5220 micro servers with new processors are designed to deliver up to 95% more performance within the same rack and 50% more density compared to the previous generation of micro servers.
“We are constantly inspired by the unique ways our customers are leveraging Dell microserver platforms to drive specialized web 2.0, HPC and cloud computing applications. As the microserver market and ecosystem have matured, customers like Vibrant Media have validated that microservers are a cost-effective, scalable platform in web 2.0 environments,” said Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager of Dell server solutions.
Dell PowerEdge C5220 servers powered by Intel's forthcoming Xeon central processing units made using 22nm fabrication process are designed to power business-critical web 2.0, cloud, and content delivery networks (CDN), as well as high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Intel's latest Xeon E3-1200 v2 product family includes various dual-core and quad-core chips with thermal design power ranging between 17W and 45W. The new processors also support such technologies like Turbo Boost, Hyper-Threading, ECC memory, 64-bit processing, virtualization and so on.
The PowerEdge C5220 featuring the latest Intel Xeon E3-1200v2 processor series will be available May 22, 2012. Pricing starts at $12 207.84.

Microsoft to Support Hybrid Memory Cube Technology.

he Hybrid Memory Cube Consortium, led by Micron Technology and Samsung Electronics, on Tuesday said that Microsoft Corp. has joined the consortium. The HMCC is a alliance of equipment makers, enablers and integrators cooperating to develop and implement an open interface standard for new memory technology called the hybrid memory cube. It is unknown whether Microsoft will implement HMC into its Xbox Next, or will just support the tech by Windows operating systems.
"HMC technology represents a major step forward in the direction of increasing memory bandwidth and performance, while decreasing the energy and latency needed for moving data between the memory arrays and the processor cores. Harvesting this solution for various future systems could lead to better and/or novel digital experiences," said KD Hallman, general manager of Microsoft strategic software/silicon architectures.
Micron and Samsung, the initial developing members of the HMCC, are working closely with Altera, IBM, Open-Silicon, Xilinx and now Microsoft to accelerate widespread industry adoption of HMC technology. The technology will enable highly efficient memory solutions for applications ranging from industrial products to high-performance computing and large-scale networking. The HMCC's team of developers plans to deliver a draft interface specification to a growing number of "adopters" that are joining the consortium. Then, the combined team of developers and adopters will refine the draft and release a final interface specification at the end of this year.

One of the primary challenges facing the industry – and a key motivation for forming the HMCC – is that the memory bandwidth required by high-performance computers and next- generation networking equipment has increased beyond what conventional memory architectures can provide. The term “memory wall” has been used to describe the problem.
Breaking through the memory wall requires a new architecture that can provide increased density and bandwidth at significantly reduced power consumption. HMC capabilities are a leap beyond current and near-term memory architectures in the areas of performance, packaging and design efficiencies. By defining an industry interface specification for developers, manufacturers and architects, the consortium is committed to making HMC a successful new high-performance memory technology.
Intel Corp. demonstrated HMC at Intel Developer Forum in September, 2011. The Hybrid Memory Cube – which was jointly designed by Intel and Micron – demonstrates a new approach to memory design delivering a 7-fold improvement in energy-efficiency over today's DDR3. Hybrid Memory Cube uses a stacked memory chip configuration, forming a compact “cube”, and uses a new, highly efficient memory interface which sets the bar for energy consumed per bit transferred while supporting data rates of 1Tb/s (one trillion bits per second). This research technology could lead to dramatic improvements in servers optimized for cloud computing as well as ultrabooks, televisions, tablets and smartphones.

Qualcomm and Samsung Form Wireless Power Alliance.

Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm have joined other technology companies to form the alliance for wireless power (A4WP). The new group will work independently and will promote global standardization of a wireless power transfer technology for various mobile devices so that they could be charged on tables, in cars and other environments. The initial standard will be based on Qualcomm's WiPower, eventually other companies will implement their suggestions.
Benefits of this wireless power approach include: a transmitter and receiver antenna design that is easily implemented, a simple wireless power control system, and the ability to transfer power through non-metallic surfaces. The A4WP expects to achieve this capability without the need for costly multi-coil repeaters, which are required for other systems. A single specification is envisioned that will address simultaneous charging of multiple devices ranging from very low power products, such as Bluetooth headsets, to today’s most sophisticated tablets.
“Qualcomm is delighted to be involved in this dynamic initiative to set the standard for wireless power. WiPower technology by Qualcomm is ideally suited for a forum like the A4WP. As a leader in delivering enabling technology solutions, Qualcomm is helping to define the next-generation consumer electronics experience," said Derek Aberle, executive vice president at Qualcomm.
Although the alliance between the world's largest maker of smartphones as well as mobile phones and the world's biggest designer of system-on-chips for mobile applications seems to be a formidable organization, without companies like Apple, Intel, Nokia, Sony and other leading consumer electronics firms the A4WP will not be able to develop and actual industry standard.

The independently operated organization’s mission is to promote global standardization of a wireless power transfer technology that offers spatial freedom, to develop product testing, certification and regulatory compliance processes, and to foster industry dialogue with regulators on wireless power policy development. The alliance is targeting a broad base of consumer electronic devices to establish a worldwide wireless power technology ecosystem.
"A4WP will accelerate the commercialization of this technology and will contribute to expanding its market. As a founding member of A4WP, Samsung is committed to supporting standardization of wireless charging technology boasting spatial freedom, contributing to the eco-system, and exploring possibilities of a variety of services," said KiHo Kim, executive vice president and head of digital media & communications R&D center at Samsung Electronics.
Joining Qualcomm and Samsung are: Ever Win Industries, Gill Industries, Peiker Acustic, Powermat Technologies, and SK Telecom. The A4WP is open to new members and welcomes participation from vendors in all segments of the potential ecosystem, including: handheld devices, consumer electronics, semiconductor products, automotive, furniture, test equipment, cellular operators, and retail.

Micron Reportedly Wins Exclusive Right to Bid for Elpida.

Micron Technology has reportedly won exclusive rights to acquire Elpida Memory and will have to pay for the company $2.5 billion or even $3.75 billion. The acquisition of Elpida will make Micron one of the world's three largest makers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and will have a dramatic effect on the industry as a whole.
The two companies yet have to confirm their intentions officially and reveal a plan how will the new Micron utilize assets of Elpida, such as manufacturing capacities, and what kind of advantages will the new international memory conglomerate have when compared to other makers of DRAM and NAND flash memory. What is clear even now is that with loads of memory types in portfolio, Micron will be more competitive against Hynix Semiconductor and Samsung Electronics.

Big Enough to Challenge Samsung

Looking at Q1 2012 revenue market share figures combined by DRAMeXchange (a division of TrendForce), Micron and Elpida came in third and fourth with 11.6% and 12.4% of the market, respectively, still a good distance behind second-place maker SK Hynix, who controlled 23.9% market share. After Micron and Elpida have integrated, their combined market share will bring the Micron team’s market share (Micron, Inotera, Elpida, and Rexchip) to nearly 24%, surpassing SK Hynix’s 23.9% to become second only to memory giant Samsung. As DRAMeXchange has previously stated, the DRAM industry is heading towards becoming an oligopolistic market – the emergence of three major DRAM players will help DRAM chip price gradually stabilize, bidding farewell to the price-slashing market competition of the past.
After Micron acquires Elpida, the Micron alliance will combine the DRAM capacities of major Taiwanese, U.S., and Japanese makers. The new team will be able to go up against the Korean heavyweights in terms of both commodity and mobile DRAM.

Technology Portfolio to Ensure Financial Stability

Looking at process technology transition, Elpida is not far behind the Korean makers in either yield rate or migration speed for both commodity and mobile DRAM. The Japanese supplier’s 30nm process yield rate is nearly mature, while the 25nm process is in the testing phase at Elpida’s Hiroshima fab. Elpida subsidiary Rexchip is expected to begin testing on the 25nm process in Q3 2012, and its mass production schedule is the same as its parent company’s. Elpida’s performance in the mobile DRAM sector is impressive as well – according to TrendForce, the maker’s mobile DRAM revenue market share already reached 8.8% in Q1 2012. Cooperation with Micron’s flash memory team would turn Elpida into an even more formidable opponent in the mobile DRAM sector.

Looking at Micron, the maker has always had close ties with first-tier PC OEMs in terms of commodity and server DRAM, its NAND flash products are ialso competitive. Micron and Elpida’s integration will be beneficial in terms of both product diversification and capacity increase – the adjustments will help improve the oversupply situation that has long plagued the DRAM industry. Together, Elpida’s mobile DRAM products and Micron’s NAND flash chips can be used to produce MCP (multi-chip packaging) products, which will help increase entry to mid-level smartphone market penetration rate, thereby significantly improving cost structure and profitability for the makers.

Taiwan Makers to Benefit from Merge

As for Taiwanese DRAM manufacturers, Micron’s acquisition of Elpida’s commodity and mobile DRAM technology will be a boon to Taiwanese memory makers. If Nanya and Inotera have access to Elpida’s technology, the makers will be able to speed up migration to the 25nm process. With the Taiwanese manufacturers’ strong manufacturing capabilities, they will be able to quickly begin mass production and lower cost structure. If the tri-national alliance is successful, not only will the makers have a chance to take second place in the global DRAM revenue ranking, but it is estimated that their total capacity will exceed 400 thousand wafer starts per month, or 40% of DRAM industry capacity. The team will become the third DRAM heavyweight, and the DRAM industry will be dominated by three major players.