January 17, 2007

FEATURES William Wong
A Few New Standards, But Lots Of New Products In 2008
Established standards like PCI express, Serial Rapid IO, Ethernet, and InfiniBand are making way for a host of new products based on them. David Maliniak
Among Design Constraints, Power Assumes The Throne
Over the past few years, the "power problem" has registered more strongly on the radars of system design teams. Don Tuite
Apps Drive Innovation, But The Design Environment Is Changing
Each December, I ask analog/mixed-signal companies about their expectations for the coming year, eliciting mostly predictable responses. William Wong
Better Tools, More Options Mean Embedded For The Masses
Embedded development keeps pushing the proverbial envelope. Louis E. Frenzel
Business, Pleasure, Whatever—Get Ready To Network Everything
Network everything. That's the overall trend in electronic communications, and it's going to continue. Mat Dirjish
Connector Makers Woo Pitch, Push Power, Get Down To Basics
In the technology game, the song remains the same. Get smaller, deliver more power, or trim power—and get it all to market as fast and as reliably as possible. Don Tuite
DDS Chips Revamped, More Design Centers Managed Remotely
Dennis Monticelli, National Semiconductor's chief technology officer, is happy to speculate about the coming year. William Wong
Designers Set Their Eyes On The Visual And Virtual Worlds
Visual programming and vision are two separate issues, but they will both be big this year. David Maliniak
Driven By Power Concerns, DFM Goes Mainstream In 2008
Due to the growth in the consumer and wireless markets, low-power design is becoming a pervasive driver in IC design, verification, and implementation. Sam Davis
Electric Vehicles Zero In On Improved Power Management
The desire to protect the environment is driving consumer demands for electric vehicles that use non-polluting propulsion systems. Don Tuite
Expect Big Changes In Digital POLs And Energy Harvesting
The big story of 2007 will have some serious ramifications in 2008 as companies react to Power-One's victorious lawsuit against Artesyn. Daniel Harris
FPGAs Steal More Sockets Thanks To New IP, More LUTs
FPGAs continue to take on more work, to the point where they can truly be called systems-on-a-chip (SoCs). William Wong
Get More For Less In This Year's Microcontrollers
Smaller. Less power. More multicore. Virtualization. That's 2008 in a nutshell. Louis E. Frenzel
High-Frequency Testing Drives Modern Instrument Design
It may be stating the obvious, but the prevailing trend in instrumentation surrounds the expanding array of instruments that addresses the growth of high-speed serial interfaces and the wide range of new wireless standards and products. Roger Allan
IC Packaging Gets Ready For The Big Squeeze
Advances continue in the packaging of ICs and IC subsystems as the demand for smaller, denser, and lower-cost electronics continues. Daniel Harris
Musical Sockets Will Define Digital Semiconductors
At last month's Fabless Semiconductor Association (FSA) Awards, Gordon Campbell, recipient of the Dr. Morris Chang Exemplary Leadership Award, made an interesting observation. Sam Davis
Patent Lawsuit Verdict Clouds Future For PMBus
The verdict is in on the digital power-control patent lawsuit between Power-One and Artesyn Technologies, and it doesn't bode well for the PMBus. Roger Allan
Smaller And Denser Components? Now That's A Challenge
It doesn't matter if they're simple or complex. Nowadays, all components must offer more features in a smaller form factor to satisfy market demands. David Maliniak
The Name Of The Game Is "Productivity"
Looking back, I cannot remember when it wasn't said in the EDA industry that "verification takes up to 70 percent of the design cycle." Louis E. Frenzel
Throughput, Bandwidth, Usability, Cost Drive Instrumentation
While the test and measurement sector of the electronics industry doesn't experience the rapid-fire advances of other technologies, it still does a good job year-to-year. William Wong
Use New Hardware To Get Your Job Done Faster
Embedded developers will continue to have a growing number of choices when it comes to hardware design. Louis E. Frenzel
Video Drives Today's High-Speed Networking Advances
How much TV is enough? Nowadays, it seems like we are spending most of our time watching it. Louis E. Frenzel
Wireless Technology Makes Waves In All Directions
Nothing is hotter now than the cell-phone business, which is driving semiconductor sales. COLUMNS Joe Desposito
Forecasting 2008 With Some Help From Our Friends
Welcome to Electronic Design's annual forecast issue, where our editors look into the crystal balls of their particular beats and tell you what to expect in 2008 and beyond. Bob Pease
What's All This Layout Stuff, Anyhow?
I've always been interested in the layout of things: bikes, cars, pc boards—and ICs. Sometimes it is just the compactness. Electronic Design TOC e-Newsletter Contacts

Editor: Joe Desposito
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Advertising/Sponsorship Opportunities: Bill Baumann
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