Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) has announced that Toshio Maruyama, senior executive advisor at the company, is the 2017 recipient of the SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award.The SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award was established in 2000 to recognize individuals who have created and/or implemented marketing programs that improve customer satisfaction and contribute to the development of the semiconductor equipment and materials industry. Mr. Maruyama was selected to receive the award for his leadership in enhancing reliability in semiconductor Automated Test Equipment (ATE), which not only differentiated Advantest from entrenched competition, but also furthered the development of the semiconductor industry overall, as well as for his contributions over many years to multiple industry organizations. Mr. Maruyama is the 20th person to receive this award.SEMI presented the award to Mr. Maruyama in a ceremony at SEMICON Japan on December 14 in Tokyo. "Mr. Maruyama is recognized both for his innovative marketing leadership and his steadfast commitment to guiding industry associations. Today, SEMI and its membership recognize Maruyama-san for his contributions to the success of our industry," said Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI.Accepting the award, Mr. Maruyama said, "It is a great honor to receive this renowned award. I believe that presentations of papers, the development of groundbreaking business models, and participation in industry groups are all important corporate activities, which not only benefit corporate branding, but make our industry more vibrant. I am proud that this long-held belief has been recognized."For further information, see http://www.semi.org/en/node/117231About SEMISEMI connects more than 2,000 member companies and more than a quarter-million professionals worldwide to advance the science and business of electronics manufacturing. SEMI members are responsible for the innovations in materials, design, equipment, software, and services that enable smarter, faster, more powerful, and more affordable electronic products. Since 1970, SEMI has built connections that have helped its members grow, create new markets, and address common industry challenges together. SEMI maintains offices in Bangalore, Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Grenoble, Hsinchu, Moscow, San Jose, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C. For more information about SEMI, visit http://www.semi.org/ and follow SEMI on LinkedIn and Twitter.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 a 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 http://www.advantest.com/.Left: Denny McGuirk, president and CEO of SEMI. Right: Toshio Maruyama, senior executive advisor at Advantest.

When panel suppliers around the world are worried about the consumer touch panel market showing slow growth and even starting to decline, Abon Touchsystems, has been quietly developing industrial touch screens for years and is now on the rise with its five-wire resistive touch screens and projected capacitive touch screens expanding to 32", 42", 55", 65" and 75" and large-size interactive whiteboards designed with ITO technology, thus implementing its own blue ocean strategy.The availability of the iPhone has undoubtedly spurred hot demand for consumer touch panels. Now, almost all touch panel suppliers are scrambling for a share of the consumer touch panel market. However, Abon Touchsystems, founded in 2005, did not rush into the market and instead chose to proceed step-by-step with industrial five-wire touch screens in small-volume, large-variety production. Abon Touchsystems offers ITO projected capacitive touch screens ranging from 7" to 42", five-wire resistive touch screens ranging from 6.5" to 22" and five-wire resistive zero-bezel touch screens ranging from 7" to 21.5" and has further expanded its offerings to include 55", 65" and 75" projected interactive whiteboards this year."New emerging technologies bring changes to how consumers behave and how businesses operate. Abon Touchsystems has detected rising demand for touch screens used in interactive whiteboards and video conference systems. However, previous large-size whiteboard systems that adopt low-cost IR touch control technology have certain limitations. So, Abon Touchsystems initiated the development of ITO based GFF 70" large size projected capacitive touch screens three years ago, tand this has led to the launch of the first GFF 65" ITO projected capacitive touch screen this year available in mass production quantities. Sizes of 75" and 85" whiteboard systems will follow now to meet market demand," commented by T.K. Chang, vice president, Abon Touchsystems as he explained why the company decided to cut into the large -size projected interactive whiteboard market.Next generation human machine interface spurs demand for industrial touch screensWith innovative HMI technologies continuing to emerge, consumers now interact with IT devices and applications in a variety of ways - progressing from traditional mouse clicks to touch, gesture, body control and voice control. Among these, touch control was adopted the earliest, attracting IC designers and panel makers to aggressively penetrate into this market.Despite being the first to be adopted, touch control technologies evolve quickly and vendors continue to encounter operation difficulties if their implementation and strategy is just slightly off target. In light of this, Abon Touchsystems has analyzed the market and seen strong potential in the industrial space, as most other makers simply focus on consumer applications such as smartphones, tablets and notebook PCs. Abon Touchsystems hopes to develop touch screen products suited for retail, healthcare, education and gaming sectors by leveraging its deep-rooted and extensive R&D experience to distinguish itself from its peers.Chang pointed out that industrial touch screens are different from consumer touch screens in two aspects - small-volume, large-variety production and long product certification time. Therefore, whether touch screen makers can maintain agility and flexibility and continue delivering high quality products and professional services plays a critical role in their ability to succeed. In fact, this is also the reason why makers of consumer touch screens have difficulty penetrating the industrial touch screen market. "Abon Touchsystems has a moderate production scale and advanced process technologies so it is capable of producing touch screens to meet a wide range of customer needs," said Chang.To enable itself to have a competitive edge, Abon Touchsystems began to research on how to innovate from the perspectives of technology and applications in 2012. Realizing that the multi-touch sensitivity of IR touch screens and optical touch screens is easily influenced by environmental conditions and they require sufficient physical space for sensor placement, Abon Touchsystems decided to introduce large size projected capacitive touch screens based on technologies that effectively save physical space and enable optimum cost-effectiveness."After mapping out a clear R&D direction, Abon Touchsystems started to think about applications for its products. We incidentally discovered that meeting room projectors may have short product lives due to extended use of the device's light bulb and overheating, while the quality and cleanliness of the device may result in poor meeting quality. Therefore, Abon Touchsystems decided to expand the applications of touch screens to interactive whiteboards and conferencing systems," stated Chang. Abon Touchsystems successfully began mass production of 65" projected capacitive touch screens at the end of 2016 thanks to its R&D team's meticulous planning and continuous testing. Then, Abon Touchsystems engaged in a partnership with Palwonn to introduce the AbonMax total solution, which provided 65" projected capacitive touch screens with computer systems, interactive whiteboards and conferencing systems to the global market through Palwonn's sales channels.Abon Touchsystems collaborates with partners to launch total solutions for interactive whiteboards and conferencing systemsAbon Touchsystems is not the only vendor eying the interactive whiteboard and conferencing system market. Microsoft, Google, INFOCUS and Foxconn have all introduced related solutions.For example, Microsoft launched Surface Hub–55" and 84" total enterprise meeting room solution integrating a custom edition of Windows 10. To respond to Microsoft, Google has announced the availability of Jamboard – a 55" 4K cloud-enabled interactive whiteboard running Android 6.0. INFOCUS, a leading American video solution provider, introduced a solution integrating a projector with an interactive whiteboard based on Windows 7 to meet market demand. Foxconn, on the other hand, attempted to expand into this new venture through the acquisition of interactive whiteboard vendor SMART Technologies.Abon Touchsystems is glad to see tier-1 global players enter the market for large-size industrial touch screens for interactive whiteboards and conferencing systems and welcomes the competition with domestic and international vendors, which will perk up the market and bring tremendous opportunities."In comparison to products and services offered by other vendors, what we deliver is a total solution — AbonMax, which integrates computer systems, interactive whiteboards and conferencing systems and combines premium quality and competitive pricing. The 65" whiteboard video system is priced as low as US$6,500, enabling a TCO far below what international leaders can offer in terms of purchase price and maintenance costs," commented Chang. The AbonMax specs far surpass that of the competition, with the device featuring the latest Intel 6th generation core and the support for Mac OS and Windows 10. Government agencies, educational institutions and business organizations can enjoy the freedom to choose the Windows APP, interactive whiteboards or video conference systems they prefer."Abon Touchsystems has been working on joint development with Palwonn for penetration into the education and commerce markets. Our solutions have been introduced to high schools and colleges. Education has therefore been revolutionized with interactive learning and learning quality and efficiency is enhanced by the limitless possibilities enabled through the industry-academic collaboration," indicated Chang. AbonMax will be used in more diverse application scenarios as Abon Touchsystems strives to introduce AbonMax to the world through participations in international trade exhibitions and embraces any potential partnership opportunities to jointly develop application services for healthcare, retail and media industries.In summary, Abon Touchsystems will continue to refine its projected capacitive touch control R&D and process technologies to open its own blue ocean market and stay ahead of the competition. It will also team up with the industry chain through strategic partnerships to provide worldwide customers touch screen solutions with optimum availability, high reliability and compelling CP (cost performance) ratio.AbonMax will be the highlight of Abon Touchsystems' product promotion in the coming years and will be showcased at international trade exhibition.Abon Touchsystems and Palwonn surprised the market with the launch of a 65" touch control interactive whiteboard.

Clientron has accumulated extensive experience in developing embedded systems and is expanding the success to deliver impressive results in thin clients, point of sale (POS) systems and IoT markets. Joining the D-Link and Partners Team in 2016, Clientron expects to expand its market footprint and bring its operation to a new level.Introducing industry thin clients for operation in harsh environments"The thin client market is relatively stable. We have been working on applications for the government, enterprise, banking and education sectors and penetrating into special application markets in the U.S. with our brand customers," said Kelly Wu, President & CEO, Clientron, as she introduced the company's launch of industry thin clients earlier this year. "These products are used for incinerators and parking lot payment systems. Their fanless, ventless and whole aluminum housing design makes them dust proof and enables them to sustain harsh environments. We upgraded the thin client spec to industrial PC standard to significantly boost reliability and broaden application range," added Wu. Clientron's high-end thin clients supporting 4K definition and triple screen display have been adopted by the healthcare sector.Running virtual desktops sulution, Clientron thin clients reduce TOC and enhance security for customers. This is the reason why the products are enthusiastically embraced by customers to replace industrial PCs in certain application scenarios and that their market share continues to grow.In terms of POS systems, Clientron's ultra-slim Wing350w and Ares650 won the 2016 Taiwan Excellence Award and the Bello series was recently recognized with the 2017 Taiwan Excellence Award. Clientron's all-in-one POS with a sleek, lightweight and streamline design in an aluminum enclosure revolutionizes traditional heavy POS systems. A wide range of peripherals are available to suit various logistics and service applications. "Many emerging markets have certain demand for exquisitely designed POS systems. Russia, for example, is Clientron's next target of expansion," indicated Wu. Clientron joined the D-Link and Partners Team in 2016, which will help expand its global footprint.Joining the D-Link and Partners Team and tapping into global channel resourcesThe D-Link and Partners Team, founded by John Hsuan, Chairman, D-Link, aims to leverage D-Link's advantages in its worldwide channels comprising a complete structure and network of human resources, logistics and finances to help premium quality vendors across a range of sectors expand globally from their base in Taiwan. Clientron is positioned in the team as a supplier of intelligent solutions in a smart environment. "We will integrate a variety of high quality products from our strategic partners and provide more comprehensive solutions to customers," added Wu. "Benefitting from D-Link's sales channels, warehousing, logistics, service & maintenance and customs clearance, we will be able to quickly penetrate into overseas markets that were originally out of our reach due to limited resources. Russia is a good example."In addition to providing high quality products, Clientron has also been targeting the IoT market, positioning itself as a total solution provider. As Clientron has accumulated system-related software R&D capability as well as domain knowledge and established partnerships within the IT industry, it is able to more swiftly deliver complete vertically-integrated system solutions compared to its competitors.Expanding into agricultural and livestock markets with environment-monitoring IoT solutionsClientron has been working with a winner of Taiwan's Outstanding Agricultural Professionals Award to set up test sites at his chicken poultry farm where automatic sensing and monitoring of a variety of environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity are used to raise the breeding rate. Through the field testing and collaboration experiences, Clientron can quickly gain industry know-how and thereby design products and solutions tailored to suit customer needs. Wu stated, "In addition to livestock, we will extend our environment monitoring IoT solutions to applications in agriculture, aquaculture and other sectors." Clientron will begin to actively participate in international agricultural and animal farming trade shows and will also establish a new IoT business unit in 2017. It will increasingly devote more resources to its IoT market expansion.It should be mentioned that Clientron is one of a few Taiwan-based vendors capable of penetrating into the supply chain for tier-1 automakers. Clientron's event data recorders (EDR) have been mounted on chartered tour buses and passenger buses as well as vehicles transporting hazardous materials. Looking forward, we can expect to see Clientron, which started public trading this year, take a more active approach to its strategic planning to capture the growth opportunities in POS and IoT markets.Joining the D-Link and Partners Team will help Clientron's overseas expansion, states Kelly Wu, President & CEO, Clientron.

Raiden series by AVEXIR Technologies Corp. was awarded with Taiwan Excellence Awards 2017. "Taiwan Excellence Award" is based on five key indicators: R&D, Design, Quality, Marketing, and Made in Taiwan. The five indicators are of equal importance, and each is judged on its "Innovation Value," the most important standard of all. "Taiwan Excellence Award" is authorized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).Raiden series is, a high performance DDR3 / DDR4 gaming memory modules, using world exclusive patented technology of plasma tubes to mimic lightening effect for gamers who seek true stimulation and real excitement.In addition to ultra-high specification and performance, the most important of which is the combination of its design is unprecedented in the memory module that is transformed and ionized by inert gases in the tube to create the effect of the Blitz. The electro-optical flint-like effect fully meets the needs of gamers.Raiden series by AVEXIR was awarded with Taiwan Excellence Awards 2017.

ProLogium Technology today announced that it has been named a CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honoree for Multi-Functional Cell. Products entered in this prestigious program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, independent engineers and members of the trade media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 28 product categories.ProLogium's Battery On Flex (BOF) technology is the key that makes Multi-Functional Cell so perfect. With BOF, components like chips, sensors, circuits and golden-fingers…, etc. can directly layout on flexible substrate of ProLogium li-battery. Higher efficiency using the space of modules, reducing module thickness, increasing the battery capacity, simplify assembly processes, increasing automation and reducing process costs. It fits the trend of smaller, lighter electronic devices, wearable applications, soft electronics, and ultrathin advantage that smart cards need.Nowadays, people are afraid their credit cards are stolen and use them illegally, so most of customers need security system with their cards. Multi-Functional Cell provides power and sensors, chips, and varieties circuits within ultrathin thickness for identification and security functions for card applications like smart display card, finger-print sensor card, Bluetooth card, multifunction/all-in-one card and OTP card. Same as card applications, Multi-Functional Cell is also suitable for applications like ECG/EEG/EMG devices for healthcare required sensing circuit and power supply. And thin thickness required like wearable devices with sensors as well. In conclusion, Multi-Functional Cell can minimize the volume and decrease weight of the product, maximize battery area in devices to provide maximum capacity than any other conventional Li-battery.Please visit our booth and witness this mile stone with us. Our booth is #44067 (Sands Expo). Looking forward to seeing you!About Prologium Technology:ProLogium's core technology, Lithium Ceramic Battery (LCB) is the first one and only one that commercialized solid-state battery in the world. It overcomes the solid-state natural limit of high inner resistance and improves C-rate performance which are bottle necks of all solid-state Li Battery for last 36 years, LCB has higher uniqueness and technicality than any other conventional batteries. Extremely safety, great flexibility, high durability and ultrathin thickness are strengths which make LCB adapted in all kind of products. Many famous battery cell makers in the world like Samsung, SONY, Panasonic, NEC, Toyota, etc..., are eager to make battery like LCB but in vain after years. ProLogium's invention, LCB technology, becomes a benchmark and pioneer in battery industry that those cell makers follows.ProLogium Named as CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honoree

CAYIN today announced the release of the first firmware update for its new Digital Signage user interface, SMP-NEO2, which is available at no extra cost to all SMP-NEO2 players starting on December 26th.SMP-NEO2 V2.1 brings Extended and Distinct modes to SMP-2100 with significantly widened prospect, and the new features efficiently utilize the performance of this fanless player. The Display setting UI is also redesigned and color-coded to accommodate the addition of SMP-8000QD and the new Distinct mode combinations.SMP-2100 may be compact in size, but it is one of the top performance and most fine-tuned players in the Digital Signage Player family. With V2.1, SMP-2100 now has 4 display modes, Single, Clone, Expended, and Distinct, making it vastly versatile to all kinds of application. Users may connect up to two displays to showcase a cloning of the same content, presenting one content across or two contents simultaneously on two screens. This solid metal build player is a perfect fit for almost all scenarios. Whether it's a burger joint down the street corner or an LED panel at an outdoor stadium, SMP-2100 will redefine the quality of available compact Digital Signage player on the market.To adjust to SMP-8000QD's evolved Distinct display mode, which allows users to implement separate contents on each screen according to the maximum display outputs a player has, the Display setting UI has been redesigned. The color coded interface acts as a wizard, guiding users through the settings to customize the screen array. SMP-8000QD, the 4 display digital signage player, offers up to 4 individual contents all at once. The wizard will help users navigate the endless combinations and find the most suitable solution for each application.The CMS Digital Signage server and its managing software, SuperMonitor5, will also have corresponding updates to support the latest modification in SMP-NEO2. CMS V10.1 and SuperMonitor5 V5.1 have a few adjustments and bug fixes to provide a more efficient and elevated user experience, including the upgrade in stability and refresh rate when connecting and updating SMP players. The complimentary update is available now through Patches on the Overview page.To learn more about the Versatile Digital Signage Player, SMP-2100, please go to CAYIN's website @https://www.cayintech.com/digital_signage_products/digital_signage_player_SMP-2100.htmlCAYIN Technology in BriefCAYIN Technology is a 12-year professional digital signage solution and software developer from Taiwan. By offering a complete portfolio of appliance-based digital signage solutions, CAYIN dedicates itself to being a reliable partner to clients worldwide and has successfully set up various applications globally. In order to best facilitate the deployment of its products, the company also provides tailored services to satisfy the ever-growing market demand for almost limitless applications.CAYIN announces major firmware update for digital signage software SMP-NEO2

Demand for ARM processors has been strong due to the increasing popularity of Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Vehicles (IoV), Industry 4.0 applications and mobile devices. The ARM architecture greatly simplifies the software and hardware designs making it possible for the processor to operate with simple commands.The processors also feature ultra-low power consumption, extended temperature ranges, system on chip (SoC) designs, fast reboot, small size, high productivity and high stability, and they are supported by free developer resources and operating systems. These advantages have resulted in an increasing percentage of smartphone, tablet, end-market device, network equipment and storage device vendors shifting from x86 to the ARM architecture.Increasing IoT popularity boosting ARM demand, with embedded intelligence expected to see strongest growthARM has been mainly used in three major applications: mobile computing, enterprise infrastructure, and embedded intelligence. According to an internal 2015 year-end report from ARM Holdings, ARM's highest market share is currently in the mobile computing segment with 85%, but the most promising is the embedded intelligence segment where the market value is expected to grow 22% to US$45 billion by 2020.Intel dominated the x86 market due to the comprehensiveness of the supply chain. However, the market started to change after 2010 due to the increasing popularity of mobile devices and network equipment. Many applications have turned to ARM, attracted by its low-power consumption architecture and open platform. ARM also has high flexibility in integrating different demands with different core computing components. One micro ARM processor can support most of the functions and features usually seen in a computer, such as CPU, GPU, controllers (for RAM, USB, SD memory, etc), GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and communication modem. With features like these, ARM's solutions for hardware-software integration have been growing more diverse, especially for the industrial PC (IPC) sector.EMBUX aims to be a specialist providing ARM hardware and software solutionsEMBUX, which was established in 2014, specializes in providing ARM-based IPC software, hardware-software integrated products, and developing firmware. The firm aims to become a top-notch specialist providing technology services in the vertical industrial ARM market. The firm's industry-grade IoT equipment has received the Red Dot Design Award from Germany. EMBUX also has the key know-how and a clientele consisting of both domestic and international companies. Its operations have extended to the markets for embedded equipment, public transportation infrastructure and power station equipment.According to Yuan-Chung Tsao, general manager of EMBUX , the firm has been focusing on ARM software-hardware solutions. For most other firms, ARM-based technology development is usually only a small segment in their industrial departments; but for EMBUX, software development and customized design are its core business. Many of EMBUX's staff are senior engineers with years of experience under their belts.EMBUX's software strengths are supported by the capability of conducting in-house R&D and problem solving. For example, the firm introduced an Android 6.0 solution for mass production two weeks ahead of others in May 2016. The firm has also developed automated software design verification to reduce the time customers need to conduct testing, and automated data export to reduce cost of labor costs. EMBUX also provides cloud data storage to lower human errors, and improves product reliability by analyzing historical data. EMBUX's ability to modify and rewrite core and driver programs outperforms competitors'. The R&D for EMBUX's hardware with second MCU control is done completely in-house. It develops its own real time OS (RTOS) firmware.EMBUX captures key technology in integrating platform, software, hardware and firmwareIn the IPC industry, vendors mostly sell their products directly to customers, or through their branch offices or other value-added resellers. The product life is quite long (at least five years and some can reach over 10 years). Compared to consumer electronics, IPC customers have stronger loyalty. IPC shipments tend to be low in quantity but high in variety. And the cost of switching suppliers is high. Once component suppliers obtain the domain knowledge of a certain area of products within the vertical market, they can easily build up their client bases and dominate the market.In the IPC market, customers want not just hardware but a highly integrated system of software, hardware and firmware on a single platform. Due to the fact that ARM is technologically highly demanding as far as operating system development is concerned, it is usually thought that it would take seven years of training before an engineer could become a specialist for the segment. Currently most of the talented software engineers in Taiwan have been employed by major chipmakers or major international application vendors. Therefore, in the past Taiwan rarely saw a firm that was fully devoted to the ARM architecture to provide hardware-software integrated solutions.EMBUX has been targeting this "Blue Ocean" market. The firm's main focus is on the ARM-based IPC market segment. The firm aims to provide different solutions for industrial control programs and Linux applications to satisfy different needs. EMBUX also provides customized services. Because x86 is unable to accommodate the demands from the Android/Linux segment and entry- to mid-level markets, EMBUX is keen to become one of the only few Asia-based firms to focus on industrial ARM solutions and related services.EMBUX hopes to expand cooperation with other firms to find a common target market and thrive in the age of IoT.EMBUX ICS-2010 series

As telecom services become more diversified, operators who rely on traditional proprietary network appliances require strenuous effort in developing new services. The use of software-defined networking (SDN), network function virtualization (NFV) along with virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) will grow in significance and set to open new territory for the industry.Telecom operators are bound to vendor lock-in imposed by telecommunications equipment manufacturers (TEM). Despite the fact that the core telecom network and devices built on a closed architecture defined by TEM ensure service performance and quality, the push towards service diversity is still in motion. For example, network communication and services are gradually becoming integral parts within the telecom industry, with many operators shifting their focus to network services. However, using existing traditional equipment either incurs high costs or lacks the capability to deliver the right functions that meet the expectations of operators.Within this dilemma of stalled progress, NFV is seen as the ray of hope for paving a new way for telecom operators. Hadwin Liu, Chief Architect of NEXCOM Network and Communication Solutions Business Group, explains that NFV is generally favored as it is built upon industry open standards, and uses universal hardware platform, virtualization technology and software to enable network functions that are only available on expensive, proprietary equipment. This helps operators to be less reliant on TEMs or system integrators, greatly reducing the deployment cost of equipment.The NFV value chain consists of hardware (one of which serves as the main platform for vCPE), cloud operating system, application software and other components. Operators can list these components as open bids without having to worry about interoperability issues between heterogeneous components. For businesses who have invested in the development of x86-based enterprise vCPE, this will present a vast pool of opportunities.Rising Significance of vCPE for Offloading Cloud WorkloadsLiu points out that the concept of NFV operation focuses on translating network functions such as network security, WAN optimization and load balancing, into service processes that can be executed on a virtual machine. These processes are not closely bounded to the underlying hardware. In other words, businesses can simply use control commands of back-end cloud data centers to flexibly insert NFV virtual machines or remove devices.As the number of end devices increases, more processing burdens are placed on the cloud center. As a result, the concept of "fog computing" has emerged to relieve the heavy processing load. The idea of fog computing is to share the workload of the cloud by using end devices with stronger computing power to enable vCPE functions to take place. Compared to traditional CPE, vCPE differs greatly as traditional CPE typically only handles simple network processing tasks that require only a dual-core processor and small amount of system memory. vCPE, on the other hand, requires high processor core count, large system memory and network bandwidth capacity.In terms of processor core count, vCPE basically requires four processor cores. The first core is used to run cloud operating systems such as Wind River, while the second core is dedicated for network switching (OVS). The remaining two cores are then used to run VNF virtual machines. For applications that require additional VNFs or network switching performance (OVS-DPDK), a higher processor core count is required.Besides telecom businesses, another possible driving force for enterprise vCPE could come from traditional dedicated devices used for delivering network functions and performance. The main focus of these devices centers on allowing users to enjoy services offered by providers, while at the same time allowing room to access NFV services provided by other vendors. However, industry experts have evaluated that the development of dedicated devices may not be as significant as telecom services.x86 to Non-x86 Cross-Platform Migration with NFV Virtual MachinesNEXCOM looks forward to the potential development of enterprise vCPE, and has vigorously revitalized its product lines; vCPE-related products from now on utilize Intel-based solutions as the core architecture. Not only Intel Virtualization Technology is full-featured and complete, it is also widely used throughout the industry as the main platform for various applications, thus ensuring high degree of integration. Furthermore, to strengthen the competitiveness of enterprise vCPE products, NEXCOM has been actively investing resources in building two specialized teams with distinct roles. The first specializes in non-x86 technology while the second specializes in software technology. These investment and research efforts have come together as the foundation for NEXCOM's unique niche.For non-x86 technology, NEXCOM plans to reserve a wider resource space for platform migration. For example, a virtual service running on an x86 platform can be migrated to non-x86 platforms based on vendors like NXP's SoC. As a result, octa-core processor coupled with OVS hardware acceleration can be made available with competitive pricing to target the budget-constrained customer base. As for software technology, interoperability between devices and virtual machines will be assured, and if any issues are encounter by users, consultations are provided.NEXCOM's enterprise vCPE is currently divided into three product series, which are NSA 7135, NSA 5160 and NSA 1150, from high-end to low-end respectively in that order. NSA 7135 features Intel Xeon processor E5 family with support for up to 44-core processors. NSA 5160 features Intel Xeon processor D-1500 family with support for up to 16-core processors. Lastly, NSA 1150 features Intel Atom processor family with support for 2- to 8-core processors.Using universal hardware, virtualization, and software technology, services can be flexibly delivered by vCPE with reduced cost, time, and effort.

Conexant Systems, Inc., a leading provider of audio and voice technology solutions that enable a more natural user experience, today announced that it is collaborating with Amazon to release an Alexa Voice Service (AVS) approved AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit for smart home applications, and are making it available to manufacturers and developers via the Amazon AVS for Raspberry Pi project. Featuring the Conexant AudioSmart CX20921 high-performance Hands-free Voice Input Processor, and Alexa wake word technology, Conexant's AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit for Amazon AVS will allow product developers to quickly and easily build products with Alexa that offer an ideal voice user experience.Enabling speech recognition and voice control from a distance requires overcoming substantial acoustic challenges related to echo cancellation, background noise, position of microphones, speaker placement and more. Conexant's dual-microphone voice processing solution is designed to recognize the Alexa wake word and deliver speech requests for processing from anywhere in the room, even in noisy, real-world conditions. The solution also enables voice barge-in capabilities, allowing users to interrupt their Alexa device when its playing sound. The AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit will save engineering time and reduce costs related to developing noise robust voice-enabled devices."We created our AVS for Raspberry Pi project to help expedite the development of Alexa smart home products," said Steve Rabuchin, Vice President Amazon Alexa. "Conexant's AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit for Amazon AVS unlocks serious voice capture capabilities, allowing developers to achieve a far better AVS user experience through vital voice processing technologies that overcome acoustic and distance challenges. Utilizing Conexant's AVS approved solutions will help third-party manufacturers quickly innovate with Alexa."The core component of the development kit is Conexant's AudioSmart CX20921 Voice Input Processor running its industry-leading hands-free voice pre-processing software technology. The Conexant hands-free voice input processor system captures the user's voice from anywhere within the room, separates the voice commands from music and voice prompts being played out of the device, even with background noise present, and provides a clean audio signal to the AVS cloud for speech recognition processing. This solution ensures that AVS hears only the user's command, and nothing else, which in turn provides a consistently accurate AVS experience.Beyond prototyping, Conexant expedites time to market by directly providing third-party manufacturers with cost-effective, production-ready hardware solutions and voice pre-processing software technology. Key benefits of the Conexant AudioSmart CX20921 Voice Input Processor include:• Cost-effective hands-free voice interaction with only two microphones• Proprietary Smart Source Pickup technology both detects voice and cancels noise from any direction, even if it's coming from the same direction as speech• Voice barge-in enabled by full duplex stereo acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) - detects the Alexa wake word even during loud playback of music or voice prompts• High-dynamic range analog-to-digital converters (ADC), optimized for far-field, supports connections to analog microphones and PDM interfaces for connection to digital MEMS microphones"We created our AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit to provide third-party AVS developers with a high-performance alternative to multi-mic array designs, supporting high-volume consumer price points," said Saleel Awsare, President at Conexant. "Our AudioSmart 2-mic Development Kit was designed to be easily integrated into any AVS system prototype based on the Raspberry Pi, and we worked closely with Amazon to ensure excellent hands-free voice performance capabilities with AVS. Together with Amazon, we are providing the tools that developers need to prototype with a two-microphone voice capture system and Conexant's advanced voice pre-processing technologies. Our development kit is based on proven technology that is currently deployed in millions of consumer devices and enables developers to quickly create working AVS device prototypes in just a couple of weeks opposed to several months."To learn more about Conexant and this announcement, please visit www.conexant.com/amazon-avs/ follow them on LinkedIn, like them on Facebook, and view their videos on YouTube.About Conexant:Conexant Systems, Inc. is the CE industry's go-to source for hardware and software solutions that offer unrivaled performance for audio and voice applications. The company combines its significant IP portfolio in DSP, analog and mixed signal technology with embedded software to enrich and expand audio and voice capabilities of products across nearly every vertical of the CE space. Founded in 1999, Conexant is a privately-held fabless semiconductor and audio technology engineering company headquartered in Irvine, California with offices and design centers worldwide.About Amazon:Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about.

CEVA Technology Symposium 2016 was held in Hsinchu, Taiwan on November 21, 2016 and two more sessions were held later in Shenzhen and Shanghai respectively. Each year CEVA holds a series of annual events in Asia with growing numbers of participants and growing reputation. This is the 10th year of the symposium series and it has become an important annual technology event in the semiconductor industry that are highly regarded by semiconductor firms and IC design houses.CEVA is the leading firm for silicon intellectual property (SIP) in digital signal processing (DSP). The firm's core technology provides memory bandwidth for data processing and unique DSP engines. CEVA chips have been installed in numerous types of smart devices, and today more than 90% of the mobile phones have some CEVA technology inside. Through many years of hard work in developing the DSP core and building a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem, CEVA has successfully assisted many IC design houses around the world to speed up product development, shorten time-to-market and expand their markets.CEVA Technology Symposium's theme this year was about the development trend and direction of DSP applications. It was a technological feast with discussions on Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices and machine learning applications that use connectivity and neurological technologies. Without a doubt, the rise of new types of smart devices and computer vision has promised to make IoT applications to a main growth engine for the semiconductor industry. Technologies such as computer vision, face recognition, ultra-high resolution, scene detection, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), image formation and visualization allow imaging devices to feature innovative designs.CEVA and its partners displayed products and applications developed using the CEVA platform at the interactive booths at the Hsinchu symposium, which also saw participation of semiconductor firms and IC design houses from China. China's semiconductor industry has been growing rapidly. With increasing investments and major mergers, the development in China is providing strong stimulations to the global semiconductor industry. The Hsinchu symposium featured a keynote speaker from China-based Brite Semiconductor – a firm invested by China-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) – to introduce China's semiconductor manufacturing and design processes, giving the participants a glimpse of some other options for system on a chip (SoC) solutions with which they could speed up the development of IoT applications.IoT and computer vision to shape the future mainstream applications of DSP technologyCEVA Technology Symposium 2016 arranged keynote speeches in the morning and two technology sessions in the afternoon that respectively discussed the topics of IoT and computer vision, exploring issues concerning electronic devices' connectivity functions and smart capabilities as featured in imaging, vision, audio, sensor, connectivity and AI applications. CEVA invited IC design houses such as NextG-Com, Sensory, ArcSoft, Corephotonics, Almalence, emza Visual Sense, StradVision, Socionext, and Pilot.ai, and their partnering firms to jointly display their products and applications that use CEVA's DSP technology.Smart IoT devices head toward wide-area communication technologyThe increasing popularity of IoT and Big Data analytics-enabled smart devices means smart IoT devices have to have strong connectivity abilities that support different industry standards such as 3G/4G baseband, WiFi, Bluetooth BLE and Zigbee. Different products supporting various connectivity technologies have been introduced for different market segments. In addition to frequently-renewed radio frequency (RF) solutions for WiFi and Bluetooth, LTE products that are low in power loss and costs with longer range of connectivity have been the focus of CEVA and chipmakers.Electronic sensors and smart IoT devices that are connected to one another are estimated to reach 50 billion units around the world in 2020. Therefore, competition is expected to heat up among different transmission standards. It is foreseeable that there will be a lot of smart products for indoor or smart home solutions competing for market share. One single device will need to support multiple network connection technologies such as a combination of WiFi, Bluetooth and Zigbee, and a key to the device's success will be lower cost and power loss.Short distance connectivity is important but as more IoT devices are heading outdoors, long-distance connectivity applications have been emerging with the introduction of many devices for smart farming and long-distance transportation. As demand for long-distance connectivity has been growing, 3GPP stepped up efforts standardizing the three major low-power loss long-distance wireless network standards: NB-IoT, LTE-M, and EC-GSM. The standards were completed in June 2016.Smart IoT devices with lower-power wide-area telecommunication technologies are expected to show an impressive cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% to reach around 2.1 billion units in the market by 2022. The applications will include smart cities, smartwatches, smart hydrometers and gas meters, and smart vending machines. This is seen as an important engine driving strong growth in the next few years. CEVA expects wide-area smart IoT devices to become a success.Computer vision increases machine learning efficiency pushing image recognition applications to grow rapidlyTo improve the "smartness" of electronic devices, the crown jewel of the DSP technology application is computer vision and image recognition. DSP core used to process the input and analysis of large amounts of image data for automobile solutions in pedestrian detection and parking space tracking has attracted much media attention.In the consumer electronics market, many leading smartphone makers adopt dual-lens cameras – one lens with 1x standard wide angle and the other 2x optical zoom. The dual-lens camera will require more capabilities of image processing and computing algorithm to support growing and wider adoption of visual applications. Hence DSP technology has become irreplaceable. Whether it is smart home, security monitoring, self-driving vehicles or drones, the smart functions require high-density algorithms to analyze the specific features of different images. DSP technology plays a leading role in image and voice recognition.From the point of view of image resolution, HD, UHD, 4K and even 8K streaming of videos with frame rates from 30fps to 60 fps has become mainstream. The challenge is that large amounts of data have to be processed and stored. The DSP core from the fifth-generation CEVA XM6 has enhanced processing abilities and achieved low power loss, which is important to mobile devices. As a result of joint efforts with partners through the design and application of 3D images and neural network systems, the product has higher smart recognition quality for future smart applications.CEVA has introduced its second-generation CEVA Depp Neural Network (CDNN2) this year. It has simplified machine learning in lower-power embedded systems and provided a smooth route from offline training to real-time testing with CEVA Network Generator. The machine learning algorithm can be optimized through the unique target network testing and deployment solution within a few days. The product can achieve higher efficiency with lower power loss compared to platforms that use the GPU structure. CDNN2 fully utilizes CEVA-Xm6 image forming and vision DSP processing to increase the learning speed of deep learning in embedded systems by up to four times compared to systems based on the GPU structure. At the same time, the power loss is 25 times lower with memory bandwidth achieving 15 times lower.There are some important real world examples of smart machines. Smart home applications can use facial or voice print recognition to unlock or open doors. This can also be integrated with service suppliers. There are also examples of high-precision developments in smart farming. Supported by an integration of camera-equipped drones and Big Data analysis and prediction, farming has seen revolutionary changes. Moreover, ADAs automated systems that can integrate eight to 12 sensors combined with V2V or V2X communication standards to connect vehicles can be used to develop self-driving cars.Always-on, always-sensing and always-connected: The three necessities of IoT devicesOne of the keynote speakers, Moshe Sheier, director of strategic marketing at CEVA, showed the almost unlimited market opportunities for IoT. DSP technology promises to grow in popularity in the ever-growing and ever-changing IoT market. With the explosive development of smart mobile devices, DSP technology will play a key role to stimulate the never-ending innovative ideas in the semiconductor industry.The continuous improvement of the semiconductor process and the design trend towards making extremely low-power loss network devices and sensors are great news for DSP technology. The smartness of today's electronic devices has greatly changed our lives. AI, as demonstrated in the cloud services offered by Amazon, Apple, and Google, shows a world of robots without a human-like exterior in voice assistant applications such as Siri and Alexa. Such technologies are expected to be widely used in other applications, triggering a revolutionary impact on people's lives.Wearable devices, headphones, and smart medical small-size earpieces integrated with microphones, as well as Apple's AirPods, integrate the always-on technology with the extremely low-power loss technology. Through highly-integrated designs, the always-connected technology, which enables control and monitoring functions, has been seen in many smart city and smart home applications including lighting, smartwatches, vending machines and devices used by cycling teams. Self-driving vehicles integrate the always-sensing technology with other automobile technologies such as laser-based Lidar, video conferencing cameras and V2X. The IoV and machine learning technologies have been developing rapidly.Sheier noted that today's smart IoT devices face three major challenges: more sensor integration, improvement of edge processing and new connectivity technologies to bring them all together. CEVA believes that firms should invest wisely in the always-on, always-sensing, and always-connected technologies.Edge processing for real-time responseOnce sensors have collected image and audio data to the smart device, the next challenge is edge processing. With improvements in this technology, the smart device can process video and audio data without relying on the cloud computing servers. This greatly improves the data processing ability of the devices, making it possible to respond in real-time and increase data security. This technology allows smart devices to reduce computing cost, power loss, and response time.The key development in the drone and self-driving vehicles is edge processing, which now allows real-time control and better management of the drones through the gesture mode. Edge processing also reduces the barriers of data transmission bandwidth for applications such as drones and self-driving cars that require real-time response. With V2X data transmission technology, self-driving cars can process up to 4,000GB of data per day with edge processing. This fully utilizes the potential of DSP chips.Although cloud computing services continue to play an important role, the technology is still controversial on the level of personal security and privacy. Smart IoT devices have local intelligence to strengthen real-time processing and this will help meet a number of requirements: security in data processing; fewer limitations on wireless transmission bandwidth; real-time response and management that is critical to personal safety; and longer battery life enabled by low power loss. The development of smart IoT devices allows DSP technology to expand to new horizons.DSP Group voice processing chip enters new fieldsDSP Group's voice recognition and voice processing chips adopt the always-on listening function, which is attractive for smart devices that aim to improve user experience. Users can give voice commands to start the timer and the step meter, and drivers can use voice control to start the GPS navigation. This technology has been adopted by South Korea-based smartphone makers.The always-on listening technology needs to coexist with low power loss because smart devices need a long battery life. A DSP chip which uses CEVA TeakLite-410 DSP core only uses 0.2mA power during voice activation. On the voice detection mode, the chip uses less than 0.5mA of power, substantially reducing the burden on the battery.For better consumer experience with voice control and to shorten time-to-market, DSP Group provides a full development kit for design teams to build products that supports special commands in various languages. There are also specific designs for specific phonetics used in certain Asian countries.Voice recognition applications have been expanding. The Tokyo Olympics in 2020 is expected to have many devices that adopt voice recognition technology for announcements and interpretations. The IC design sector is aware that such applications can be easily adopted for the tourism industry. The applications can connect with the cloud services to provide interpretation services, with edge processing to help recognize the natural language. The DSP engine can demonstrate its capabilities through the always-on, noise reduction, voice control and respond, echo reduction and long-distance sound detection features.As Sheier noted in the keynote speech, IoT can also be called "Infinite Opportunities for Technology." IoT and smart applications will be pushing the next big growth in the semiconductor and electronics industries. Through CEVA's DSP technology, IC design houses are ready for the challenge.CEVA Director of Strategic Marketing, Moshe SheierTaiwan Country Manager, Barbara Yu