Waferscale Announces Internet E-commerce Capability; Ensures Rapid Delivery Of Design Tools.FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 28, 1999-- Waferscale Integration, Inc. (WSI See wafer scale integration. ) today announced that customers may now purchase a variety of development tools directly from the company's web site, Initially, the company will offer design kits, development and programming software, programmers and development systems for its PSD (tool) PSD - Portable Scheme Debugger. families of MCU (1) (MicroController Unit) A computer on a single chip. See microcontroller. (2) (Multipoint Control Unit) A device that is used to moderate a videoconference of three or more end points (users at computers or groups of users support ICs. Online orders will be shipped within 48 hours of receipt. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. David Raun, Waferscale's vice president of marketing, "Establishing an e-commerce capability was absolutely essential to providing rapid response to our customers. Designers want solutions fast. If they want to try a new part or tool in their design, they don't want to wait several weeks to try it. They want to try it right-a-way. "Using conventional order fulfillment Order fulfillment (in BE also: order fulfilment) is in the most general sense the complete process from point of sales inquiry to delivery of a product to the customer. Sometimes Order fulfillment techniques, it often takes four to six weeks for designers to get development systems and sample parts. Just as important, it often requires numerous phone calls and credit reports before an order can be placed for even a low cost $99 development kit. Design cycles are much too short for designers to have to wait this long to try a new approach. By the time the tools get to the designer, chances are he has forgotten he ordered it. He may have already finished the design," Raun explained. "Frankly, when designers discover how well Waferscale's EasyFLASH PSDs solve all the problems associated with adding in-system programmable Refers to programmable logic chips (PLDs) that are programmed after they are attached to the circuit board. Also called "in-circuit programmable," devices that use static RAM (SRAM) are in-system programmable by nature because they are loaded at startup. See PLD. flash memory or programmable logic See PLD. to 8-bit CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) Pronounced "sisk." The traditional architecture of a computer which uses microcode to execute very comprehensive instructions. MCU designs, they want to evaluate the parts and begin their designs immediately. They are under a lot of pressure to get designs done quickly and they don't want to wait weeks to evaluate a part. "Our e-commerce site allows us to ship prototyping kits and sample parts within 48 hours - pretty much guaranteeing that they get the tools and parts they want within a week of ordering them, so they can get down to the business of doing their designs. Ordering from our e-commerce site is extremely easy to do, requiring only a couple of seconds to place the order," Raun said. "If you've ever ordered from Amazon.com, you can order from Waferscale's e-commerce site." Waferscale's 100% in-system programmable (ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. ) Flash PSD8XXF devices eliminate the difficulty of adding in-system programmability to 8051 or 68HC11 systems. Since these microcontrollers will not allow writes to program space, they cannot perform in-system programming In-System Programming (abbreviated ISP) is the ability of some programmable logic devices, microcontrollers, and other programmable electronic chips to be programmed while installed in a complete system, rather than requiring the chip to be programmed prior to installing it into without very complex firmware routines. Waferscale's EasyFLASH(TM) PSDs make this problem disappear by providing a special ISP decode PLD (Programmable Logic Device) Refers to a variety of logic chips that are programmable at the customer's site, the customer being the vendor of the finished chip, not the end user. that reclassifies memory space so the MCU can perform ISP. PSD8XXF devices also solve the issue of first time in-system programming To perform ISP, the MCU needs to execute programming algorithms that are stored in non-volatile memory Refers to memory chips that hold their content without power being applied. It may refer to chips that are not changeable, such as ROMs and PROMs, or to chips that can be rewritten many times such as flash memory. . Since there is no code to execute on a blank device, first time ISP is not possible. Waferscale provides a JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) An IEEE standard for boundary scan technology. See scan technology. JTAG - Joint Test Action Group interface on EasyFLASH PSDs that enables first time programming in the system, using Waferscale's FlashLink(TM) programmer. This allows designers to load the code, test the prototype system, correct any bugs, re-load, re-test, etc. very easily and quickly. To order prototyping products from Waferscale's web site, designers simply log-on to and click on the on-line ordering button. This puts them in the on-line ordering area. Currently, there are a variety of design kits, development and programming software, programmers and MCU-specific development environments available at Waferscale's e-commerce location. Designers may also order free samples of PSD devices to use for evaluation and/or prototyping activities. After selecting the products they wish to purchase, they simply enter their credit card number and other pertinent information and click on the "send" button. Customer and credit card information is transferred using a secure HTTPS (1) (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) The protocol for accessing a secure Web server. Using HTTPS in the URL instead of HTTP directs the message to a secure port number rather than the default Web port number of 80. socket layer with 128-bit encryption/decryption, the standard for e-commerce transactions. Credit card transactions are handled by Cybercash. Waferscale's World Wide Web site is www.waferscale.com. Waferscale is the leading supplier of highly integrated programmable solutions for high-speed embedded control designs. The company offers a wide variety of integrated circuits that provide external memory and logic to 8051 and 68HC11 systems. The company's EasyFLASH(TM) ISP products circumvents the inability of 8-bit CISC MCUs to perform ISP due to these MCU's inability to write to program space. EasyFLASH PSDs also allow concurrent MCU-controlled ISP while the system is operating. First-time and subsequent ISP can also be accomplished via a JTAG interface using Waferscale's FlashLink programmer EasyFLASH devices have a special ISP decode PLD that reclassifies memory addresses so that 8-bit CISC MCUs can perform ISP. ISP is very difficult with these MCUs because their architectures prevent them from writing to program space. EasyFLASH PSD automatic handle this problem Waferscale's PSD families of single-chip, field-programmable microcontroller peripherals off-load microcontroller functions so that MCUs can operate faster and do more. The power-conserving features of PSD devices can extend system battery life by several hours. The company's family of high performance non-volatile memory products offers densities of 16 Kbit to 1 Megabit with access times as low as 25 ns and 3.3 volt devices with access times as low as 70 ns. Waferscale is located in Fremont, California. PSDsoft, EasyFLASH, and FlashLink are trademarks of Waferscale. 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