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3DLabs Aims Massively Parallel Chips at Portable Multimedia By BDTI, 4/23/2008 When people talk about massively parallel, multicore chips, they’re usually talking about chips for high-performance line-powered applications, like WiMAX base stations or desktop video processing.  But 3DLabs is headed in a different direction.  The fabless chip company offers a massively parallel media processor, the DMS-02, which the company says is a perfect fit for portable multimedia devices with demanding video and audio processing requirements—such as high-end cellular handsets and portable media players. According to 3DLabs, the chip is in full production and costs $40 in small (1K) quantities.  The company is currently shipping chips to initial customers, including a video surveillance equipment vendor, Grandeye. (More)

IBM’s Cell for Embedded? By BDTI, 4/23/2008 IBM’s multicore Cell processor has garnered a lot of media attention over the last couple of years, as the multicore approach itself has become something of a juggernaut. BDTI recently investigated the current state of Cell products, and whether the architecture is likely to get significant traction in embedded applications. (More)

Case Study: Where Does Your Processing Engine Fit In? By BDTI, 4/23/2008 Developing a new signal processing engine is expensive and risky, particularly for a small start-up or for an established company moving into an unfamiliar market.  There are good reasons to take that risk: signal processing has become ubiquitous in a wide range of application areas, and offers the potential for high revenues. The flip side is that the market is already densely populated with all kinds of signal processing engines: single-core chips, multi-core chips, massively parallel processors, DSP-enhanced FPGAs, SoCs, etc.  Depending on the specific target market, a new processor may find itself going head-to-head with some or all of these classes of competitor. (More)

Jeff Bier's Impulse Response—Corporate Bureaucracy Blocks Innovation By Jeff Bier, 4/23/2008 As the president of a small company that frequently works with big companies, I am often frustrated by how long it takes to get from a handshake agreement to a signed contract. The process can be absurdly slow and painful, and that’s bad for business on both sides. (More)