VaST Models Support Electronics Virtualization for Consumer Electronics OEMs

Models of Tensilica processors are now available from VaST Systems for the VaST CoMET System Engineering Environment.

Xtensa and Diamond Standard processor designers will be able to easily import the cycle accurate instruction set simulator provided by Tensilica into the VaST platform for early architectural exploration and software development and debugging. Chip designers can test their Tensilica processor-based designs early in the design cycle with real software using VaST virtual system prototypes, significantly shortening the overall design cycle compared to traditional design methods and allowing designers to test design trade-offs while changes can still be cost-effectively made.

For more information, see http://www.tensilica.com/news_events/pr_2008_03_25.htm

Xtensa Processors Enable Next-Generation Mobile HD Radio Technology

Tensilica's Xtensa configurable processor has been designed into the baseband processor in Samsung EM’s HD Radio chipset. The baseband processor, based on a design by iBiquity Digital Corporation, the developer and licensor of HD Radio technology and a Tensilica processor reseller, integrates the memory, SDRAM and flash in a system-in-package measuring just 9 x 9 mm. Including the companion RF (radio frequency) chip, this low-power chip set’s total power consumption is 150 mW, making it ideal for a wide range of battery powered portable devices capable of tuning and demodulating AM/FM radio broadcast in both analog and HD Radio digital technology.

For more information, see http://www.tensilica.com/news_events/pr_2008_03_11.htm

Cisco Announces 40-core Quantumflow Router

From EETimes:
Cisco Systems debuts Tuesday (March 4) a router that packs on a custom 40-core processor a wide variety of networking services. The Ethernet giant aims to leverage its expertise designing complex ASICs to leapfrog competition in the $5 billion market for edge routers.
The Quantum Flow Processor takes to a new level Cisco's work on ASICs for its networking systems, surpassing in some ways technology in mainstream server CPUs from Intel Corp. and Sun Microsystems.

Key to the system is the 1.3 billion transistor flow processor, an 80W chip made in a 90nm process at Texas Instruments and designed using Cisco's customer-owned tooling. Each of its 40 Tensilica cores can handle up to four threads, far beyond the raw thread-level parallelism of Sun's 65nm Niagara or Intel's 45nm Penryn server CPUs.

See the entire article at http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=T0ZYZJXI22R0MQSNDLSCKHA?articleID=206901479

Tensilica and NuFront Show T-MMB Mobile TV Solution at China’s IIC 2008 Shows

Tensilica and NuFront will jointly exhibit at the IIC-China 2008 exhibitions March 3-4, 2008, in Shenzhen (booth:2K41) and March 10-11, 2008, in Shanghai (booth:4S41). Using Tensilica’s configurable processor technology, NuFront developed, and has gone into mass production with, a T-MMB (terrestrial-mobile multimedia broadcasting) mobile baseband DSP (digital signal processor). By watching mobile TV on a T-MMB phone, visitors will be able to experience NuFront’s technology in action.

The T-MMB mobile TV standard is in the running to be adopted throughout China, and there are plans to have this in place in time for the Beijing Olympics.

NuFront’s T-MMB mobile TV baseband chip employs Tensilica’s Xtensa® configurable processor. "Tensilica’s Xtensa processor was very attractive for our next design because standard processor cores couldn’t give us the performance we needed,” stated Hamilton Yong, COO, NuFront Software. “The only way to get the performance was to optimize the processor, and Tensilica is the only company with the automated tools to make that customization much easier and ensure our success.”

WiLinx Licenses Tensilica’s Xtensa LX2 Processor Core For Low-Power UWB Chips

WiLinx licensed the Xtensa LX2 configurable processor for its low-power True-UWB single chip CMOS (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor) solutions. WiLinx True-UWB product offers 7 GHZ (from 3 to 10 GHz) of air spectrum as the key enabler for worldwide adoption of UWB into the cellular phone handsets, PCs, PC peripherals and CE (consumer electronics) devices.

“Following an in-depth technical analysis, we selected Tensilica’s Xtensa LX2 configurable processor core for our single chip low power True-UWB product families. The 7-GHz coverage of our solution unleashes the full capacities of the WiMedia based UWB solution to our customers. In particular it includes ‘above 6 GHz WiMedia bands,’ mandatory for Bluetooth-3.0 enabled devices,” stated Masoud Djafari, CEO and co-founder of WiLinx. “Tensilica’s easily configurable processor technology plays a key role in delivering the feature rich WiMedia protocol at low power and cost. It also makes the product more flexible for future upgrades.”

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