BROWSING: Chips - Semiconductor

The mere idea it may one day be possible to connect computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices to share voice and data transmissions without the need for cables has brought together some of the industry's heaviest hitters under the umbrella of the Bluetooth...

Information Storage Devices Inc., San Jose, Calif., introduced a single-chip, fully integrated voice storage solution designed for digital cellular handsets.The ISD5008 eliminates external analog circuitry, such as automatic gain control, power amplifier and volume-control functions and switches by integrating those functions onto one chip....

Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group introduced a new platform for Global System for Mobile communications handsets.The platform, which is slightly larger than a business card, can provide standby times of up to 500 hours, said the company. The product can operate in any of...

Frustrated by the lack of cooperation in Europe over convergence of third-generation technology, some U.S. cdmaOne operators have vowed to push ahead aggressively with cdma2000 technology."Negotiations have gone on long enough," said Keith Paglusch, senior vice president of technical services and network operations with...

Motorola Inc.'s ReFLEX chipset and software solution first announced a month ago is available for purchase. The company also released more details about the product.The chipset includes a ReFLEX encoder/decoder equipped with ReFLEX Stack two-way software and a complete transceiver/receiver subsystem. This marks the...

The International Telecommunication Union has yet to decide on the air interface for third-generation mobile phone technology, but many vendors are pushing ahead anyway with GSM-based wideband CDMA technology.The Geneva-based international standards body is mulling through 15 different proposals, the majority based on CDMA...

IBM Corp.'s Microelectronics Division last week introduced its first standard, high-volume chip based on the company's silicon germanium manufacturing process.The company said the new standard chips can be used in cellular phones, pagers and other wireless communications devices to provide extended battery life, support...

WASHINGTON-Pekka Tarjanne, outgoing secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union, predicted last week a family of third-generation wireless standards will emerge by year's end and that family will include a standard "pretty close" to the Global System for Mobile communications-based technology dominated by Sweden's...

For months now, my buddy Mike Houghton and the North American GSM Alliance have been scratching their heads trying to figure out how Qualcomm, Lucent and the CDMA crowd have made such inroads with Congress and the Clinton administration on this seemingly esoteric issue...

Paging carriers looking to provide airtime for telemetry and off-the-hip paging applications received a big boost when Motorola Inc. introduced its first-generation ReFLEX chipset solution.The chipset includes a ReFLEX encoder/decoder equipped with ReFLEX Stack two-way software and a complete transceiver/receiver subsystem. The release marks...

HEWLETT PACKARDA complete test solution for installing and maintaining radio-frequency infrastructure systems for Cellular Digital Packet Data and mobile data base station equipment was introduced by Hewlett-Packard Co. at the Personal Communications Showcase '98 trade show last week in Orlando, Fla. The solution is...

SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. partnered with Yokogawa Digital Computer Corp. for the Japanese company to develop a diagnostics solution for Qualcomm's fifth-generation MSM3000 Interim Standard 95-B baseband modem chipset.YDC plans to offer its Advanced In-Circuit Emulator for Qualcomm's chip beginning later this month. The new...

Recent developments in Japan suggest standards leaders there realize they must deal with the cdma2000 third-generation proposal. Japan's standards body, the Association of Radio Businesses (ARIB), recently concluded that both W-CDMA, based on the GSM platform, and cdma2000 third-generation proposals are valid proposals and meet...

Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Microelectronics Group said its new system-on-a-chip process could result in wireless phones that operate for a month without needing recharging.The company announced a .13 micron fabrication process that will offer communications chips with density and power at cost-effective levels. Using module...

NEW YORK-When it comes to smart cards, potential consumer demand is the proverbial tail wagging the dog of available supply, according to Avi Zahavi, chairman of the Smart Card Forum's telephony work group.Right behind secure storage of their medical insurance and health information, consumers...

SAN JOSE, Calif.-U.S. chip manufacturers endorsed a compromise legislative plan regarding Year 2000 disclosure issues that provides liability protection to encourage businesses to share problem-solving information about Y2K problems and solutions, the Semiconductor Industry Association said.The bill enables companies to disclose technical information about...

AUSTIN, Texas-Motorola Inc. introduced a new chip last week designed to bring paging capability to personal digital assistants and other devices not traditionally used for paging.The MMC2080 chip can fully support the new G1.9 FLEX specification by combining a FLEX paging decoder and an...

While the short-term forecast for wireless operators in financially troubled parts of the world could be turbulent, carriers remain optimistic the wireless industry will weather the current financial crisis without many lasting repercussions.Stock markets around the globe-in Europe, Japan, Latin America and the United...

TOKYO-In reaction to the Japanese government's announcement it will limit to three in each district the number of carriers providing IMT-2000 services, cellular carriers here have started playing musical chairs, struggling to get one of the three seats by forming new strategic partnerships.NTT DoCoMo,...

Chances are slim to none that U.S. mobile phone operators will agree on one standard for the next generation of mobile phone services.Already fragmented with three different digital standards-cdmaOne, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobile communications)-the United States is...

WANDEL & GOLTERMANNRadMan is a personal safety monitor introduced by German company Wandel & Goltermann that measures electric and magnetic fields in any direction. RadMan monitors the limit values established by control boards and gives an alarm if the levels are exceeded. The monitor...

L.M. Ericsson head Sven-Christer Nilsson told the Japanese press late last week his company will continue negotiations with Qualcomm Inc. and said it is ready to reach some form of compromise over intellectual property rights to third-generation technology.Ericsson spokeswoman Kathy Egan said the company...

SAN JOSE, Calif.-U.S. semiconductor companies maintained their share of the Japanese chip market during the first quarter of 1998 despite the economic slowdown there, said the Semiconductor Industry Association.The numbers from the U.S. Department of Commerce and United States Trade Representative showed the overall...

While satellite news of late primarily has focused on voice and data services, broadband satellite communications services are expected to play an increasingly important role in the next 10 years, eventually commanding a $2.7 billion market by 2007, according to a report by Allied...