Agilent Technologies And IBM Collaborate On Silicon Germanium Software Design Kit.PALO ALTO Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 1999-- Agilent Technologies This article needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. , a new company formed from the realignment re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. of Hewlett-Packard Company, and IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) today announced a cooperative effort to speed the development of integrated circuits Integrated circuits Miniature electronic circuits produced within and upon a single semiconductor crystal, usually silicon. Integrated circuits range in complexity from simple logic circuits and amplifiers, about 1/20 in. (1. (ICs) used in communications products such as mobile phones. The two companies have collaborated on a design kit to enable HP's Advanced Design System (ADS)(1) software, which is widely used in radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal circuit development, to work with IBM's silicon germanium (SiGe) A semiconductor material made from silicon and germanium. Germanium is very similar to silicon, but when one layer is grown on top of the other to form the base of the transistor, the resulting transistor can switch faster and yield higher performance. (SiGe) technology -- a process optimized for developing chips that can offer the high performance and the low power consumption required by communications gear. "Today's IC designers are under intense pressure to bring their products to market, demanding accurate prediction of the performance of their designs to eliminate the need for prototypes," said Jake Egbert, general manager of Agilent's EEsof electronic design automation (EDA (1) (Electronic Design Automation) Using the computer to design, lay out, verify and simulate the performance of electronic circuits on a chip or printed circuit board. ) product group. "They need accurate, fast simulators and good RF models for the semiconductor foundry processes they have selected. Our work with IBM provides our customers with access to this combination of leading-edge simulation and IC process technology that will help them achieve their performance and time-to-market objectives." By providing accurate, state-of-the-art design models for chips based on IBM's SiGe technology, the kit is expected to enable designers to produce high-performance communications chips via a shorter development cycle. "Our customers demand a complete menu of design and manufacturing resources in order to take full advantage of IBM's advanced process technologies, such as SiGe," said Michael Concannon, vice president of wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. at IBM Microelectronics. "By offering a specialized design kit that works with HP's ADS software, we can enable customers to quickly develop and differentiate semiconductor products for communications applications." IBM's SiGe is a process technology in which the standard silicon-integrated circuit base is augmented with germanium germanium (jərmā`nēəm) [from Germany], semimetallic chemical element; symbol Ge; at. no. 32; at. wt. 72.59; m.p. 937.4°C;; b.p. 2,830°C;; sp. gr. 5.323 at 25°C;; valence +2 or +4. to make the chips operate much faster with decreased power consumption. SiGe chips can be designed for use in a range of wired and wireless products, boosting the performance while reducing the size and power usage of these products. In addition, SiGe provides increased integration capabilities, enabling designers to build chips with more functions. Since its introduction in October 1998, IBM's SiGe technology has been adopted by a wide range of companies for a variety of applications, including RF components in cellular handsets and transmitter and receiver chipsets used in high-speed fibre-optic phone lines. Availability The SiGe design kit is immediately available from IBM. Customers can obtain more information by contacting their regional IBM sales office or at http://www.chips.ibm.com/support/howtobuy.html. About HP Advanced Design System HP's Advanced Design System, which is developed and marketed by Agilent's EEsof EDA product group, is a complete set of design technologies that provides an integrated, end-to-end communication signal-path-design solution to developers of such products as cellular and portable phones, pagers, wireless networks, and radar and satellite communications systems In telecommunication, a communications system is a collection of individual communications networks, transmission systems, relay stations, tributary stations, and data terminal equipment (DTE) usually capable of interconnection and interoperation to form an integrated whole. . The Advanced Design System includes leading-edge RF, analog, DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive , photonic Dealing with light (photons). See photon and photonics. and electromagnetic tools integrated with accurate models. Information about other products from Agilent's EEsof EDA product group can be found on the World Wide Web via http://hp.com/go/hpeesof. About IBM Microelectronics IBM Microelectronics, a unit of the IBM Technology Group, is a key contributor to IBM's role as the world's premier information technology supplier. IBM Microelectronics develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art semiconductor and interconnect technologies, products and services. Its superior integrated solutions can be found in many of the world's best-known electronic brands. More information about IBM Microelectronics can be found at http://www.chips.ibm.com. About Agilent Technologies Agilent Technologies is a diversified technology company, resulting from HP's plan to strategically realign re·a·lign tr.v. re·a·ligned, re·a·lign·ing, re·a·ligns 1. To put back into proper order or alignment. 2. To make new groupings of or working arrangements between. itself into two fully independent companies. With 43,000 employees serving customers in more than 100 countries, Agilent Technologies is a global leader in designing and manufacturing test, measurement and monitoring instruments, systems and solutions, and semiconductor and optical components. The company serves markets that include communications, electronics, life sciences, healthcare and semiconductor products. The businesses comprising Agilent Technologies had net revenues of nearly $8 billion in fiscal year 1998. Information about Agilent Technologies can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.agilent-tech.com. (1) This product will be available from Agilent Technologies beginning Nov. 1, 1999. IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. |
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