Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Excelitas acquires Kaiser Systems

WALTHAM, USA: Excelitas Technologies, a global technology leader focused on delivering innovative, customized opto-electronics to OEMs seeking high-performance technology solutions, announced the acquisition of privately-held Kaiser Systems, Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of custom, high voltage (HV) power systems for medical, industrial, and safety and security applications. The company is based in Beverly, MA and was founded in 1980.

The acquisition of Kaiser Systems adds a variety of high voltage power systems to Excelitas’ existing high-reliability power systems portfolio, which includes AC-DC rectifiers, DC-DC converters, UPSs and EMI filters for a range of OEM applications. Kaiser’s HV power systems include Capacitor-Charging and Flashlamp Power Supplies, Electron Beam and Ion Beam Power Supplies, HV DC and Pulsed Power Supplies, X-ray Generators, and integrated X-ray sources (under the brand name Omniblock).

“The addition of Kaiser Systems expands Excelitas’ presence in medical, industrial, and safety and security markets and broadens our portfolio of high-performance, high-reliability power products,” said David Nislick, CEO, Excelitas Technologies.

“We are pleased to welcome the Kaiser team to Excelitas and the Advanced Electronic Systems business,” said Doug Benner, senior VP and GM, Advanced Electronic Systems, Excelitas. “Kaiser Systems has deep technical expertise in high voltage engineering, which complements and augments Excelitas’ existing custom power solutions capabilities and we look forward to their contributions to accelerating our power systems growth.”

“We are excited by the opportunity to become part of Excelitas, combining Kaiser’s proven leadership in high voltage power solutions with Excelitas’ strength in providing innovative, customized opto-electronic solutions to OEMs around the globe. There is a clear synergy between Excelitas and Kaiser in serving high-performance application areas including industrial lasers, medical lasers and IPL-based aesthetic systems, analytical instrumentation, material processing, and a variety of commercial security applications,” said Ken Kaiser, president and founder, Kaiser Systems.

Monday, September 3, 2012

CSR sets new price/performance benchmark with SiRFatlasVI automotive infotainment platform

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND & SUNNYVALE, USA: CSR plc introduced the SiRFatlasVI infotainment SoC, the latest generation of the company’s value-leading navigation, multimedia and connectivity solution for creating high-performance, mainstream in-vehicle infotainment systems and mobile Internet and portable navigation devices. The SiRFatlasVI SoC enables manufacturers to rapidly develop and bring to market exciting new OEM and aftermarket products that are able to run multiple functions at the same time for an exceptional user experience.

“Thanks to the significant performance improvements we’ve made in the SiRFatlasVI platform, it’s now possible for a driver to utilise 3D navigation or make a hands-free phone call while passengers watch a movie, listen to music and surf the web from their laptops via Wi-Fi, and we believe we are the first to deliver this capability to this price category,” said Anthony Murray, Business Group SVP, CSR.

“With SiRFatlasVI, CSR has once again established a new price/performance benchmark for mainstream infotainment solutions, and with our local R&D and support centers, we are best-positioned to help customers get to market quickly to take full advantage of their market window with relevant and differentiated product offerings.”

The SiRFatlasVI SoC offers 3x CPU, 3x graphics and 6x multimedia performance improvements over the previous SiRFatlasV chip at virtually the same BOM cost. These performance improvements will enable the driver to experience more fluid user interfaces, richer map graphics, and concurrent navigation and media playback.

The SiRFatlasVI SoC integrates a high-sensitivity multi-satellite GNSS engine that supports the four major global navigation systems: GPS and GLONASS today; Galileo and Compass (with a simple software upgrade) when these systems are operational. The multi-satellite GNSS support offers flexibility and improved satellite acquisition and location tracking in challenging situations like urban canyons.

The integrated ARM Cortex-A9 application processor produces up to 2500 DMIPS, which enables advanced applications and multiple OS’s. It is supported by an ARM NEON multimedia accelerator, which is designed to boost multimedia performance by 30 to 40 percent and enables up to 720p decode. Customers can choose to utilise either the new POWERVR 3D graphics accelerator core or rely on the 2D core as a low-cost option.

The integrated memory controller supports 16-bit DDR3/DDR3L and DDR2 memory technology. The SiRFatlasVI SoC supports 60-bit ECC NAND as well as direct boot from SDXC, SLC NAND flash and managed NAND. DDR3 and NAND offer lower total BOM cost, as well as other integrated peripherals.

Extensive integrated I/O and analog functionality, including two USB ports, UART/I2S/SPI/I2C, camera and touch screen interfaces and an audio codec, round out the SiRFatlasVI solution.