LSI Processor Enables 3D Graphics, 3D Sound, and Mobile Video for Sub-$100 Consumer Electronics

November 13, 2006, BiosMagazine.co.uk

LSI Logic today announced the Zevio 1020 multimedia application processor, the first LSI standard product IC based on the Zevio architecture, announced earlier this year.

With the new Zevio 1020 application processor and complete development support tools, manufacturers can quickly design cost-sensitive consumer electronics products that require low-power consumption, advanced graphics, and digital audio and video processing.

The Zevio 1020 processor is highly optimised for electronic toys, navigation systems and other innovative consumer electronics products.

(read more...)

Multimedia Processor Targets Sub-$100 CE Devices

By: Dylan McGrath
November 13, 2006, DDJ.com

Ten months after rolling out the Zevio ASIC platform at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, LSI Logic Corp. has introduced the first Zevio chip— a multimedia application processor designed to power sub-$100 consumer devices, the company said Monday (Nov. 13).

LSI (Milpitas, Calif.) said the processor, dubbed Zevio 1020, is optimized for electronic toys, navigation systems and other consumer electronics products that carry retail prices of $100 or less. The Zevio 1020 supports low-power consumption, advanced graphics, and digital audio and video, the company said.

According to Melvin Hirata, director of marketing for the Zevio product line, LSI believes Zevio chips will enable an entirely new class of lower-cost consumer electronics products. In recent years, the gap between high-end gaming platforms and low-end handheld video games has been growing, as consumers show willingness to spend more money on powerful systems such as the Sony PlayStation 3 but not on low-end products with inferior graphics capability and performance. (read more...)

LSI Processor Enables 3D Graphics, 3D Sound, and Mobile Video for Sub-$100 Consumer Electronics

November 13, 2006, Earthtimes.org

LSI Logic media chip targets sub-$100 mobile TV devices

By: Hank Brineen
November 15, 2006, iapplicanceweb.com

Milpitas, Ca. – LSI Logic Corp. has decided to make sub-$100 mobile TV and other handheld media devices a reality, introducing its ZEVIO 1020 multimedia application processor, targeted at cost-sensitive consumer electronics devices.

"LSI has designed the ZEVIO 1020 processor to enable the optimal balance of cost, power, and performance for a variety of portable multimedia applications priced under $100," said Melvin Hirata, director of marketing for ZEVIO products, Consumer Products Group, LSI Logic. (read more...)

LSI intros multimedia processor for low-cost CE apps

November 16, 2006, Eetasia.com

LSI Logic Corp. has introduced its first chip under the Zevio ASIC platform—a multimedia application processor designed to power sub-$100 consumer devices.

LSI said the processor, dubbed Zevio 1020, is optimized for electronic toys, navigation systems and other CE products that carry retail prices of $100 or less. The Zevio 1020 supports low-power consumption, advanced graphics and digital audio and video, the company said.

According to Melvin Hirata, director of marketing for the Zevio product line, LSI believes Zevio chips will enable an entirely new class of lower-cost CE products. In recent years, the gap between high-end gaming platforms and low-end handheld video games has been growing, as consumers show willingness to spend more money on powerful systems such as the Sony PlayStation 3 but not on low-end products with inferior graphics capability and performance.

By utilizing Zevio devices, vendors will be able to close that gap somewhat by adding better graphics and more bells and whistles to low-end systems without significantly driving up price points, Hirata said. "We are trying to bring those sub-$100 products to that next level," Hirata said. (read more...)

Processor enables 3D graphics/sound and mobile video for low-cost consumer electronics

November 16, 2006, Portable Design Online

Milpitas, CA -- The ZEVIO 1020 multimedia application processor is the first LSI standard product IC based on the ZEVIO architecture, announced earlier this year by LSI Logic.

With the new ZEVIO 1020 application processor and complete development support tools, manufacturers can quickly design cost-sensitive consumer electronics products that require low power consumption, advanced graphics, and digital audio and video processing. The processor is optimized for electronic toys, portable media players, navigation systems, and other innovative consumer electronics products.

"LSI has designed the ZEVIO 1020 with multiple cores, enabling the optimal balance of cost, power, and performance for multimedia products priced under $100," says Melvin Hirata, director of marketing for ZEVIO products, Consumer Products Group, LSI Logic. "Providing a production-ready application processor and key development tools reduces complexity and accelerates time to market. This total package gives our customers a significant advantage in the highly competitive consumer electronics market." (read more...)

Processor is designed for low-cost consumer electronics

November 30, 2006, Thomasnet.com

Consuming less than 150 mW power, ZEVIO(TM) 1020 multimedia application processor suits consumer electronics products that require graphics and digital audio/video processing. Featuring ARM9 core for general purpose processing, ZSP400 for multimedia processing, 3D graphics core, and 2D/3D MIDI sound core, processor integrates video digital-to-analog converter for direct TV output and secure digital I/O card slot for data storage and additional peripheral expansion. (read more...)

H.264 – So You Say You Want a Revolution?

By: Neil Bullock
November 6, 2006, EDN.com

Historically MPEG-2 has been used as the compression format that’s been used almost universally worldwide to date for standard definition digital video content that is consumed in the living room. It’s used by cable TV system operators, satellite TV broadcasters, and terrestrial digital TV broadcast networks, as well as on DVDs.

All of these methods of video delivery share something in common besides MPEG-2. They are closed content delivery and consumption systems. For example, content that a consumer receives from a cable TV system operator can’t be easily transferred to a portable media player for viewing while on-the-go.

But this is starting to change. New content delivery systems and playback devices are now being introduced. Consumers are beginning to have choices on where they can view video content beyond the living room: other rooms in the house; while in a vehicle; on a PC; on a portable media player; or on a cell phone. (read more...)

LSI buys Indian system on a chip maker

November 23, 2006, cbronline.com

Chipmaker LSI Logic Corp bought Metta Technology Inc yesterday in a cash deal worth around $7m.

Metta, a privately held company with operations in Pune, India, develops so called "multimedia system-on-chip" technology and software for consumer electronics products like high definition DVD players and set-top boxes. (read more...)

LSI Logics splashes its cash

For a cash sum of around $50 million, LSI Logic intends to buy StoreAge Networking Technologies, a privately held company based in Nesher, Israel. The company, which also has US offices in Irvine, California, provides SAN storage management and multitiered, data protection software for the enterprise market. (read more...)

eASIC Keeps Structured ASIC Approach Alive

By: Ann Steffora Mutschler
November 9, 2006, ECNmag.com

Although the structured (or programmable) ASIC approach of semiconductor design has taken some hits this year with the exit of LSI Logic from the market, Santa Clara, Calif.-based fabless semiconductor provider eASIC Corp. is continuing to stay the course.

eASIC CEO Ronnie Vasishta and Jasbinder Bhoot, senior director of IP applications marketing detailed the company’s latest programmable ASIC offering – Nextreme NX5000 – during a press and analyst lunch on Wednesday.

Built on the company’s configurable ASIC fabric that combines look-up-table–based logic (similar to an FPGA) with a single via customizable routing, the latest-generation Nextreme NX5000 is targeted at applications requiring up to 1 million units, Vasishta noted.

(read more...)

Nanotubes move to production fabs

November 3, 2006, eetimes.com

LONDON — Nantero Inc., a company developing a novel nonvolatile memory, has said it has become the first company in the world to introduce and use carbon nanotubes in mass production semiconductor fabs.

Nantero (Woburn, Mass.) is developing NRAM a nonvolatile random access memory device based on the bimodal stability of a carbon nanotube matrix laid across an etched trench. The company had previously announced that it had fabricated and successfully tested a 22-nanometer memory switch in April 2006 and that it would transfer research work from LSI Logic Inc. along with the transfer of a wafer fab in Gresham, Oregon, to On Semiconductor in May 2006.

Boston VIP server seminar - where is the industry going?

November 1, 2006, hexus.net

Team HEXUS was fortunate enough to be invited along to Boston's VIP server and storage seminar, held at the swanky Rockwell hotel in Kensington, London.

You may well be wondering who Boston is and what the company actually does. Boston Limited was founded in 1992 by Manoj Nayee. Its primary aim during the formative years was to supply high-performance PC hardware to the discriminating end of the market, where overall service, as much as price, was high on the decision-making criteria list of potential customers.

Skip forward to 1995 and Boston became the sole U.K. distributor for Supermicro, which many of you will know as purveyors of high-quality motherboards, chassis, and, recently, complete server solutions. Boston has since forged key links with the likes of LSI Logic, Fujitsu, and AMD. By striking key alliances with multi-national companies and offering expert support that smaller U.K companies thrive on, Boston has carved itself significant penetration in the rackmount server, storage, and high-end desktop component market. It now has an online server configurator that you can access here. (read more...)

TINY Investment Inches Closer to Payoff

November 6, 2006, msnmoney.com

Harris & Harris (Nasdaq: TINY), a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation, has always been a difficult company to which to affix a firm value. This is because, as a publicly traded venture capital firm specializing in nanotechnology, most of the companies it has taken an equity stake in are in the "pre-revenue" stage. To put it more succinctly, its investments are not yet generating much, if anything, in the way of revenue.

Most investors recognize this, but are betting that many of these start-ups will not only begin generating revenue, they will someday generate big revenue. Recently, I have written about Harris & Harris' investment in both Evolved Nanomaterials Sciences and Cambrios. The former is seeking to help big pharmaceutical firms jump-start their drug discovery process by more efficiently separating chiral molecules, while the latter is attempting to apply its disruptive molecular self-assembly technology to everything from flat-panel displays to batteries. (read more...)