Articles – Page 152

November 23, 2016

“Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.” – John von Neumann

Two days of the week are named after celestial bodies (the sun and moon), another four are named after Norse gods (Tyr, Odin, Thor, and Freida), and one after a Roman god (Saturn). What’s up with that?

Four consecutive months on the calendar have numeric names in Latin (septem, octo, novem, and decem) – but they’re wrong. September is the ninth month, not the seventh, December is twelfth, not tenth, … Read More → "Finding Meaning in Randomness"

Xilinx Scales Hyperscale

Announces “Reconfigurable Acceleration Stack”

by Kevin Morris

November 22, 2016

Today, power rules the data center. When we put together huge clusters of machines to handle the world’s biggest computing loads, the final arbiter of the amount of computing we can do, and the size of the data center we can actually build, is power. It is estimated that data centers consume as much as 2% of the electricity in the US, and the situation is only going to get worse. Today, the biggest companies in the data center build-out are going to extremes to get access to more energy, and to make their data centers more … Read More → "Xilinx Scales Hyperscale"

Watching the Side Channel

How Does Synopsys Randomize Power?

by Bryon Moyer

November 21, 2016

Everybody’s trying to break into your… whatever it is you make. No matter what you make or how secure you try to make it, someone will still try to break it. For profit or for bragging rights.

And if the electronics governing the actual communications to and from your device – the main “channel” – are well protected, good job! But that means someone may look elsewhere for a way to break your secrets, using so-called “side-channels.” These typically consist of power or EMI analysis: patterns in both can lead to clues about keys and such, and they … Read More → "Watching the Side Channel"

Managing the Automotive Automation Transition

Will You Know How Someone Else’s Car Works?

by Bryon Moyer

November 17, 2016

Are fully automated cars just around the corner? If you listen to breathless media stories, you’d probably believe so. But that may not be the case – not only could full automation be further away, but there may also be a long transition period before we get there – a time when, critically, there may be all kinds of cars on the roads that have different levels of automation.

Last week’s ICCAD conference featured a keynote by Nissan’s Maarten Sierhuis, addressing some of the realities of self-driving cars. His main point was to counter some of … Read More → "Managing the Automotive Automation Transition"

Can You Get Sued for Bad Code?

Legal Liability is Still User-Defined in the World of Software

by Jim Turley

November 16, 2016

“Every man believes he knows how to do three things: drink liquor, woo a woman, and write.” – anonymous

You’ve just installed a shiny new multimillion-dollar computer system used to dispatch ambulances in a large, metropolitan city. You and your colleagues have spent years developing the software, which allows first-responders to efficiently locate the nearest ambulance in any part of the city. When an emergency call comes in, your computer immediately pinpoints the nearest ambulance, alerts the dispatcher, and sends help on the way. It’s a triumph.

Except that it doesn’t … Read More → "Can You Get Sued for Bad Code?"

Siemens Buys Mentor Graphics

End of an EDA Era

by Kevin Morris

November 15, 2016

Electronic Design Automation (EDA) is one of the strangest and most interesting segments of the technology industry. This week, it gets a little stranger as we hear that Siemens is planning to buy Mentor Graphics for $4.5 billion cash. Over the past few years, Mentor has survived multiple takeover attempts, including a $1.6B unsolicited offer from rival Cadence Design Systems in 2008, and a 2010 attack from activist investor Carl Icahn, a chapter the company finally closed by repurchasing half his stake (amounting to about 7% of the company) at the beginning of this year for $146M.

More New Memories

These Target XiP, IoT – Among Other Things

by Bryon Moyer

November 14, 2016

Seems like we’re never happy with our memories. No matter how hard we work, how clever we get, there’s always something left to be desired.

Which is why, of course, we have complicated system memory architectures mixing different memory types with different characteristics so that we can, as a whole, compensate for the deficiencies. Your typical computing platform contains three radically different types of memory: static, dynamic, and non-volatile (NVM) – and yet it’s still not satisfying.

Today we look at a few more new announcements. One is of a full memory, available … Read More → "More New Memories"

Toward Self-Driving FPGA Tools

Leaving the Experts Behind

by Kevin Morris

November 9, 2016

Most “real” drivers are not enthusiastic about self-driving cars. Sure, it’s likely that self-driving auto technology will save thousands of lives per year, reduce congestion on our roads, improve our utilization of natural resources, and make transportation much simpler than today. But, for those who have invested considerable time and energy in developing their driving skill, it represents a loss of personal value and threatens to take away an activity that they enjoy.

Most real FPGA designers are not enthusiastic about self-driving FPGA tools, either. For decades now, FPGA design tools have … Read More → "Toward Self-Driving FPGA Tools"

Clouds Forming Over IoT

Wirepas, ARM Represent Opposite Ends of Cloud Spectrum

by Jim Turley

November 8, 2016

“I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio.” – Joan Rivers

It just wouldn’t be a technology conference without hours of discussion about “the cloud.” And so it came to pass, in the city of Santa Clara (on a cloudless day, hallelujah), that the word came forth, from exhibitor and visitor alike, that the cloud was nigh. And it was good.

There were clouds in the booths, clouds in the PowerPoint, and clouds on logos, on name tags, and in product … Read More → "Clouds Forming Over IoT"

FD-SOI: No Longer a Cul de Sac

GlobalFoundries Rolls Out a Roadmap

by Bryon Moyer

November 7, 2016

The old kid in town repeats, “Not so fast…”

When FinFETs came onto the scene, planar transistors were declared a thing of the past. Everyone fawned over the cool, creative new way to do transistors, riding a wave of public fascination with anything 3D. FD-SOI (fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator), a planar technology that addressed some of the older planar technology issues, struggled to remain relevant. You could practically hear them, all alone behind the crowd at a FinFET rally, exclaiming … Read More → "FD-SOI: No Longer a Cul de Sac"