Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) has shipped its 5,000th V93000 test system to Integrated Device Technology, Inc. (IDT), a leading supplier of system-level semiconductor solutions. The recently installed system is equipped with the new DC Scale AVI64 universal analog pin card, Pin Scale 1600 digital cards and DC Scale DPS128 cards to meet IDT’s needs in new product markets.“IDT initially purchased the V93000 to address very-high-performance, high-speed clock and timing devices,” states Mr. Scott Martin, Vice President of Product and Test Engineering at IDT. “We now have a tester platform we can deploy for multiple product segments, enabling us to optimize our testing capabilities and reduce costs.”“The AVI64 has allowed the V93000 platform to expand into the power and analog market space, where it has rapidly gained wide acceptance among the leading analog and mixed-signal device manufacturers around the world,” said Hans-Juergen Wagner, senior vice president of the SoC Business Group at Advantest Corporation. “With the launch of the AVI64 in the V93000 platform portfolio, current and next-generation power and analog devices can be tested more efficiently and cost effectively, leading to faster time to market.”A member of Advantest’s versatile V93000 series of testers, the AVI64 module provides greater flexibility and scalability that enables unprecedented asset utilization, manufacturing flexibility and the lowest cost of test. The AVI64 is architecturally advanced compared to current market offerings, integrating on a single card 64 independent channels with multiple functions including precision DC source and measure, pulsed power capabilities, arbitrary waveform generators and digitizers, high-voltage digital I/O and time measurement capabilities. Traditional ATE solutions have been using multiple types of cards with much lower channel counts per card, limiting the ability to perform multi-site testing. The AVI64 delivers twice the parallel test count while significantly simplifying loadboard designs by reducing the need for relays. As a result, test times have been shortened and the cost of test has been reduced by as much as 50 percent compared to incumbent solutions.About IDTIntegrated Device Technology, Inc. develops system-level solutions that optimize its customers’ applications. IDT’s market-leading products in RF, high performance timing, memory interface, real-time interconnect, optical interconnect, wireless power, and SmartSensors are among the company’s broad array of complete mixed-signal solutions for the communications, computing, consumer, automotive and industrial segments. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., IDT has design, manufacturing, sales facilities and distribution partners throughout the world. IDT stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Stock Market® under the symbol “IDTI.” Additional information about IDT can be found at www.IDT.com. Follow IDT on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.About Advantest CorporationA world-class technology company, Advantest is the leading producer of automatic test equipment (ATE) for the semiconductor industry and a premier manufacturer of measuring instruments used in the design and production of electronic instruments and systems. Its leading-edge systems and products are integrated into the most advanced semiconductor production lines in the world. The company also focuses on R&D for emerging markets that benefit from advancements in nanotech and terahertz technologies, and has introduced multi-vision metrology scanning electron microscopes essential to photomask manufacturing, as well as groundbreaking 3D imaging and analysis tools. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest established its first subsidiary in 1982, in the USA, and now has subsidiaries worldwide. More information is available at www.advantest.com.

Selected by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), Taiwan will host the 2017 World Congress on IT (WCIT) in Taipei during September 10-13, 2017. Often referred to as the “Olympics” of the ICT industry, WCIT is a high-level international congress that demonstrates the latest trends in the ICT industry.Having previously hosted the event in 2000, WCIT 2017 in Taiwan is a must-attend event for business executives, government leaders and media who will benefit from discussing emerging markets, legal and policy issues, political and economic trends, emerging technologies, ICT user perspectives and business opportunities in the global marketplace. With the theme “Living the Digital Dream”, this pinnacle event will feature keynotes from internationally recognized leaders who will shed light on the rapid advances in digital technology that are redefining our world, revolutionizing businesses, industries, governments, and society. WCIT 2017 will also demonstrate the momentum of innovative startups from Taiwan and worldwide.At the heart of the World Congress is WITSA’s vision of Fulfilling the Promise of the Digital Age, recognizing ICT as an enabler for businesses to enhance their competitiveness by using groundbreaking technologies and disruptive innovations while also potentially being a powerful force for the common good, in the jobs market, fostering creativity, bridging the digital gap in underserved populations, and promoting trust and security as well as driving businesses to create must-have products and solutions.WCIT 2017 will shine a spotlight on Taiwan, which – as a recognized global ICT leader - is well positioned to host WITSA’s pinnacle event. Taiwan not only has one of the world’s most complete ICT supply chains, but is the global leader in Smart Cities – successfully applying and integrating the latest in technological advances, including cloud computing, advanced sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), energy management, advanced urban transport, and many other solutions that enabling the possibilities to create cities that are more livable and sustainable. Taiwan is also a top innovator, and is slated to be the first nation in the world to achieve universal broadband access. Moreover, Taiwan had the honor of building the world’s first wireless city and is a global leader in research and development – being ranked among the top countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Reports. Steps are also well underway to make Taiwan a major exporter of cloud computing services and the country is noted as a leader in networked communications by the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index (the Global Information Technology Report 2014).Business is networking. At the WCIT, you will be part of a unique network of ICT professionals worldwide. Don’t miss out! Early Bird discounts are available until June 30!Travel to and experience the country that is living the digital dream! Register now at http://www.wcit2017.org/.ABOUT WCITFirst held in 1978 by WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliance), the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) has become the premier international IT forum. Bringing together visionaries, captains of industry, government leaders, and academics from all over the globe. It is an event of unparalleled scope and scale. Discussion topics range from emerging markets and technologies to legal and policy issues, user perspectives, new business opportunities and developing political and economic trends. The WCIT consistently attracts high level, internationally recognized leaders from government, industry, and academia. Furthermore, WCIT assists countries across the globe to facilitate their ICT policies. Accordingly, WCIT is constantly referred to as the “Olympics” of the ICT industry.

Metanoia Communications Inc. (Metanoia), a leading developer of very high-speed xDSL and Gfast PHY chipsets for the wireline broadband market, announced the successful completion of two important milestones today in its Gfast product strategy:a) Being part of a real product deployment with its Gfast chip embedded into an SFP (small form-factor pluggable) solution provided by Swisscom, and b) Certification of MT-G5321 based Gfast CPE and DPU products by the Broadband Forum (BBF) and the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL).Mass deployment of the SFP solution by Swisscom has started a couple days ago and will enable many customers to benefit from improvements in throughput and reliability without changing their router.“With the launch of G.fast SFP module co-developed by Metanoia, Huawei and Swisscom, we are offering to our copper customers an innovative and efficient way to upgrade their broadband data rates and quality of experience,” said Nicolas Stefani, router development expert at Swisscom.“Shipment of the first interoperable G.fast SFP in the market, by a top tier operator like Swisscom in their network, is a very significant achievement for Metanoia and the recognition of the maturity of our technology. We are happy to bring the benefits of our innovative technology by providing ultra high speed broadband service to Swisscom's customers by using a seamless and future proof form factor like SFP,” said Metanoia’s CEO, CT WU.Interoperability (IOP) has always been a crucial element for accelerated deployment of any broadband technology by operators. The recent announcement of Gfast-certified products by the BBF, in accordance with the Forum’s IR-337 certification test specification, is completing this critical step and thereby solidifying the already broad acceptance of the technology for mass market deployment as high throughput and reliability of these products enables operators to provide new higher value services to their customers.“We’re happy to see the hard work of certification participants, like Metanoia, coming to a successful conclusion,” said Lincoln Lavoie, UNH-IOL Senior Engineer for Broadband Technologies. “I have no doubt Gfast certification program has contributed to the success and robustness of the technology and the coming deployments and we’re looking forward to continuing to add new devices to the list of certifications.”CT Wu added, “Getting both our CPE and DPU products certified by UNH is a key step for operators to have confidence in the readiness of Metanoia's Gfast technology. Achieving these two milestones took significant efforts from our team, and we are pleased to see that this has placed Metanoia into a leading position in the Gfast market."Metanoia Gfast technology is based on a single configurable device MT-G5321, which can be embedded into both:a CPE solution (e.g. an SFP unit which can be plugged into any existing or future home gateways with an SFP cage), and a CO solution (e.g. a low power single port DPU solution).About Metanoia Communications Inc. Metanoia Communications ("Metanoia"), a subsidiary of Elan Microelectonics, is in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan. Since its inception, Metanoia has been contributing to the development of several generations of semiconductor and software solutions for the wireline broadband and the in-home networking markets, delivering to broadband manufacturers very high-speed PHY devices with reliable and superior performances.For more information about Metanoia, please visit our website at www.metanoia-comm.com.

Bureau Veritas will be exhibiting at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai between 28 and 30 June. We will present our comprehensive portfolio, covering virtually all aspects that have to be tried and tested to make the Internet of Things become a working reality.Meet our Bureau Veritas specialists at Stand #W2.B01 in SNIEC Industry Hall to learn about the hottest topics within todays and tomorrow’s smart world including Smart Home, Bluetooth 5, Connected Car as well as discussing the latest technical and commercial requirements. Over the course of the 3-day, we will be providing executive insights covering the latest regulatory, performance, security and interoperability challenges within the smart world with practical guidelines on how to address & overcome.

The rapid-evolving IoT devices are transforming our everyday interactions through richer human-machine interfaces, connectivity, and scalability. In particular, in the smart home and connected cars markets, the two major IoT applications, as Amazon’s Alexa voice service fuels the development of a wide-range of voice-enabled smart home devices and the US will mandate DSRC (dedicated short-range communication) V2X technology by 2023, both of them have been given a strong boost recently. In response to the trend, NXP Semiconductors is well positioned to grab huge opportunities with its comprehensive processor platforms.The Newly Upgraded i.MX 8 Series Processors"NXP’s i.MX 6 platform, which is already widely adopted in automotive, industrial, and consumer markets, has been upgraded to i.MX 8 with ARM v8 core embedded,” Martyn Humphries, VP of consumer and industrial applications processors at NXP said. “Now we have three i.MX 8 families, i.MX 8, i.MX 8M, and i.MX 8X, targeting at high-end automotive and industrial, multimedia, and cost-effective applications respectively. The samples of these new processors are delivered to customers. It’s expected that we can see new designs in the market by early next year. The progress is very important for NXP.”Take i.MX 8M as an example, Martyn pointed out that higher performance of voice, audio, and video is required to address the requirements for next-generation media IoT devices in terms of video streaming, audio streaming and immersive audio, and smart home functions.The new trends include: video-watching experience has been quickly shifting from traditional STB to OTT, driving the huge demands for video-on-demand applications. Therefore, it is forecasted that IP video will represent 79% of all global traffic by next year. Meanwhile, 4K and HDR will also drive the need for updated equipment such as TVs.As for audio, in order to enable immersive audio, the migration of DSP to ARM is driving the system architecture change. Also, with the advent of voice control, the market is fast moving from Bluetooth speakers to networked Wi-Fi speakers to be always connected.“The development of various media IoT devices shows strong momentum with these new trends,” Martyn stressed. “In order to help customers grasp the new opportunities, semiconductor providers should be able to provide rich reference platforms and build a strong ecosystem to speed up the time-to-market. And this what NXP is doing aggressively.”Surge of Voice-enabled IoT Devices"The emergence of IoT and voice control is revolutionizing smart home, and machine learning and AI will further drive this market even higher,” said Martyn."Driven by Amazon, Google, and other technology leaders, natural language learning has made significant progress over the past years. With the accuracy of automatic speech recognition reaching above 95%, voice control has become the most overwhelming interface for a wide range of smart home devices.”He believes that it’s just at the beginning of the smart home revolution. Starting from only one voice gateway such as Amazon Echo at user’s house, in the future, more home appliances, including lamps, coffee machines, and so on, will also use voice as an interface and to be connected with the cloud and home hub to provide more friendly services."Last year, we can only see Amazon Echo in the market. From this year, a lot more devices with voice control function have been launched rather than just speakers. Moreover, it’s expected that AVS-enabled home appliances will be ready by end of this year.”In line with the trend, NXP teams with Amazon to create Alexa Reference Platform, helping third-party makers to easily integrate Alexa Voice Service (AVS) into their devices. Meanwhile, NXP also supports Google Assistant in its Android Things solution."It’s a great opportunity for many appliance makers in Great China, in a bid to embrace the new era of smart home,” he stressed. “NXP is now working with a tier-one branded company to launch new product by end of this years. It’s expected that it will become one of the hottest gifts for the coming holiday season.”Market Leader, Focusing on V2X, ADAS New OpportunitiesIn the automotive market, according to Jerwern Yi, Automotive MicroProcessors Marketing Director at NXP, driven by the demands for seamless connectivity, safety driving, and energy efficiency, automotive electronics has been quickly innovated, in a bid to move from improving the sensing and computing capabilities for cars to gradually reach the ultimate goal of autonomous driving.With strong leadership, NXP’s worldwide market share in automotive electronics increased 8% to 34% last year and is expected to keep growing this year. “Our excellent performance is a result of accurate growth strategies, including developing common technology platforms, adopting leading-edge processes to enhance IC performance, strengthen software competence, and targeting at the emerging safety, security, and connected applications," Yi said.NXP provides complete solutions in the area of V2X, ADAS, connectivity & security, general purpose and integrated solutions, and vehicle dynamics and safety. As for ADAS, radar, lidar, camera, and sensor fusion solutions are already available.In order to implement the sensing capability with external environment for cars, V2X has been one of the key areas of connected car applications. Yi pointed out that the DSRC standard that the US will mandate is a low-latency 802.11p communication technology. NXP’s solution has been selected by Cadillac, which will mass produce vehicles that support DSRC standard in about two years. Also, with strong ecosystem partnerships, NXP initiates multiple V2X test projects in Singapore, Germany, and China to speed up the wide adoption of this technology.As for the highly discussed autonomous driving topic, "Currently, the automotive industry is in the Level 2 stage in terms of automation level. To reach the Level 5 of full automation, we need to address a lot of challenges in computational performance, power, safety & security, data bandwidth, and more," Yi said. He suggested companies should go back to the basics to the most needed L2+/L3 technologies.To cope with the automotive security issue, NXP has come up a "4+1 Solution" concept to cover from secure interface, gateway, to network and processing, plus the secure car access, to establish a complete security framework for future smart cars. Meanwhile, NXP is working with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and Chang-An Automobile Group to push the standardization for automotive security.With the in-depth understanding of the stringent requirements for safety, security, and reliability in automotive, NXP takes a more pragmatic strategy. "With our leadership position in the market, we will keep abreast of the latest developments and move steadily to L3/L4 products first. It’s for sure that NXP will definitely play an integral role in the future connected car market," Yi said.Martyn Humphries, VP of consumer and industrial applications processors at NXP, provided insights about smart home revolution and NXP partnership details with Amazon and Google on Alexa and Google Assistant.Jerwern Yi, Automotive MicroProcessors Marketing Director at NXP, shared NXP's marketing strategies of connected cars globally and in Greater China, NXP latest automotive microprocessor product roadmap, product portfolio and platform.

team+ has been invited by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to attend the largest international exhibition, the “Taipei International Information Technology Show (COMPUTEX Taipei)”. As the gold medal winner of the APICTA communication award and the APEC mobile-commerce team winner, we exhibited our “team+ Business Instant Messaging” to show Taiwan’s development and innovation in the information communication field.Digitization revolution; InnoVEX focuses on business collaboration solutionsAccording to the joint research of the international data groups “IDG” and “EMC”, about 90% of business owners say that achieving a digital business is their top priority in the next one to three years. With the popularity of smart phones and flourishing of cloud services, businesses are entering the mobile digital communication age. This year, the software giants have begun entering the field one after another and the business communication collaboration market has formally entered a major growing period.Teamplus Technology owns the famous “team+” brand. Kuo Cheng-Hsiang, the founder and chairperson of team+, says that the communication culture of eastern countries is different from that of western countries. Businesses in Europe and America emphasize open-type communication and focus on team communication, discussion, collaboration and the like. Businesses in Asia, however, not only emphasize communication efficiency, but also focus on hierarchical management. For this reason, it was necessary to introduce our business announcement single-direction communication, API connection, back-end management mechanism, etc, and to begin establishing a dedicated communication and collaboration system in a private cloud environment.Private cloud structure; satisfying businesses' high information security requirementsThere is another important reason why businesses prefer the private cloud: it is the rigid demands of information security, which makes the businesses want to store their information in their own countries so as to make sure that confidential data will not be leaked. team+ is deployed by private cloud, and provides strict content encryption and anti-assembling mechanisms Further, the encryption technique used by team+ has obtained international certifications from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and “Federal Information Processing Standards FIPS 140-2”, leading to the first successful instant messaging software in Taiwan.In addition, team+ provides an “API interconnection management mechanism” to expand, be embedded into, and be integrated with the existing E-systems of businesses. In this way, businesses can connect their systems to various mobile applications to immediately push all important notifications to all relevant groups or staff, resulting in improved operational performance.On the other hand, team+ provides dedicated customization services for businesses. EVERY8D has accumulated lots of experience implementing projects helping the government or businesses establish communication & collaboration platforms. EVERY8D customized the platform for each business according to their industrial situation. Examples of team+ integrating its core application flow into platforms include government agencies, land transport, marine transport, air transport, high-tech manufacturing, medical institutions, consumer good brands and other various industries.Kuo Cheng-Hsiang emphasizes that only innovation can increase the value of a brand. After competition becomes fierce in the business instant messaging market, our highest priority is making changes in response to the competition, leading the industry to enter major markets, creating high-performance business communication & collaboration experiences and speeding up the business digitization transfer.team+ realizes high-performance business communication & collaboration.

Taiwan’s leading global ICT annual event, COMPUTEX, which focused on IoT (Internet-of-Things) applications and business solutions, successfully concluded last week. ThroughTek, IoT cloud platform provider that registered as Taiwan’s first IoT company on the Emerging Stock Board, demonstrated its smart home, surveillance, and connected car solutions for customers at the Grand Hyatt Taipei during COMPUTEX week.Real-time streaming with alerts to protect and safeguard assetsAlthough video streaming application has been around, the ability to effectively process video monitoring for real-time response and alerts remains critical in the IoT. ThroughTek provides IoT connective technology and a cloud platform solution for global brands and devices, including Xiaomi’s IP cameras “Xiaoyi” and “Xiaofang”; Hikvision, a leading video surveillance products; Swann, North America’s largest CCTV and DIY security camera provider. This year, ThroughTek collaborated with APPRO.PHO to integrate its video streaming solution to the Body Cam device using Kalay Platform’s connective technology. With the Kalay Platform solution, the Body Cam enables real-time streaming and cloud recording in the event of an emergency or incident to provide evidence for further analysis. Moreover, the demand of video monitoring application and services is especially critical in helping to prevent crime with the increased number of terrorist attacks internationally.As the connected vehicle application matures, video surveillance will also be a key element for developing Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). ThroughTek is currently working with local brands and manufacturers of dash cameras to integrate real-time streaming and motion-detection with cloud recording functionalities to built-in rear-view mirrors, providing a connected experience for vehicle owners. Additionally, vehicle owners can capture, record, receive notifications during critical moments, and playback or check the status of their vehicle at any given time via mobile app.Delivering IoT video data for various applicationsThroughTek recognizes that video surveillance acts as the eyes and ears and provides value-added offerings for IoT devices systems. Currently, the Kalay Platform enables more than 20 million connected devices, with over seventy percent being video surveillance related products. The amount of video streaming data transmitted and supported by the Kalay Platform presents tremendous value and opportunities. With third party integrations for machine-learning and AI services, facial recognition solutions can be utilized for cloud doorbells to monitor entries for homes and commercial environments. Through data collection and machine-learning modules, the application can be customized to recognize either people and objects for endless possibilities.

Apple has introduced a new 10.5-inch iPad Pro and a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, featuring displays with ProMotion technology and the new A10X Fusion chip. The new 10.5-inch model reduces the borders by nearly 40% to fit into a package that weighs just one pound, according to the vendor.Digitimes previously reported that the upstream supply chain's shipments for Apple's new 10.5-inch iPad Pro have been increasing recently and the device's monthly shipment volume is expected to grow to 600,000 units in July, up from around 500,000 units currently, helping its annual shipments to reach five million units in 2017.The redesigned Retina display in iPad Pro features ProMotion, a new technology that delivers refresh rates of up to 120Hz. With ProMotion, Apple Pencil is more responsive with a 20-millisecond latency, according to Apple. ProMotion also improves display quality and reduces power consumption by automatically adjusting the display refresh rate to match the movement of the content.The Retina display features antireflective coating, making content easier to see indoors and out. True Tone dynamically adjusts the white balance of the display to match the light around users. A wide color gamut enables iPad Pro to deliver digital cinema-standard colors.The new 64-bit A10X Fusion chip provides performance that is faster than most notebooks shipping today, according to Apple. A six-core CPU and 12-core GPU deliver up to 30% faster CPU performance and 40% faster graphics performance than the A9X chip, while delivering all-day battery life.The iPad Pro also features the same front- and back-facing cameras as iPhone 7, including a 12-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization, along with a 7-megapixel FaceTime HD camera. The iPad Pro also features a four-speaker audio system, providing powerful, clear and rich stereo sound in any orientation. An embedded Apple SIM and support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi and LTE Advanced make it easier to stay connected.The Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, available for purchase separately, bring precision and utility to the iPad Pro. Sensors in the Apple Pencil measure both pressure and tilt for natural drawing, annotating and note-taking. A new full-sized Smart Keyboard has been custom designed for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro, offering a keyboard that never needs to be charged or paired over Bluetooth and is foldable into a protective Smart Cover.The 10.5-inch iPad Pro comes in silver, space gray, gold and rose gold and starts at US$649 for the 64GB with Wi-Fi model and US$779 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model. The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is available in silver, space gray and gold and starts at US$799 for the 64GB Wi-Fi model and US$929 for the 64GB Wi-Fi + Cellular model.The new iPad Pro models are already available to order in markets including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. India, Turkey, UAE and other countries and regions will follow later this month. Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and other countries and territories will follow in July.The Apple Pencil is available for US$99. The Smart Keyboard is available in charcoal gray for US$159 for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro and US$169 for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with layouts for over 30 languages, including simplified Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.Apple 10.5-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro tabletsPhoto: Company

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced its AcuEdge Development Kit for Amazon Alexa Voice Service (AVS). The Microsemi AcuEdge Development Kit for Amazon AVS delivers enhanced audio processing to improve voice recognition rates in adverse audio environments for emerging human to machine (H2M) applications in the internet of things (IoT), industrial internet of things (IIoT) and automated assistance markets.The kit is designed to enable third party developers and original design manufacturers (ODMs) to evaluate and incorporate Alexa functionality in H2M applications, while interfacing with the Microsemi Timberwolf ZL38063 multi-mic audio processor.Microsemi’s Timberwolf is a field programmable, field upgradable digital signal processor equipped with specific hardware accelerators to run three simultaneous acoustic echo cancellers (AECs). Its AcuEdge Development Kit for Amazon AVS comes complete with a development board that connects directly to a Raspberry Pi and plastic frames to help position microphones and speakers in targeted applications. It also enables users to speed development of their products by utilizing the quick start guide and user interface.“The Microsemi AcuEdge Development Kit for Amazon AVS offers a scalable platform enabling developers to quickly and cost effectively achieve their design criteria requiring two mics,” said Shahin Sadeghi, marketing director at Microsemi. “Our AcuEdge development kit utilizes Microsemi’s state-of-the-art Timberwolf solution and has been tested for compatibility with Amazon AVS. The kit is for use by ODMs and third party developers to bring innovative H2M applications to market.”Microsemi’s Timberwolf is enabled with compressor/limiter/expander (CLE) microphone pickup algorithms, beam forming, and stationary and non-stationary noise reduction, enabling voice control and speech recognition not only from a distance but also in the presence of adverse noise and audio sounds. The complete kit features a Timberwolf evaluation board, which is populated with two microphones capable of operating in both 180 degree and 360 degree audio pickup modes. The evaluation board is equipped with the Raspberry Pi connector, which allows for quick and easy setup. Additionally the kit is delivered with a board and speaker stand allowing users to quickly evaluate the performance of the solution.“Amazon’s goal is for developers and device makers to have access to a wide range of reference solutions that fit their needs,” said Priya Abani, Director, Alexa Voice Service. “We’re excited to be working with Microsemi to provide device manufacturers with a way to quickly and easily integrate Alexa into their products across a variety of form factors, including wall-mounted and on-table devices, smart speakers, and connected home products.”While the Raspberry Pi runs the Amazon AVS client and Alexa wake word detection, the Timberwolf solution runs all front-end audio processing enabling significantly improved speech recognition accuracy. The signal processing technology implemented by the Timberwolf audio processor includes:-Noise reduction-Beam forming-Barge-in support-CLE mic pickup-Full duplex two-way audio-Stereo acoustic echo cancellation-Direct mic interface as well as Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and Inter-IC Sound (I2S)/time-division multiplexing (TDM) connection to the Raspberry PiAvailabilityThe Microsemi AcuEdge Development Kit for Amazon AVS is generally available through distributors Arrow and Future Electronics. It retails for $299.About the AcuEdge Technology and Timberwolf ZL38063 Multi-Mic Audio ProcessorMicrosemi’s AcuEdge's technology consists of license-free, royalty-free audio intellectual property (IP) solutions. It is the compilation of various IPs targeted at processing voice signals in conjunction with noise reduction algorithms, automatic gain control, echo cancellation, psychoacoustic noise reduction, howling detection and rejection. These powerful capabilities are the foundation for enterprise level automatic speech recognition, sound classification and other intelligent decision-making functions based on sound and audio detection. The ZL38063 Timberwolf provides a powerful digital signal processor (DSP) with voice specific hardware accelerators, three digital microphone interfaces, two independent 16-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) with headphone drivers and two flexible time-division multiplexed (TDM) interfaces in a single 64-pin QFN package. Additional features include 44.1/48 kHz stereo music playback with voice, ultralow and standby off power, and stationary and psychoacoustic noise reduction. It can run unattended (controllerless) and offers self-booting into a configured operational state. In addition, the ZL38063 has built-in support for G.712 and G.722 and is G.168 and G.169 compliant line echo cancellation (LEC). To learn more about the ZL38063 visit https://www.microsemi.com/products/audio-processing/home-automation/zl38063. For more information about the Development Kit for Amazon AVS visit https://www.microsemi.com/amazon-alexa-kit.

StorArt Technology, a leading NAND flash controller solution provider, announced the launch of the three new NAND flash controllers in the fourth quarters of 2017, including SSD/SA3801, UFS/SA3700 series and uSD/SA3308. All product-lines aim at the widespread applications, supporting 2D and 3D-NDND flash from all the major NAND suppliers, allowing OEMs to deliver the most advanced, cost-effective and reliable storage products in the market.The SA3801, a high-performance SSD Controller, supports PCIe 3.0x2 and NVMe 1.2 technology. It features 2GB/s with 4 NAND channels and 8 CEs supporting up to 2TB. With StorArt’s new LDPC engine, Global Wear Leveling, End-to-End Data Protection, HMB and temperature sensor, the SA3801 delivers high performance, better reliability, and more cost-effective PCIe SSD solution.The SA3700 series, SA3701 and SA 3711, UFS2.1/UFS1.1 Controllers, is the latest generation embedded memory standard for mobile applications defined by JEDEC. It features serial link-based MIPI M-PHY interface and SCSI architecture model which enables high performance, up to5.8Gbps and high capacity with low power. With StorArt’s new LDPC engine, Global Wear Leveling and enhanced flash technologies, SA3700 series is targeted to be the best embedded storage solution.StorArt continues developing new SD controller to the market. StorArt’s latest SD controller, SA3308, complies with SD 5.1/6.0 and supports A2 performance, 4K Video Speed Class V30 for 4K video recording and compatible with Android 7.0/6.0 Adoptable Storage platform. The SA3308 provides excellent sequential/random data read/write performance and better user experiences.About StorArt TechnologyStorArt Technology Co., Ltd is founded on Feb, 2012. Headquartered in Hsinchu Science Park, StorArt’s focus is to develop embedded NAND flash controllers, including SSD, UFS, eMMC, eMCP, uSD and SD controllers.StorArt Technology Announces Launch of Three New NAND Flash Controllers in the Fourth Quarters of 2017