Apple has announced its 16GB iPod touch is now available in several colors and equipped with a 5-megapixel iSight camera for US$199.The entire iPod touch lineup features the 5-megapixel iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording, 4-inch Retina display, Apple's A5 chip and FaceTime camera.The iPod touch features an ultra-thin and light anodized aluminum design and is available in pink, yellow, blue, silver, gray and red.The iPod touch comes in a 16GB model for US$199, 32GB for US$249, and 64GB for US$299.The iPod touch comes with iOS 7, offering more than 200 features including Camera app filters that let users easily add real-time photo effects. Additionally, the Photos app offers ways to automatically organize users' photos based on time and location. This fall, iOS 8 will be supported on the entire iPod touch lineup, Apple said.Apple iPod touchPhoto: Company

USB 3.0 provides 5Gbps of data throughput, which is 10x faster than USB 2.0, and USB 3.0 provides additional power for charging mobile devices. It has been rapidly adopted into all mainstream PCs and many peripheral applications today. While USB 3.0 breaks new grounds and enables several new applications, there are still some areas where USB 3.0 does not provide enough performance, and that is when dealing with fast SSD and UHD video transmissions. With various other transmission interfaces, such as the MHL, HDMI, Display Port, Wi-Di/Wi-Gig, and Thunderbolt, facing challenges, the USB-IF has developed the next-generation USB 3.1 specification that provides a 10Gbp transmission speed and has also developed a new USB connector specification called Type-C that is optimized for mobile devices. The new connector is able to provide enhanced video and audio transmissions as well as increasing the charging current. With the combination of USB 3.1 and the new connector, mobile devices may become unified with a common interface.PC is transitioning towards personalized computingDavid Hsu, Associate VP of Product Marketing for VIA Labs, Inc. (VLI), indicated that VLI has positioned itself as a USB 3.0 market leader for the past five years. The USB Type-C connector has generated much buzz in the industry and was actually jointly proposed by Apple, Google, Intel, and Microsoft to the USB-IF Association based on the mobile device trends. And VLI was the only IC firm from Taiwan invited to discussions arranged by USB-IF.While there has been much speculation about the possibility of the personal computer (PC) market consolidating with only tablets and notebooks remaining, Hsu believes that the trend of the future should be observed in terms of personalized computing. All of the mobile devices are still actually based on the PC platform with CPUs, chipsets and peripheral support. But it's like buying a car: consumers' needs will give rise to various additional purchase choices.Pros and cons of various interfaces: An attempt to create the perfect peripheral connectionHsu mentioned that today's tablets already have four-core or even eight-core CPU computing capabilities. The only difference is that tablets do not have the powerful peripheral expansion capability as that of PCs or notebooks. If USB 3.0 hubs can be used to connect the related peripherals, tablets can do any work that any PC or notebook can do. Hsu showed a table comparing the applications and conveniences provided by the various peripherals. The widely known consumer interfaces currently on the market are HDMI, Display Port, MHL Wi-Di (Cast), Bluetooth, Wi-Gig, Dock Port, and Thunderbolt. The list provided compared these interfaces in terms of data transmission, audio transmission, video transmission, power charging, peripheral input, hardware cost, etc. The results indicated that each interface has its own strengths and application preferences, but they are still not perfect when compared to the USB 3.0 and USB Type-C connector.USB 3.0 performs better in terms of data transfer, audio, external power supply, and peripheral input; and its hardware cost is low. The only area where it has mediocre performance is in video transmission, where CPU compression is required. The new USB Type-C connector has made significant improvements on video transmission, and can synchronize data transmission and sound/video output without delay. It supports stronger charging functions, and is expected to become the unified and perfect peripheral interface choice that can satisfy all of the application needs.Current market conditions of USB 3.x and the new USB specificationsHsu indicated that the transmission speed of USB 3.1 will increase to 10Gbps and will adopt the 128b/132b encoding. The theoretical transfer rate is 1 GB/s, which is 2.4 times faster than the actual tested speed of 400MB/s provided by USB 3.0 with 5Gbps and 8b/10b encoding. The new USB Power Delivery (UPD 2.0) can provide 5/12/20V of voltage and 3/5A of current output, with the overall charging power at 35/65/100W.The newly designed USB Type-C connector can integrate the user experiences and offer "one connector for all mobile devices." Its interface size is 24-pin, 8.3 x 2.5 mm, supporting tens of thousands plug times and having waterproof and non-directional plug-and-play features. The type-C connector supports 5V/3A output (15W), and can provide an even higher power charge output when additional power delivery chips/circuits are used. It does not need OTG controller chips to perform USB primary/secondary control switching, can directly incorporate DisplayPort signals, and supports UHD (3840 x 2160) video output.VLI will launch USB 3.1-related products this year and is expected to launch Type-C connector products next year. Type-C will bring significant convenience in the future for mobile phone and tablet users. A single port that can transmit data, high-definition videos and audios to both mobile phones and tablets, as well as providing fast power charging.VLI's hub chips roadmapCurrently, in terms of USB 3.0/3.1 hub product planning, VLI has already begun mass producing the VL811+ chip for the USB 3.0 four-port hub that supports smart charging. Based on the same designs, the VL812 chip also contains built-in DC-to-DC transformer circuits. Before the USB 3.1 Type-C specification was finalized, VLI already proposed the VL210 chip to develop the fourth generation hub products. This product will have one USB 3.0 and three USB 2.0 ports. The target market segment is docking station devices for smartphones and tablets to provide excellent charging capabilities while integrating the human interface device (HID) controls. Users can have a universal docking station that is not restricted by an organization; provides USB 3.0 to VGA output as well as USB audio output; accepts touch panel/keyboard/mouse inputs; and supports OTG as well as the USB host ACA charging functions.It is anticipated that the VL818 chip launched by the end of 2014 will have a built-in 100/1000 Mbps Ethernet and provide a 5Gbps 4-Port hub, SD 3.0 card reader, smart charging functions, and intelligent control features. VL820 will be launched in the first quarter of 2015, which will support USB 3.1 4-port products.Hsu stressed that VLI has won the official Know Good Hub (KGH) certification by the USB-IF Association two years in a row as well as Microsoft's Windows 8.1 and Windows RT WHQL certifications. VLI has launched the WHQL-certified Microsoft USB Test Engineering Board (SuperMUTT Pack) for R&D on its official website for US$249.Finally, Hsu mentioned that there are currently SDP, CDP, DCP, and vendor-specific USB charging specifications. The main focus of the exclusive charging specification is charging modes that provide greater than 1.5A of current. The VP200 charging chips mass produced by VLI adopt the 16QFN (3x3mm) package design; have the Power Switch/Data Switch circuits, adjustable current limits, auto-detected D+/D- modes; support the BC 1.2 DCP/CDP/SDP protocol as well as Apple 2.4A and Samsung's fast charge models. They can be used as USB fast-charging ports in desktop and notebook PCs.In addition, the VP201 charging chips adopt the ESOP 8 package with automatic current limit adjustment and large current power drop compensation features. They support DCP models as well as Apple 2.4A and Samsung 1.2V models. They can be applied to car chargers, power chargers, mobile power banks, and charging stations. It is anticipated that VP202 samples unveiled the third quarter will adopt the SOT 23-6 package. They provide exclusive dual-port USB charging electrical control circuit, support DCP models, Apple 2.4A and Samsung 1.2V models. They can be applied to car chargers, power chargers, mobile power banks, and charging stations.David Hsu, Associate VP of Product Marketing for VIA Labs, Inc.

The video surveillance industry, which is closely tied to security in our everyday lives, is currently undergoing a transition from traditional analog CCTV to digital IP camera technologies. The surveillance industry is also showing a clear trend toward mobile applications, wireless applications, as well as home-oriented applications. The primary goal for the current video surveillance industry is to find a way to secure key components and software/hardware integration technologies, incorporate integrated software and cloud services, integrate tablets and mobile phones, and to penetrate into the average home, thereby making mobile applications even more widespread.During the first session in the Mobile Technology Forum, Kyle Chang, President of AverLogic Technologies Corp., gave a speech titled "The Next Step for the Security and Surveillance Industry." He first introduced AverLogic's history: It was established in Taiwan in 1998 and began listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange in December of 2012 (ticker number 6198). AverLogic has two R&D centers, one in the Taipei Neihu Technology Park and the other in Silicon Valley, the US. Its main products include video frame buffer memory (FIFO), video conversion ICs, LCD display controller ICs, and surveillance system controller ICs. Its current customers include Pelco, Philips, Sony, and so on. Many of the companies listed in ASMAG's 2013 Top Security 50 are loyal users of AverLogic's ICs.With many years of experience in the video surveillance market, Chang subsequently introduced the status and issues of surveillance industry in terms of the scale and product categories of the professional video and surveillance market, distribution in the 2014 professional video surveillance market, primary functions and applications of current video surveillance products, issues that remain to be solved in terms of network IP cameras, and issues that remain to be solved in the overall video surveillance industry.Digital surveillance products are mainstream in the marketAccording to data from IMS Research, the scale of the video surveillance product market will grow from more than US$10 billion in 2011 to over US$25 billion in 2016. Further estimations indicate that out of the video surveillance camera products of 2014, 41% will be traditional analog surveillance cameras, 47% digital network surveillance cameras, and 12% of other types; in 2016, digital network surveillance cameras will account for 55% of video surveillance cameras, while traditional analog surveillance cameras will drop to 35%.Regional analysis of the professional video surveillance market shows that the scale of the Asia-Pacific market is the largest, accounting for 30% of the global market. Western Europe accounts for 27%, North America 22%, and all other areas 21%. The top 50 suppliers account for 83% of total sales in the overall global market.Chang indicated that out of the main functions of current video surveillance products and applications, mainstream digital IP cameras primarily provide high resolution, multiple video streaming, as well as remote access and storage, while the primary functions of digital video recorders (DVRs) include high-capacity storage, the ability to connect to traditional CCTV analog cameras, and the ability to connect to and receive video from digital IP Cameras or even 720p/1080p HD cameras. DVRs are also capable of providing remote access and storage, and overall system integration of the surveillance environment, with primary applications found in public environments (such as apartment building communities) as well as in fixed installation locations.Of all professional surveillance products, IP cameras are closest to mobile devices. The problems with current IP cameras include difficult installation, high power consumption, occupying network bandwidth, complex software configurations, as well as backend storage equipment being extremely large and complex. The issues the entire video surveillance industry is facing are: (1) Fierce market competition, with products lacking segmentation and differentiation. (2) Lack of optimization for specific applications. (3) Requiring installation and operation by professional personnel. (4) Lack of suitable solutions for the average-home market. These are all issues that need to be addressed and overcome.He pointed out that judging from the trends in the current video surveillance market, there is extremely high demand for home-oriented applications. In addition, with the widespread penetration of mobile phones and tablets, the availability of wireline networking and 4G LTE mobile communications, as well as the gradual maturing of the technological environment, professional video surveillance vendors must think about their next move in terms of avoiding specification wars, creating a new innovative market, solving current problems, and advancing towards mobile, wireless, and home-oriented applications.Video surveillance becoming mobile and penetrating into the average homeChang pointed out that video surveillance solutions vendors have already developed technologies that take advantage of 3G UMTS/4G LTE mobile communications, WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and RF components, compressing real-time video, transmitting it to the Internet, and displaying images on users' the smartphones or tablets. With the rise of 4G high-speed mobile communications, cloud applications, and IoT, the bottleneck of insufficient network bandwidth will gradually be eliminated.With the earlier introduction of CIF (352x240) and Sony 960H CCD image sensor devices for IP cameras, there is now a race to support 720p HD, 1080p FHD, and UHD specifications. He pointed out that the next step for the video surveillance market will be to advance toward mobile device utilization, wirelss connection and home-oriented applications. . Video surveillance products will be required to include features that facilitate home caregiving, health management, the ability to connect with mobile devices, the ability to integrate with wearable devices, the ability to integrate with 3G and 4G networks, as well as support for IoT applications. New and innovative markets for vendors to develop include the smart home market, the outdoor recreation and entertainment market, the wearable devices market, and the personal healthcare information market.Securing key video surveillance technologiesAs Chang pointed out, key technologies required by the current video surveillance market include the ability to integrate transmission interfaces such as Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi, RF component, as well as 3G and 4G mobile communications. Required technologies also include the ability to optimize power consumption and computing performance, microcontrollers that are just right for the job, as well as video codec processing technologies that support JPEG, MP4, H.264, H.265, 1080p FHD, and UHD. Finally, integrated software services need to be combined with integrated cloud services in order to meet market requirements. AverLogic's newly introduced AL582 video processing IC solution features rich video interface and video conversion, high-performance HD H.264 compression and decompression, environmentally-friendly and energy-saving, highly integrated SoCs, multifunctional control interface/network interface/storage interface, as well as comprehensive technical support and software development kits.In response to the video surveillance market trending towards mobile, wireless, and smart -home-oriented applications, AverLogic's newest AL582 video processing ICs can be used in IP cameras, dedicated mobile monitors, dome security cameras, DVRs, as well as professional infrared cameras, integrating with cloud services vendors to allow users to achieve video surveillance, home/child/pet monitoring, and remote control/home automation via their mobile phones, tablets, and cars. It also enables recording real-time video from wearable devices, such as smart glasses, and transmitting those videos wirelessly to the cloud as well as to mobile phones, thereby creating even more value for the customer.Kyle Chang, President of AverLogic Technologies

People's living environments have changed from the ancient caves to the buildings, mansions, and skyscrapers along with the evolution of the technological civilization. Homes are no longer just shelters or recreation areas for listening to music or watching TV. We have now entered a new era where low-cost, low-power, high-density, miniaturized wireless connectivity solutions are the norm. We can combine all ICT devices at home using multi-screen cloud applications, such as those for automatic appliances, remote voice and gesture control, and wearable devices. These innovations will give birth to more wireless applications and create unlimited business opportunities.Definitions of homes and the evolution and evolvement of designsVijay Nagarajan, Director of Product Marketing for the Wireless Connectivity Group of Broadcom Corporation, noted in a recently speech how human habitations have evolved from the caves in 100,000 BC to the common three-story brick buildings in the early 20th century, which later evolved into taller buildings with elevators, and then multi-floor skyscrapers that were connected by foot bridges.In addition to the residential patterns, people's demand for audio-visual content has also been growing rapidly. According to a May 2013 Cisco VNI research, it is estimated that the total global Internet traffic bandwidth will reach up to 786Tera bps by 2017, which is equivalent to having 720 million people streaming HD (1280X720p) videos simultaneously or having video clips with lengths totaling five million years played through the Internet each month. By the end of 2017, the total global Internet traffic will reach 1.4 Zettabytes.Nagarajan cited a well-known smart home in 2014 as an example to explain the concept: a smart home generally has a 50-inch or larger LCD TV with a Blu-ray player in the TV cabinet, and the air conditioning, lighting and curtains are all controlled through touch-enabled human-machine interfaces. According to predictions made by research institutions such as ABI and Juniper Research in 2013, a total of 70 million wearable devices will be sold by 2017, and a total of 30 billion devices will be wirelessly connected to each other by 2020.Accordingly, Broadcom estimates that in 2020, smart homes not only will have connected TVs, desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones; even the washing machines, refrigerators, ovens, cooktops, kitchens, etc. will all be connected to the Internet and interconnected to each other wirelessly.As we approach the Internet of Things, connectivity is vitalNagarajan indicated that connectivity is vital regardless whether it is through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, NFC or MCU; and they must satisfy the unique features of low-power, low-cost, and smaller size. Broadcom proposed the Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED) platform concept in April 2013 to provide customers with a comprehensive flexible and customizable solution to help build a broader Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.At present, WICED comprises three application platforms: WICED Bridge, WICED Beacon, and WICED Audio. Whether it is for health care, home automation, or wearable devices, WICED is able to provide complete application solutions.Nagarajan played a short WICED video to introduce the states of home networking applications, including: gesture-control smart rings developed by Nod Labs; Samsung's Galaxy Gear smart watch and smartphone remote-controlled air-conditioning systems; the Leap PAD Ultra Wi-Fi-enabled low-power education tablets for children; Nest Labs' mobile phone-controlled smoke and lighting controllers, as well as self-learning temperature controls; the MyQ Garage smart garage sensors developed by Chamberlain Company with which users can open/close the garage door remotely using a smartphone and receive alerts when the garage has been broken into; the Wi-Fi home control system developed by Honeywell whereby uses can use a tablet/cell phone to control home lighting, air conditioning, as well as gardening automation where the paths of sprinkler sprays can be adjusted through the Internet; and the LIFX LED lamps whereby the color temperatures, light colors, and brightness, and the switching on/off can be controlled via a mobile phone and Wi-Fi.Routers - the nerve center of the connected homeNagarajan mentioned that the router is the most critical device for home networking. For example, multimedia devices such as multimedia players, remote controls, headphones, digital TVs, network storage devices, home appliances, set-top boxes, 3D glasses, printers, game consoles, Blu-ray Disc players, thin clients, and personal health care devices must use a router as the gateway in order to be interconnected.At present, routers must be able to transmit video signals and data, meeting the needs of a full range of networking devices, and covering home automation applications as well as behind-the-scene operation features. In the future, routers must have faster connection speeds and broader scopes in order to enable easier connectivity and access to wireless services. And the 5G Wi-Fi wireless networking technology will be the best solution to meet the needs of home networking.The 5G Wi-Fi wireless networking technology, or officially the 802.11ac standard, uses a higher frequency spectrum and wider operating bandwidth. It has evolved from the BPSK to the 256-QAM modulation and decoding technology, providing the Gbps wireless networking speed. It has also incorporated the STBC as well as LDPC data recovery and beam forming technologies. This technology can provide greater coverage, and stronger reception signals for terminal devices, and increase stability.Creating the world's fastest wireless routerNagarajan indicated that Broadcom proposed the 5G Wi-Fi XSTREAM router architecture in April of this year. The router uses the five- core 2.96GHz microprocessor architecture; has two sets of 80MHz operation bandwidth channels; provides two sets of 3x3 11ac and one set of 3x3 11n operation channels; implements six antennas/six data streams; and adopts advanced technologies such as SmartConnect, AnyBeam, and TurboQAM. Compared to that of the commercially available Wi-Fi certified devices, the 5G Wi-Fi XSTREAM router architecture can provide double or even triple the connection performance and can enhance the MU-MIMO multi-antenna multi-user operating performance by up to 50%.In a comparison demo, Nagarajan connected six devices (two MacBook Pros, one 1x1 11ac Galaxy S4, one 2x2 11ac Galaxy S5, and two 1x1 11n iPhone 5s) to the fastest 802.11ac router on the market today and to a new router based on the 5G WI-FI XSTREAM architecture new router. The devices were connected to the two routers simultaneously. The connection rates for the routers indicated that the XSTREAM architecture can at least double the actual connection speeds for each connected device, and can at least triple the actual connection speeds for each connected devices that support the 3x3(3Streams) 11ac, such as the MacBook Pro.Finally, Nagarajan mentioned that the six-antenna RT-AC3200 router launched by Asus in June at COMPUTEX TAIPEI is the best example of Broadcom's 5G WI-FI XSTREAM architecture. With its six streams of 11ac (433x6 = 2,600 Mbps) and three streams of 11n/TurboQAM (150x3 x 1.33 = 600 Mbps) total connection bandwidth, it is the wireless router with the fastest connection rate/total bandwidth in the world.Vijay Nagarajan, Director of Product Marketing for the Wireless Connectivity Group of Broadcom Corporation

Marvell Semiconductor who started up in hard drive controller has actively expanded its procut porfolio of storage devices, networking and communications, connectivity, mobile communications and consumer electronics. It has been offering software and hardware designs for six types of end devices for five categories of cloud, providing completed services for silicon component vendors, manufacturers, software developers, as well as system integrators, in achieving its "Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle" vision.Software and hardware integration for six types of end devices in five cloudsAccording to Weining Gan, Chief Solution Architect at Marvell Semiconductor, Marvell was established in Silicon Valley in 1995, and is the world's top-five fabless semiconductor company with branches in Silicon Valley, Shanghai, Israel, Europe, India, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and Korea. Its products span across storage, networking, communications, connectivity components, mobile communications and consumer electronics sectors shipping billion chips sold each year.Marvell focuses on six types of end devices used in five types of cloud environments: 1. Smart TVs; 2. PCs/Chromebook laptops; 3. Tablets; 4. Mobile phones; 5. Wearable devices; and 6. IoT equipment. It is also engaged in products for operator router equipment in Internet infrastructure clouds, CE routers for enterprise users, 4G LTE/Wi-Fi network connectivity components for the mobile cloud, as well as broadband modems for home clouds. A total of 70% of global SSD controller ICs are from Marvell, and it introduced the first ARM server to the market. Marvell is also the second-largest silicon component supplier for data centers.End-to-end mobile cloud hardware and software solutionsSilicon components used in mobile devices, such as PC/Chromebooks, tablets, mobile phones, wearable devices, and IoT devices, include application processors, graphics controllers, cellular modem ICs, RF radio ICs, Wi-Fi 802.11 wireless networking ICs, Bluetooth chips, NFC ICs, GPS chips, microcontrollers, and sensor hub ICs, said Gan.Licensed frequency band RANs such as those of 4G/LTE involve the microwave equipment required for the backhaul network and PON equipment and front-haul base station technology for the future cloud RAN. Metropolitan transmissions backbones take advantage of IP RAN (L3 VPN) and PTN (L2 VPN) technologies, as well as LTE back-end Evolved Packet Core (EPC). In unlicensed (Wi-Fi) RAN architecture, a portion of the customer front-end goes through the 4G LTE or WiFi and transitions to wireline IP RAN/PTN backbone network at intermediate base stations. For the last mile, it goes back to 4G LTE/Wi-Fi to the broadband modem or small cell of the user.Backbone networks connecting nations and continents use IP/MPLS multiprotocol label switching and OTN/DWDM fiber-optic long-range transmissions technologies. Marvell provides silicon components used by the aforementioned technologies including high-performance multi-core processors, network processors, integrated packet processors, high-capacity switching fiber-optic equipment, high-speed Ethernet switches, high-speed Ethernet physical layer IP, 10G PON passive fiber-optic network components, as well as H.hn G.fast components.Gan pointed out that the data centers operators such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Baidu, and Tencent, regardless of what clustering architectures they use, all require silicon component such as high-performance multicore processors, network processors, integrated packet processors, high-capacity fiber-optic switching equipment, high-speed Ethernet switches, as well as high-speed Ethernet physical layer components.Evolution of data centers and status of market ecosystemThe data center industry ecosystem, Gan pointed out, is composed of system software, application software, maintenance services, silicon components, system design and contracted manufacturers. Traditional data centers first went through system design by system vendors who also selected the system software and maintenance services. Then, they looked up to silicon component suppliers to provide ICs components, contract manufacturers to establish production contracts, application software developers to be responsible for a portion of the maintenance services. Server and computing systems vendors include those from IBM, HP, and Dell; storage device vendors include EMC, NetApp, and Hitachi; networking and communications equipment were provided by Cisco, Juniper, Brocade, and etc.Data centers designed under traditional vendor differentiation can increase the value of system developers but are not able to reduce subsequent data center operating costs, which is why the new "vanity free" design concept is impacting the entire industry ecosystem. With silicon ICs/components, CM/ODM, and maintenance services determined during the system design phase as well as system software implemented based on open source codes integrated with in-house software, vanity free data center designs can significantly reduce early-phase costs as well as operating expenses.Gan said that the most famous vanity free project is Facebook's Open Compute Project (OCP) which establishes one of the most efficient computing infrastructures at the lowest possible cost. Its servers are vanity free in order to reduce the cost of computing nodes, while the design of its storage system is also segmented to include low-cost storage device areas, thereby building a highly energy efficient data center. Virtual IO is used to design open and scalable computing resources, with remote control management tools designed to ensure solid hardware management. In addition, certification standards are also designed for solutions providers.Between April 2011 and April 2012, OPC open computing centers totaling 300,000 square feet in floor space were built in Prineville, Oregon, and Forest City, North Carolina, respectively. In 2014, another OCP data center opened in Lulea, Sweden which occupies a plot of land totaling 968,000 square feet. At the end of 2014, there will be 1.4 million-square foot OCP data center in Altoona, Iowa. Vanity free design brings an additional 38% of energy efficiency in computing and save an additional 24% in costs.Marvell buildse end-to-end industry ecosystemGan also pointed out that Marvell has built a consolidated end-to-end industry ecosystem centered around customer demand. Marvell provides fundamental silicon solutions as well as box-level solutions for manufacturing services to the CM/OEM/ODM. Marvell also engages in application-level solutions in collaboration with independent software vendors.He concluded that Marvell provides complete silicon components, software and hardware resource including multicore application processors, system software, wireless networking components, and Ethernet physical layer connectivity components for mobile phone, as well as the packet processors needed by switches, the network processors needed for network packet control, and control panels, thereby enhancing the end user experiences.Weining Gan, Chief Solution Architect at Marvell Semiconductor

From the Xiaomi tablet running on NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor to Asus' 5-in-1 Transformer notebook, a new mobile device specification war is raging. The various new technologies, such as 4K Ultra HD, USB 3.1 Type C, 802.11ac, WiGig, and WiHD will bring new technological challenges to product developers. In collaboration with the organizer of Computex Taipei 2014, Digitimes organized the "DTF2014 Mobile Summit" on June 4 at the Taipei International Convention Center. There were guest speakers from Broadcom, Marvell, VIA Lab, Wilocity, Corning, AverLogic, Silicon Image, and DTS, discussing a wide range of topics. They analyzed technology and applications trends, showing R&D engineers how they could incorporate the latest mobile technologies and designs into their product developments.Digitimes Mobile Summit, Computex Taipei 2014

Microsoft Devices Group has unveiled the Nokia X2, the newest addition to the expanding Nokia X family of smartphones.The new Nokia X2 provides access to Android apps and Microsoft services, while allowing users to switch between apps with the Fastlane feature. The Nokia X2 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor featuring a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM. The Nokia X2 debuts the next-generation Nokia X Software Platform 2.0 and major enhancements to the user interface.Microsoft's new services including OneNote and Yammer are also available to download free from the Nokia Store.The Nokia X2 will be available at launch in orange, black and green, with yellow, white and dark grey coming later to the lineup.The Nokia X2 will be available initially as a dual-SIM device and will begin rolling out globally in July 2014 for EUR99 (US$135). Microsoft Nokia X2 smartphone specifications Item Detail Display ClearBlack 4.3-inch WGVA Processor Snapdragon 200 processor featuring a dual core 1.2GHz CPU RAM 1 GB Camera, rear 5MP autofocus with flash Camera, front VGA Battery 1800 mAh Talk time 2G: up to 10 hours 3G: up to 13 hours Standby time Up to 23 days Source: Company, compiled by Digitimes, June 2014Microsoft Nokia X2 smartphonePhoto: Company

GKB is launching seven new 800 TVL cameras: GKB 3818, 3518, 5418,1318, 6018, 4218, 6918 and 2718. These cameras are designed with Sony's latest Effio-V sensor. The Sony Effio-V technology is able to capture the accurate color picture in the extremely bright as well as dark environments. This innovation technology helps cameras easier to identify objects in challenging lighting situations, such as tunnel, parking lots, and entrance of commercial building.Outstanding performance in the challenge light conditions"Being able to identify object in the dark is a huge advantage when securing your property and protecting your people," said Jim Lin, senior R&D manager at GKB. The Effio-V cameras' 3D-DNR is able to reach the minimum of object-blurred while the object is moving at low light condition. In addition, the Effio-V cameras provide the Real WDR function, which display double shutter image and intelligent image processing for improving visibility under extreme high contrast conditions.Diverse situational mode options for easy setting upGKB's Effio-V cameras offer several automation scenes such as indoor, outdoor, extreme backlight, and ITS (intelligent transportation system) options for efficient and easy-to-installation. Besides, the camera supports UTC Controller (Up the Cable), allowing you to easily control the Effio-V cameras' OSD menu from the remote DVR.Full spectrum of housing choiceGKB provides the full line-up of its new Effio-V Analog Series cameras, available in indoor dome, vandal dome and outdoor vandal bullet versions.

Have you ever wanted to make your machines 15% smaller and 10% faster? ABB's new IRB 1200 allows you to do exactly that.With the introduction of the IRB 1200 ABB addresses the needs of the material handling and machine tending industries for flexibility, ease of use, compactness and short cycle times while still maintaining large working envelopes."We are excited to introduce the IRB 1200," says Phil Crowther, Small Robots Product Manager. "Our exhaustive market analysis and development process has resulted in a robot that is incredibly compact, allowing for maximization of useable working range and operation as close to the work piece as possible."The IRB 1200's functional form factor is a feature which is not merely a cosmetic enhancement. Its smooth surfaces make it easy to keep clean and maintain in environments such as CNC machine tending and material handling in the food industry. This theme of efficient design is one which can be found across the entire spectrum of IRB 1200 features.For instance, both electrical and air connections can be made to the robot via side ports or an underline option. In addition an Ethernet port makes it easy to integrate with other equipment. These connections are routed internally on the robot from very close to the wrist flange all the way to the foot thus enhancing the compactness of the package.The IRB 1200 comes in two variants which can handle a wide range of applications and are cost effective due to commonality of parts. The 700 mm reach variant can carry a payload of up to 7 kg, while the longer reach 900 mm variant can carry up to 5 kg. Both variants can be mounted at any angle and come with IP 40 protection as standard. IP 67 protection is also available as an option.By design, the IRB 1200 has no offset in axis two. This innovation results in a longer stroke than other robots, meaning the IRB 1200 can be placed very close to the work piece and still be functional. One particular benefit of this long stroke is that it allows for a much more compact installation when the robot is mounted on the ceiling inside a small cell, such as in electronics machining or polishing applications.As a complete solution, the IRB 1200 excels in situations that require a compact package without sacrificing working range or functionality. Shorter travel distances between operations results in faster cycle times in as small a cell as possible, meaning you can do more with less.All ABB Robotics' products are fully supported by the ABB Robotics' global sales and service organization in 53 countries and over 100 locations.Visit http://www.abb.com/robotics for further information.

In this article, we will discuss how to maximize the value from the use of emulation systems on SoC development projects.What has changed in emulation usage modelsFor many years, the principal emulation system use model was to take simulation-debugged RTL and map it as "early silicon" in reprogrammable hardware, and then operate it with real software while connected to a real physical environment. The goal was to gain confidence that the SoC would actually work as intended before committing to silicon. This verification methodology is referred to as in-circuit emulation, or ICE. In ICE, with the emulator running much slower than the connected physical environment, each system-level interface typically requires a data buffering mechanism to match the emulation system to the environment. In such environments with design specific hardware configurations comprising the verification environment, the emulation system access is essentially restricted to a single project at a time.Maximizing the value of today's emulation systems requires taking different approaches than those of the past- namely: the use of virtual test environments and optimization of verification flow via a better mix of verification methods.Virtual test environments simplify the use model on today's complex SoCs and increase accessibilityThere has been a large shift from ICE to transaction-based accelerated verification in which the emulated DUT interacts at very high speeds with a virtual environment. The key driver for this is the ever increasing number of external interfaces on SoCs - a tablet, wireless phone, or digital TV SoC may have >20 external connections, running the gamut of peripheral and communications protocols.The implementation of a transaction-based verification methodology provides many benefits over an in-circuit emulation methodology. The entire design is contained within its hardware and its associated PC: no target board is required, nor external cabling, level shifters or speed-adapters. Instead, the external environment is modeled as a group of transactor models for each aspect of the SoC interface; e.g. PCIe, USB, keypad, LCD display and camera sensors. The front end of each transactor that communicates at a high-level of abstraction with each peripheral is modeled in C on the PC (Figure 1).Emulation transactors (VIP) typically are comprised of three elements. At the core is a synthesizable protocol specific element, usually a BFM or full IP implementation that is placed in the emulation hardware along with the DUT. Advanced systems like ZeBu have dedicated resources for these elements, to optimize the performance in the system (Figure 2). In the normal two-way data flow, communications between the host and DUT in the emulator are transaction-based, maximizing the system performance. On the downstream side, the protocol block converts the transaction-level signals to pin-level signals, and interfaces to the DUT's protocol specific physical interface.A well architected emulation system can accommodate dozens of such protocol specific transaction-level interfaces.The beauty of transaction-based verification methodology is that all the interfacing from the DUT to the external test environment is software configurable and downloadable. Changing the system from one block to another, or testing multiple blocks in parallel, or even shifting from one SoC design to another, can all be done through software configurations from anywhere on a network. The system, accessed as a networked resource, offers much more flexibility and value than if used for ICE based verification.Use the right methodology at the right timeA factor in obtaining the best out of the emulation system is to use a mix of verification methods appropriate to different stages on a project. During early architectural design, high-level models in virtual prototypes are used to make tradeoffs and optimize different parts of the design. With much of today's SoCs consisting of major blocks being re-used from prior designs or licensed from third parties, there is considerable RTL available very early in the project.In such cases, hybrid emulation - emulation environment can be used where the RTL models can be exercised in the emulator, and the blocks of the design are exercised in the virtual prototype. The full visibility into the RTL within the emulator can prove extremely useful in identifying implementation problems in the RTL blocks while exploring your design alternatives.Once RTL is all available, typically block-level designs are initially tested with simulation. Once the bug discovery frequency drops to a reasonable level, maybe a bug a day, users frequently will move the block-level testing to an emulation system and begin running more exhaustive tests at speeds unattainable with simulation. At this point, firmware may be introduced to verify the initial hardware - software interactions.After running initial regression tests in simulation on the entire SoC, many teams quickly move their full SoC testing to emulation where they can greatly expand the real-time cycles on their designs. Typically at this point, early versions of drivers and other low level software are available and testing can begin moving into realistic system test scenarios.When the RTL design is stable enough, it's time to give emulation system access to the software development teams, whom up to that point may have been using non-cycle accurate transaction-level models for development. It may also be optimal to provide multiple, high performance FPGA-based prototypes, like our HAPS systems, to the software team to accelerate their development.ConclusionGetting the most value and productivity of your emulation system generally requires that you*Leverage virtual test environments to simplify the use model and increase accessibility*Adopt the most appropriate verification methodology at the right time to optimize your entire verification flow.Figure 1: The front end of each transactor that communicates at a high-level of abstraction with each peripheral is modeled in C on the PCFigure 2: The back end that converts high-level commands into bit-level protocols is mapped to hardware within the emulation system's RTB architecture