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Eurocash boost for microelectronics
4M CRT terminals 'shifted in 1985' The addition of markets in videotex and videophone to that of the electronic office and distributed data processing will result in over 4 million CRT terminals, over $9000M worth, being shifted in 1985, according to a market analysis by Creative Strategies International, California, USA. The market is shared by a number of both small and large vendors, and only IBM has more than 50 per cent of the market in any one segment. Over the next five years, market emphasis will be on compatibility with certain mainframes, minicomputers and terminals. The US is currently the largest
Low power Z80 launched to rival CMOS Zilog's response to the falling price of CMOS devices has been to introduce a low power-consumption version of their Z80 8-bit microprocessor. The Z80L consumes only 10 per cent of the power of the standard Z80 and is available for operation at clock rates of 1 MHz, 1.5 MHz or 2.5 MH~'. Power consumption for the Z80L is 75 mW compared with 5 0 0 - 7 5 0 mW for the standard part. Claimed to cost 25 per cent less than the equivalent CMOS device, the ZSOL is designed for use in handheld or portable battery powered products while the low power requirement allows battery backup to be implemented easily in other devices. The ZSOL has pin and software compatibility with the Z80 and is supported by Z80 development systems and in-circuit emulators aiding testing
market for alphanumeric CRT terminals with slightly over 50 per cent of the worldwide installed base, and US manufacturers have supplied nearly 60 per cent of units now in use throughout the world. However, as the market grows an increading number of these units will be provided by non-US manufacturers. The report forecasts clustered intelligent terminals to yield the largest revenues over the next five years although unit shipments of dumb terminals will far exceed shipments of intelligent terminals. The report, 'Alphanumeric CRT terminals', costs $1200 and is available from CSI,
4340 Stevens Creek Bird, San ]ose, CA 95129, USA. Tel: (408) 249 7550 or from CSI/London, Banda House, Cambridge Grove, London W60LN, UK. Tel: 01-741 476Z and debugging of Z80L-based products. The Z80L employs a single +5V power supply and operates over the temperature range 0 -70°C.
Eurocash boost for microelectronics The European Community has allocated approximately £24M in 1982 for the support of reasearch and development in microelectronics. Part of a fouryear programme for the development of informatics, each project will involve firms in more than one community and will involve both manufacturers and users. Projects eligible for this aid are • •
direct optical stepping technology electron beam for direct writing on wafers • plasma etching • IC testing equipment • CAD for VLSI Universities and research centres can also qualify for assistance for CAD for VLSI R&D. Support will normally cover 30 per cent of project costs but up to 50 per cent support may be granted. Further information on the scheme may be obtained from Map
A swarm o f low power 8-bit micros from
102
Zilog
Centre, Department of Industry, Dean Bradley House, 52 Horseferry Road, London SWIP 2AG, UK. Tel." 01-212 3411.
Price cut for voice recognition chip A 45 per cent price reduction for the VRC008 consumer voice recognition device from Interstate Electronics Corporation of the USA has come hot on the heels of the launctl of their VRCI00-I voice recognition semiconductor for commercial and industrial applications. The VRC008 now costs $5.50 per 100 000 and recognizes up to 16 spoken words, in groups of eight words or less at a time with an accuracy of 90 per cent 'for the general population for which it is intended'. It is customized by Interstate for specific user vocabularies and is aimed at consumer appliances such as toys anti games. The VRC100-1 consists of two semiconductor devices which recognize a 100 word vocabulary at 99 per cent accuracy. It is user-programmable for any vocabulary in any language and can be used with direct microphone, wireless communication or telephone. Vocabulary reference patterns are RAM resident and may be dynamically loaded into memory. This chip set is aimed at OEMs of personal computers, word processors, CAD/CAM and factory automation equipment.
Founder of Zilog moves to Nestar Dr Federico Faggin, founder of Zitog Inc., has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Nestar Systems Inc., of Pain Alto, USA. Faggin, 39, formed Zitog Inc. in 1974 and was its president until he was promoted to head Exxon's Computer Systems Group in 1980. He left Exxon in May of last year. He developed the first microcomputer component family, the MCS-4, at Intel in 1979 and was also responsible for developing I ntel's 8008, 4040 and 8080 microprocessors, microcomputer peripheral components, static memories, timing circuits and custom circuits. Faggin developed the original MOS silicon gate process technology at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968. Nestar has developed the Cluster One/Model a Local computer network.
microprocessors and microsystems
Low power Z80 launched to rival CMOS Zilog's response to the falling price of CMOS devices has been to introduce a low power-consumption version of their Z80 8-bit microprocessor. The Z80L consumes only 10 per cent of the power of the standard Z80 and is available for operation at clock rates of 1 MHz, 1.5 MHz or 2.5 MH~'. Power consumption for the Z80L is 75 mW compared with 5 0 0 - 7 5 0 mW for the standard part. Claimed to cost 25 per cent less than the equivalent CMOS device, the ZSOL is designed for use in handheld or portable battery powered products while the low power requirement allows battery backup to be implemented easily in other devices. The ZSOL has pin and software compatibility with the Z80 and is supported by Z80 development systems and in-circuit emulators aiding testing
market for alphanumeric CRT terminals with slightly over 50 per cent of the worldwide installed base, and US manufacturers have supplied nearly 60 per cent of units now in use throughout the world. However, as the market grows an increading number of these units will be provided by non-US manufacturers. The report forecasts clustered intelligent terminals to yield the largest revenues over the next five years although unit shipments of dumb terminals will far exceed shipments of intelligent terminals. The report, 'Alphanumeric CRT terminals', costs $1200 and is available from CSI,
4340 Stevens Creek Bird, San ]ose, CA 95129, USA. Tel: (408) 249 7550 or from CSI/London, Banda House, Cambridge Grove, London W60LN, UK. Tel: 01-741 476Z and debugging of Z80L-based products. The Z80L employs a single +5V power supply and operates over the temperature range 0 -70°C.
Eurocash boost for microelectronics The European Community has allocated approximately £24M in 1982 for the support of reasearch and development in microelectronics. Part of a fouryear programme for the development of informatics, each project will involve firms in more than one community and will involve both manufacturers and users. Projects eligible for this aid are • •
direct optical stepping technology electron beam for direct writing on wafers • plasma etching • IC testing equipment • CAD for VLSI Universities and research centres can also qualify for assistance for CAD for VLSI R&D. Support will normally cover 30 per cent of project costs but up to 50 per cent support may be granted. Further information on the scheme may be obtained from Map
A swarm o f low power 8-bit micros from
102
Zilog
Centre, Department of Industry, Dean Bradley House, 52 Horseferry Road, London SWIP 2AG, UK. Tel." 01-212 3411.
Price cut for voice recognition chip A 45 per cent price reduction for the VRC008 consumer voice recognition device from Interstate Electronics Corporation of the USA has come hot on the heels of the launctl of their VRCI00-I voice recognition semiconductor for commercial and industrial applications. The VRC008 now costs $5.50 per 100 000 and recognizes up to 16 spoken words, in groups of eight words or less at a time with an accuracy of 90 per cent 'for the general population for which it is intended'. It is customized by Interstate for specific user vocabularies and is aimed at consumer appliances such as toys anti games. The VRC100-1 consists of two semiconductor devices which recognize a 100 word vocabulary at 99 per cent accuracy. It is user-programmable for any vocabulary in any language and can be used with direct microphone, wireless communication or telephone. Vocabulary reference patterns are RAM resident and may be dynamically loaded into memory. This chip set is aimed at OEMs of personal computers, word processors, CAD/CAM and factory automation equipment.
Founder of Zilog moves to Nestar Dr Federico Faggin, founder of Zitog Inc., has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Nestar Systems Inc., of Pain Alto, USA. Faggin, 39, formed Zitog Inc. in 1974 and was its president until he was promoted to head Exxon's Computer Systems Group in 1980. He left Exxon in May of last year. He developed the first microcomputer component family, the MCS-4, at Intel in 1979 and was also responsible for developing I ntel's 8008, 4040 and 8080 microprocessors, microcomputer peripheral components, static memories, timing circuits and custom circuits. Faggin developed the original MOS silicon gate process technology at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968. Nestar has developed the Cluster One/Model a Local computer network.
microprocessors and microsystems