Nanotech - The Circuits Blog

Intel has launched a Web site to help game and visual content developers create software for its graphics silicon and processors. Intel's next-generation Larrabee graphics chip is also slated to become part of the focus.

"Supporting the new Intel 4 Series chipset family introduced at Computex, Intel has launched the Intel Visual Computing Developer Community, a technical resource to enable developers...to create innovative graphics and video applications," Intel said in a statement.

The Intel 4 Series includes the G45 Express chipset and GMA X4500HD graphics media accelerator, which has built-in support for Blu-ray 1080p high-definition video playback. The chipset also supports Microsoft DirectX 10 and game-centric graphics technologies such as Shader Model 4.0.

Intel says these improvements deliver "everyday gameplay for the most popular game titles."

Intel Visual Developer Community Web site

(Credit: Intel)

Intel is clearly ratcheting up its presence in the gaming and visual computing segments. In a video posted on the site, Roger Chandler, director of marketing for the Visual Computing Software Division, said that though Intel works with developers in the digital content creation space, "We're really focused on the game industry...The big focus we have right now is the game space."

Chandler's team is focused on processors, integrated graphics products, and mobile platforms.

"We're entering this era where folks have been so focused on making games look real, (but) they're now realizing that we need to make them act real," he said. Chandler cited artificial intelligence and game physics as two pillars of this "act real" strategy.

The video also indicated that the upcoming Larrabee graphics platform looms large. "This effort is supporting a platform we don't talk about all that much--Larrabee," said Paul Steinberg of Intel, who participated in the video. Intel has described Larrabee as a "many core" Intel Architecture graphics chip that is expected to debut in the second half of 2009.

The site also contains white papers on high definition audio and video, discussion forums, blogs, and wikis, Intel said.

Is MRAM better than flash memory? That's a question a new venture business will try to answer.

Freescale MRAM chip

(Credit: Freescale Semiconductor)

Former Motorola chip unit Freescale Semiconductor announced Monday that it has joined with several venture capital firms to form an independent company focused on MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory).

The new company, EverSpin Technologies, will "expand its current portfolio of standalone MRAM and related magnetic-based products," the companies said in a statement.

MRAM uses magnetic materials combined with conventional silicon circuitry to deliver a high-performance permanent storage device.

But MRAM must compete with quickly evolving technologies like flash memory-based solid state drives. Flash memory is gaining ground because companies like Samsung, Toshiba, and Intel keep developing faster and higher-capacity devices.

(For more information on MRAM see MRAM-info. For an in-depth explanation of technologies used in MRAM see this explanation of electron spin and so-called spintronics.)

Freescale will transfer the MRAM technology, related intellectual property, and products to EverSpin Technologies and will retain an equity position in the new venture, the companies said. EverSpin is backed by venture firms New Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, Lux Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Epic Ventures.

"The decision to form a new company is intended to accelerate the adoption of MRAM," Lisa Su, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Freescale Semiconductor, said in a statement.

"Current Freescale MRAM products have strong traction in the market," Steve Socolof, managing partner of New Venture Partners, said in a statement.

As part of the agreement, EverSpin Technologies will take ownership of the MRAM manufacturing assets and will be based in Chandler, Ariz.

EverSpin will continue to supply products to Freescale's existing standalone MRAM customers. In addition, EverSpin will be a supplier to Freescale of MRAM technology for use in Freescale's embedded products.

UPDATE: AMD and Nvidia aim to wrest control of a crucial PC specification from Intel, arguing that the chip giant is trying to box them out as they move to a new era of faster peripherals.

Intel showed off a prototype USB 3.0 connector and an add-in card last year.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET News.com)

In play is the USB 3.0 specification, a next-generation high-speed connection standard due in 2009. It is significant not only because all future PCs and devices will use connectors based on the standard but because it will offer 10 times the speed of USB 2.0--used in virtually all PCs introduced in the last few years--or roughly 5 gigabits per second.

Intel formed the USB Implementers Forum in 1995 with other industry players, including Microsoft, "to support and accelerate adoption of USB-compliant peripherals," according to an overview of the specification on the chipmaker's Web site.

"The challenge is that Intel is not...giving the specification to anybody that competes with CPUs and chipsets," said a source close to AMD who is familiar with the dispute.

As a result, AMD, Nvidia, Via Technologies and others (not yet specified) could be driven to create their own USB 3.0 specification. "We are going to be forced to create a secondary specification" that would be introduced along with the Intel spec, the source close to AMD said. "To create a new open host controller standard for USB 3.0."

"We are starting development on it right now," the AMD source added. The first meeting of members of the alternate "open" specification is slated to take place next week, a source close to Nvidia said. "We fully intend to productize this spec."

Nvidia and AMD are offering no official comment.

Intel, meanwhile, says it's moving with all due speed.

"Just as with previous generations of USB, Intel is working hard to get the complete spec to the industry with as little delay as possible in order to drive the wide adoption of USB 3.0," the company said in a statement.

The USB 3.0 specification is hammered out in the USB 3.0 Promoters Group, in which Intel is a working fellow. Other members include Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, NEC, and NXP Semiconductors.

A source close to Intel said AMD and Nvidia are being disingenuous about what they're actually seeking. In short, AMD and Nvidia are seeking technology--referred to as the "host controller" specification--that Intel says is beyond the USB 3.0 specification. "Think of it as a guide to building hardware for USB 3.0. This is the part that Intel invests dollars and engineering man hours in and then licenses to the industry (so far, for zero dollars). We will give this out as soon as it is finished (or close to finished)," the Intel source said.

The AMD source described USB 3.0 as "essentially PCI Express over a cable. And that intellectual property came from the PCI SIG"--the point being that Intel does not have a large intellectual property stake to defend. PCI Express is a data transfer specification for add-in card slots in desktop PCs today. The PCI SIG (Special Interest Group) promotes the Peripheral Component Interconnect specification, a standard used in all PCs today.

The problem, as AMD and Nvidia see it, is that Intel would virtually own the USB 3.0 market--a powerful competitive advantage--for many months if they waited for Intel to release the host controller specification. "Tack on six to nine months. Then we get USB 3.0," the AMD source said.

Intel countered that AMD and Nvidia are not willing to do the hard work that is necessary. "They could spend the time, engineers and money developing their own host controller spec," the Intel source said. "In the past they have chosen to let us do the work and then benefit from the fruit of our labor."

"Intel only gives it out once it's finished. And it's not finished." said the source. "If it was mature enough to release, it would be released." (AMD and Nvidia claim that Intel has working silicon and thus the part of the specification they are seeking is mature enough for release.)

"If you have an incomplete spec and give it out to people, these people will build their chipsets and you'll end up with chipsets that are incompatible with devices. That's what (Intel) is trying to avoid," the Intel source said.

One possible reason for the frustration, the source said, is that Intel is "a little bit behind and that's what might be causing some of the resentment. You could take the opinion that Intel is giving stuff out for free and people are complaining because (Intel) isn't giving it out fast enough," this person said.

"We're not doing anything differently now than we did with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1," he added.

AMD rejects this argument because people at the company were around when the earlier 1.0 USB specification came out and claim that Intel stonewalled back then too. Intel denies the assertion.

A separate specification--though designed to be compatible with the Intel USB 3.0 spec--has the potential to create incompatibilities, the source close to AMD said. "This is not good for users. But we have no choice."

UPDATE: With headlines this week like "AMD jumps into the netbook game," it sounded very much like Advanced Micro Devices was making a belated entry into the netbook segment. But this isn't the case, according to AMD.

AMD chips are already used in a number of existing netbook-like designs like the 10-inch Red Fox Wizbook (above) and OLPC XO laptop.

(Credit: Red Fox)

An AMD spokesperson said that this photo of a purported AMD netbook is, in fact, just a small notebook from Raon Digital--not an AMD reference design.

"It is a Raon Digital product and will start production at the end of July," AMD spokesperson Phil Hughes said in response to an email query. "They have two models. One is TL-56 (Turion processor)-based and the other is Sempron 3700-based."

And Hughes said there are already a raft of netbook-like products in the market using AMD chips including the progenitor of this category of small, low-cost laptops, the One Laptop Per Child XO (OLPC) laptop (which uses the AMD Geode LX-700).

Other products include Red Fox Wizbook (which uses the LX-800), and Kohjinsha E8 (which also uses the LX-800).

So it isn't a question of AMD entering this market or not. It's already there. "Our journey with OLPC started three years ago," said AMD vice president Pat Moorhead. "We are in this market. But what we are (also) saying is that because we've learned a lot in this market, we see a much better opportunity in that 8 to 12 inch notebook space. As opposed to passing something off as a PC that is very un-PC like," Moorhead said.

Moorhead has listed pluses and minuses (mostly minuses) about the Asus Eee PC 8G netbook in his blog. He believes it is critical that netbook suppliers be clear about what the netbook lacks.

"Be very clear what (a netbook) can't do. With SSD flash versions it's not going to be able to sufficiently hold your audio collection. It prompted me to load (Windows) XP SP3 (service pack 3) and I only have a 167 megabytes remaining," he grumbled.

(Pat Moorhead's blog here.)

And AMD sees similar compromises that may disappoint users in the mobile Internet device (MID) category, too. But it's not that AMD is not a player. The company has shipped over 250 million Imageon processors to mobile handset suppliers that offer a wide range of devices including MID-like smartphones, according to Moorhead. "We licensed our intellectual property to Qualcomm, Nokia, STMicro, and Freescale. So we know that market pretty well," Moorhead said.

Intel, on the other hand, is pushing its Atom processor hard and finding a lot of interest in netbooks from companies like Acer, Dell, MSI, and a host of smaller companies.

Intel expects the market for low-cost computers to increase to 100 million units per year by 2011, according to Bloomberg, compared to the total worldwide notebook market that will hit 194 million units a year over the same period.

2008 is the year of the solid state drive. That's what Sun Microsystems believes as reliability finally measures up to the rigorous requirements of server storage and the cost per gigabyte plunges.

On Wednesday, Sun announced that it is preparing to introduce solid-state drive (SSD) technology that "will completely change how server and storage infrastructure is designed and deployed in enterprise data centers." Sun said it is already shipping Solaris ZFS software "optimized" for SSDs.

Though Sun is not specifying suppliers, Intel confirms that it has collaborated with Sun on SSD development for servers. Intel is slated to bring out high-capacity SSDs in the second half of the year.

Sun follows storage vendor EMC, which announced integration of solid-state drives into its product portfolio in January.

Solid-state drives give "customers 3x better performance at one-fifth the energy consumption of traditional spinning (hard disk drive) disk offerings," according to a prepared statement by Sun.

Sun StorageTek server array

(Credit: Sun Microsystems)

Solid-state drive suppliers Intel and Samsung have both discussed the huge potential for servers. Samsung said previously that companies like Citibank and American Express peg server performance on IOPS, or input/output operations per second. Hard disk drives typically achieve 120 to 150 IOPS, while SSDs are in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 30,000 IOPS, according to Samsung.

Intel also sees SSDs playing a role in the server market as a "performance accelerator." The chipmaker cited a streaming video example where 10 SSDs could essentially handle the same workload as 62 high-performance hard disk drives.

In addition to performance benefits, SSDs "save on energy costs compared to traditional Fibre Channel hard drives (and) decrease server and storage sprawl in already maxed-out data centers," Sun said. "SSDs consume around one-fifth of the power of both memory...and disk drives, have no rotating media and consume very little power when not in use."

Sun sees SSDs as a watershed technology. "Flash SSD is the most exciting innovation to happen to system and storage design in over a decade. By mid-2009, it will be in the majority of servers and deliver more capacity than DRAM and far greater overall system performance and energy efficiency," said John Fowler, executive vice president of the Sun Systems Group.

Intel is targeting SSDs for consumer and server storage

(Credit: Intel)

Plunging cost is another factor. "Enterprise-class Fibre Channel hard disk drives have only exhibited a 40 percent year-over-year price decline in the last decade, while the Flash SSD price per gigabyte continues to fall between 50 to 70 percent annually," Sun said.

The Mountain View, Calif., company is expected to deliver Flash-based products to market in the second half of 2008. Sun did not cite price or capacities. Today, typical large-capacity enterprise SSD capacities start at 32GB but can range up to 512GB.

The proliferation at Computex of ultra-small, inexpensive netbooks poses this pesky question: why are traditional ultra-compact laptops so expensive?

The Asus Eee PC 1000 debuted this week with a 10-inch screen, 40GB solid state drive, and Windows XP. Pricing has been rumored at between $600 and $700.

Features and size threaten to push the Eee PC 1000 netbook into a category traditionally referred to as subnotebooks--with one glaring difference: price.

Subnotebooks like the 11-inch Lenovo IdeaPad or Sony Vaio TZ series typically start at above $1,500 and go up from there, ranging up to $3,000.

HP mini-note and traditional ultra-portable notebooks: both ultra-compact designs, but big price gap

(Credit: HP)

But as netbooks inevitably add more features, analysts and industry insiders are beginning to wonder what will happen to the traditional laptop category. "(If) you add more (gigabytes) of storage and a bigger screen, I don't know what makes this any different than a normal laptop," said Avi Cohen, a managing partner at Avian Securities.

Cohen said the obvious downside is a slower Atom processor--compared with a mainstream Core 2 chip--but on the upside Atom has better battery life. "Arguably there's a category of consumers that don't need such high processing power. Or, at least, a different kind of processing power," Cohen said.

Maybe many more than computer makers realize. Industry sources familiar with Intel's netbook strategy also see a potential clash of categories eventually. "Of course, it's always been a concern, as (netbooks) gets more and more traction," said one source familiar with Intel's thinking on this topic.

And as netbooks add more features and creep up in price, Intel has to worry about the market confusion that may ensue. "Is a $700 laptop, even running Atom, a netbook?"--the source asked. That may be the question that laptop vendors and Intel will have to grapple with as the netbook category grows.

(An Intel company blog back in March described the netbook as a small laptop "designed for wireless communication and access to the Internet. And they cost about $250, making Netbooks a potentially disruptive and high volume market segment.")

Of course, subnotebooks like the HP 2510p, Lenovo IdeaPad, and Sony Vaio TZ offer more features than today's netbooks: faster processors, more memory, bigger hard disk drives, and usually larger screens than a netbook like the HP Mini-Note.

But two forces may be working against this purported advantage: One, all of these features may be overkill for a lot of consumers who use traditional, pricey subnotebooks for only email and simple Web browsing. And, two, netbook makers may continue to expand their offerings to push them closer to subnotebooks while keeping the price low.

This is something that Glenn Henry, CEO of Centaur, the Via Technologies subsidiary that designed the Isaiah processor, has said. "The one gigahertz (Isaiah) is plenty powerful enough to do lots of things," Henry said. Via is also targeting the low-cost netbook category--and has been for some time. Its C7 processor is currently used in the HP Mini-Note 2133.

"If this category continues like it is, at the end of the year you may have mega hard drive-based netbooks," said the source familiar with Intel's strategy. "Let's say someone comes out with a really nifty (design), it's got some extra features, a bigger screen, and a few extra bells and whistles. I don't think that's a netbook even if it's running an Atom processor."

What is it then? That's the $64,000 question.

Appropriately, a tiny Intel system board has debuted to match the tiny Atom processor. This could yield more portable desktop PC designs like the Eee Box.

The ultra-compact VoomPC rugged car PC enclosure can take a Mini-ITX board with Atom processor.

(Credit: Voom)

The Intel-made motherboard is based on the Mini-ITX standard, which was originally developed by Via Technologies.

Diminutive desktops based on these motherboards can get as small as a typical notebook PC--a design small enough and light enough to be portable.

Intel is calling this category of desktops that sport an Atom 230 or N270 processor Nettops.

Nettops are designed for basic computing tasks like browsing the Web and sending e-mail and are generally cheap, usually less than $300. They typically offer more expansion options, more ports, and greater flexibility than Atom-based Netbooks, which are essentially small notebook PCs.

(Watch an Intel Nettop motherboard video here.)

Intel Nettops contain tiny desktop motherboards.

(Credit: Intel)

Mini-ITX designs are synonymous with low power and low cost. Intel is adopting the design because of its relative popularity in low-cost markets.

The Intel D945GCLF board includes the 1.6GHz Atom 230 processor, an Intel 945GC Express chipset with GMA 950 graphics, and Serial ATA (SATA) and USB 2.0 connectors for about $80.

Instead of building a box, there are, of course, pre-built systems coming like the Eee Box. It packs an Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz), 1GB of memory, an 80GB hard disk drive, and Windows XP for $299.

If there was any doubt about the state of solid-state drives, Computex seems to be putting it to rest.

SanDisk, TDK, and Intel, among others, are announcing new solid-state drives while Asus is launching the Eee PC 1000 with a larger-capacity drive.

SanDisk pSSD solid-state drive

(Credit: SanDisk)

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are used increasingly instead of hard disk drives in small computers like the Asus Eee PC and devices like the Apple iPhone because SSDs use less power and are generally more rugged--due to the fact that they have no moving parts.

The Asus Eee PC 1000, for example, will be offered with SSDs up to 40GB in capacity, beating the 20GB SSD offered in the Eee PC 901.

With this market segment in mind, SanDisk introduced a line of solid-state drives that are designed for "netbooks"--a category of compact, low-cost notebook PCs best exemplified by the Eee PC.

The SanDisk "pSSD" (Parallel ATA solid state drive) is available in 4-, 8-, and 16-GB capacities. The device can achieve a "streaming read" speed of 39 megabytes per second and a streaming write (record) of 17MBps, according to SanDisk. These speeds compare favorably with the low-performance 1.8-inch hard disk drives used in small notebooks.

The pSSD solid-state drives are expected to be available starting in August when pricing will be announced.

TDK also launched new solid-state drives. The "HS1" series is a line of 1.8-inch solid-state drives with the Micro Serial-ATA (SATA) interface. The Micro SATA specification provides for a smaller connector for the high-speed SATA interface used widely in PCs today.

The HS1 series offers capacities of 16, 32, and 64 gigabytes, respectively. The product uses SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory. SLC-based solid-state drives are used widely, today but many SSD manufacturers are planning to move to more advanced multilevel cell (MLC) technology later this year.

Burst performance is 100MBps for reading data and 50MBps for writing data. These speeds compare favorably with 2.5-inch hard disk drives.

TDK's SSDs are now available for volume shipment at sample prices of about $1,900 for a 64GB model and about $1,400 for the 32GB model.

On Tuesday, Intel will introduce the Z-P230 Parallel ATA (PATA) series of solid-state drives. The Z-P230 "is a cost-effective storage solution designed to replace traditional hard disk drives in netbook and nettop systems, yet is four times smaller and lighter than a standard 1.8-inch hard disk drive," Intel said. The drives come in 4GB and 8GB capacities.

The Intel SSDs are being launched along with low-power Atom processors that include the N270 for netbooks and the 230 for low-cost desktops--what Intel calls nettops. The chips run at up to 1.6 GHz with an average power consumption of 2.5 watts.

Intel will also announce high-capacity solid-state drives in the second half of this year that have capacities of 80GB and 160GB.

WiMax is in the cards for the Eee PC. Asus will demonstrate notebooks Monday that integrate WiMax chips from San Jose, Calif.-based GCT Semiconductor.

Asus Eee PC

(Credit: Asus)

Despite recent statements that the Eee PC 901 will not get WiMax, GCT Semiconductor announced--along with Asus--Sunday that Asus has integrated GCT's GDM7205 WiMAX single-chip silicon into the F8 notebook series and Eee PC.

GCT says the F8 series and Eee PC will be demonstrated with WiMax at the WiMax Expo Taipei that begins on June 2nd.

The widely-reported specifications for the Eee PC 901 are a 1.6GHz Atom processor, an 8.9-inch screen, solid state drive (12GB or 20GB), 1GB of memory, and either Linux or Windows XP. A future version of the Eee PC is expected to get WiMax.

Intel will also be demonstrating WiMax in the Asus M51VA notebook at Computex. Versions of the Eee PC may also come with the Intel WiMax chipset.

But Asus is clearly working with GCT also. "We are pleased to be working with a proven industry leader like GCT, who has enabled Asus to provide our customers with systems containing reliable high performance WiMax capability," said Jellent Sun, Asus' senior director of notebook product marketing, in a statement.

GCT said that its single-chip WiMax solution enables "lower power consumption for longer battery life, smaller form-factor design and lower bill of materials cost."

GCT is also supplying WiMax chips for notebooks based on Via Technologies silicon.