IP07 was the tenth meeting in Grenoble of IP providers and users under the umbrella of Design and Reuse (www.designandreuse.com), the IP portal. Europe editor Dick Selwood compares facts and marketing-speak.

It sounds like the start of a joke. “There were three processor manufacturers at a conference….” And when the three processor manufacturers were asked, “What is needed to service the power- conscious emerging mobile video marketplace?” they came up with three similar answers. The man from MIPS said that it … Read More → "IP – European Style"

Webster’s Dictionary defines “Platformification” as – OK, you got us.  It’s not in Webster’s.  Even Microsoft Word gives us the squiggly red line telling us we’re treading on dangerous ground.  Wikipedia – no better.  We got diverted to some articles about Mario Brothers and other games where characters jump around from platform to platform – not unlike embedded systems designers choosing and then abandoning various combinations of processors, operating system, and peripherals powering their creations.

Intel tried to stick us with the word & … Read More → "Platformification"

Not too long ago, secure software was the sole domain of the military and a few select governmental and financial agencies. Safe software was the sole domain of industries such as aerospace, medicine, and transportation. Software was either safe or secure, but in most cases, there was never a need to have both safe and securesoftware. But the times they are a changing. As digital devices become more ubiquitous and the convergence of multiple applications on a single device continues, safe and secure software now has a place in automotive, aerospace, and in industrial applications to name … Read More → "The Need for Safe and Secure Software… It’s About Time!"

If you’re designing portable or battery-powered devices for medium- to high-volume production, you’ve already run into the problem.  You need to control a hard disk, re-format the output of a video driver for a special LCD display, connect to some emerging and possibly obtuse I/O standard – or maybe do all three.  There is no standard part that cuts the mustard.  You may take an off-the-shelf ASSP and try to fix it with a programmable device like a CPLD, but the CPLD may not have enough capability, and you’re still … Read More → "What’s a CSSP"