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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0417------------------05/07/2004 |
The WAVE Report is Searchable on
http://www.3dlinks.com
http://www.wave-report.com
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0417.2 Story of the Issue
0417.3 Computers
***DisplaySearch Releases Comprehensive Notebook PC Strategy
Report
0417.4 Data Management
0417.5 Information Appliances
0417.6 Internet
***Microsoft Offers Anti-Spam Capabilities to Distinguish
Legitimate E-Mail
0417.7 IT Management
***Managing Microsoft Environments: Oculan 5.0 'Tames the
Beast'
0417.8 Internet - Firewall
0417.9 Languages – Text-To-Speech
***ScanSoft Introduces Steffi, a New Female German
Text-to-Speech Voice
0417.10 Networks
0417.11 Satellite
***Space Systems/Loral-Built DIRECTV 7S Satellite
Successfully Launched
0417.12 Wireless
***Intersil Announces New Full-Duplex RS-485/422
Transceivers with 15 kV ESD Protection
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***AMD Fuels New Mobile Processors With 64-Bit Performance for Sleek Notebooks; Acer Inc. to Offer Racy New Ferrari Notebook With Extra `Horsepower' Under the Hood
SUNNYVALE, Calif.
May 6, 2004
AMD introduced two new low-power mobile processors designed to offer outstanding computing performance and true mobility for thin and light notebooks. The new low-power mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor models 2800+ and 2700+ further expand the award-winning AMD Athlon 64 processor family, offering a powerful 32-bit computing experience today with a seamless transition to 64-bit applications. These processors also offer an Enhanced Virus Protection security feature, to be enabled by the upcoming Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Like all the existing AMD mobile processors, these new low-power offerings enable an outstanding computing experience on the go with extended system battery life enabled by AMD PowerNow! technology, as well as the benefit of wireless compatibility with today's most popular wireless solutions.
Global PC vendor Acer Inc. is among the first suppliers to support the use of low-power mobile AMD Athlon 64 processors in a new Ferrari brand thin and light notebook for consumers and business customers worldwide.
Likewise, Chinese manufacturer Amoi Electronics Company Ltd. is incorporating the low-power mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor in a notebook.
Thin and light notebooks will be available from Acer in May, while Amoi expects to offer the new Va series notebooks during the second half of this year.
The new low-power mobile AMD Athlon 64 processor models 2800+ and 2700+ are available immediately worldwide for thin and light mobile PCs.
***Software Defined Radio Forum And The European Project E2R Formalize Relationship To Address Wireless End-To-End Reconfigurability
Denver, Colorado
May 5, 2004
The Software Defined Radio (SDR) Forum and the FP6 European Union’s project E2R on end-to-end reconfigurability jointly announced the formation of a formal liaison. The SDR Forum and E2R will now work together to exchange technical information and to develop system perspectives of end-to-end reconfigurability for wireless communications.
The key objective of the E2R project is to devise, develop and trial the architectural design of reconfigurable devices and supporting system functions in order to offer an expanded set of operational choices for the users, applications and service providers, operators and regulators in the context of heterogeneous mobile radio systems. The European E2R project consortium is composed of major manufacturers, operators, academia and regulators.
The SDR Forum is an international industry association dedicated to support the development and deployment of software defined radio systems that enable flexible and adaptable architectures in advanced wireless systems. The membership spans commercial, defense, and civil government organizations, and includes wireless service providers, network operators, component and equipment manufacturers, hardware and software developers, regulatory agencies, and academia.
Under terms of the liaison agreement, representatives of the SDR Forum and E2R program will:
* exchange information in areas of mutual interest;
* submit contributions to, and participate jointly in,
conferences/workshops; and,
* conduct common surveys among interested parties in the
field of reconfigurability, software defined radio and
cognitive radio.
This announcement comes on the heels of a Systems Issues workshop hosted by the Forum, in conjunction with the E2R project. The workshop—which took place prior to the Forum’s April general meeting in Germany, was highlighted by reports on current European Union activities and E2R updates; sessions on regulatory, security, Hardware Abstraction Layer, Application Program Interface, and software download issues; and discussions on the implications for system vendors, chip an component suppliers, carriers, and regulators. The workshop gathered around 60 participants and was recognized by both Forum and E2R participants as very successful and promising for the future interactions.
***About the Software Defined Radio Forum
The Software Defined Radio Forum is an international industry association dedicated to supporting the development and deployment of software defined radio systems that enable flexible and adaptable architectures in advanced wireless systems. The membership of the SDR Forum spans commercial, defense, and civil government organizations, and includes wireless service providers, network operators, component and equipment manufacturers, hardware and software developers, regulatory agencies, and academia. Presently numbering more than 100 organizations, the SDR Forum’s membership includes major commercial wireless players from Asia, Europe, and North America. The SDR Forum’s administrative office is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Additional information is available on the SDR Forum website at
***About the E2R Project
The European Integrated Project “End-to-End Reconfigurability (E2R) is led by Motorola. This project includes key players in the domain of reconfigurability, software defined radio (SDR) and cognitive radio (CR). E2R is seen by many in the wireless industry as a core technology to enable the full potential of Beyond 3G systems. It has the potential to revolutionize wireless just as the PC revolutionized computing.
E2R Project Contract and Consortium
The first phase of the E2R Project has duration of two years. The overall budget of this first phase is 16.2 MEuros, the associated budget funded by the European Commission is 8.9 MEuros. The associated effort corresponds to 55 person years per year invested by the consortium partners in the first phase. For more information on the E2R Project, please visit the Project Web Site:
***DisplaySearch Releases Comprehensive Notebook PC Strategy Report
AUSTIN, Texas
May 5, 2004
DisplaySearch, a leader in flat panel display (FPD) market research and consulting, announced the release of the firm's extensive Notebook PC Strategy Report, the most comprehensive document ever published on the implementation of displays in mobile computing. The 800-page report covers vital topics such as product management strategies, human factors, panel sizes, resolutions, aspect ratios, viewing angles, tablet-style computing, display power, panel standardization, the video sub-system, quality improvement, pricing factors, vertical integration, and supply chain relationships. The report also provides key insights for industry managers to optimize the strategic value of the data contained in the report.
The new publication also presents detailed historical and forecast information for the notebook PC marketplace and its principal players, covering 1998 through 2007. The Notebook PC Strategy Report is written for the benefit of decision-makers in the mobile computing and flat panel display arenas, and serves as an essential tool for all those involved in the industry food-chain, in creating a strategic advantage in this fiercely competitive marketplace. Subscribers will find valuable information presented in a fresh way addressing the most important factors in the rapid advancement of the mobile computing visual experience.
As the critical link between the user and computer, displays used in notebook PCs lead the computer industry in terms of portability, low power consumption, high resolution, wide aspect ratio, standardization, serviceability, and numerous other factors. This DisplaySearch report synthesizes a wide range of inter-related factors, including analyses of notebook display implementation strategies, as well as the role of human visual systems and the eye-brain response. Other core factors covered include the matching of technologies to meet strategic objectives, and the value of shared objectives within the notebook PC supply chain.
Information on DisplaySearch's Notebook PC Strategy Report is available at
http://www.displaysearch.com/products/notebookpcstrategy.html
***HP Delivers All-in-One Archive and Retrieval Solution Based on Industry-First ''Storage Grid'' Architecture
ENSA@WORK Conference
MUNICH, Germany
May 5, 2004
HP announced immediate availability of an all-in-one archive and retrieval solution for storing, indexing and rapidly retrieving reference information. The HP StorageWorks Reference Information Storage System (RISS) is a high-performance solution that simplifies long-term data management, reduces costs and addresses growing regulatory and retention requirements. It's also HP's first system based on an innovative "storage grid" architecture that will enable information services delivery and adapt to changing business needs.
Combining innovative hardware and software based in part on HP's recent acquisition of Persist Technologies, HP StorageWorks RISS is part of HP's information lifecycle management (ILM) portfolio.
HP also unveiled several new ILM services and expanded its ILM partner program to accelerate and broaden delivery of ILM solutions based on the HP StorageWorks family. The new partners include ADIC, CaminoSoft, Grau Data Storage, Orchestria, Pegasus Disk Technologies and Princeton Softech.
In industries such as financial services and healthcare, information managers are concerned with driving down the cost and complexity of long-term data storage, meeting business and regulatory requirements for data retention, and finding ways to unlock the value of stored information. The HP StorageWorks RISS solution meets these demands by offering an all-in-one solution for storing, indexing and rapidly retrieving reference information.
Unlike other offerings that require integration of numerous hardware and software components by the customer or a third-party, RISS is pre-integrated with partner technologies and includes support and services to deliver a complete ILM solution for active archiving and rapid retrieval of e-mail and other common data types.
HP StorageWorks RISS is the first HP solution to use an innovative, standards-based "storage grid" architecture. This enables storage services -- such as archival and retrieval today, as well as other capabilities to be introduced later -- to be delivered across a massively scalable, centrally managed system.
***HP StorageWorks RISS architecture
The HP StorageWorks RISS solution is an open, integrated and scalable archiving appliance complete with HP's RISS design and integration services. The architecture is extensible to many applications, with the future delivery of a software development kit for RISS that takes advantage of open standards for rapid integration with today's enterprise applications and data types. The services provide hardware and software design, retention policy and business rules consulting, integration into the customer's existing messaging environment, and legacy document import capabilities.
The storage grid architecture the RISS solution is built on divides storage, indexing, search and retrieval tasks across a distinct set of computing nodes, or storage "smart cells." Each storage smart cell is composed of a low-cost, high-density computing device and onboard storage. The storage smart cells are completely self-contained with a dedicated processor, search engine, database, index and management layer.
This evolutionary architecture is consistent with the HP Adaptive Enterprise vision that includes standardized, modular and centrally managed storage building blocks to enable storage delivery according to service levels. The design simplifies data management by providing a single system image and massive scalability without reducing performance or introducing additional risk of data loss or corruption.
Enabled by its high-performance architecture, the RISS solution helps transform information from a cost into an asset by providing application-aware, content-based indexing with powerful search tools for rapid information discovery and access.
The solution also digitally signs and time stamps data to protect against tampering or deletion. This helps to ensure rapid, simplified and secure active-archiving and retrieval of reference information on a large scale from e-mail applications, Microsoft Office documents and other common data types.
Additionally, application server availability and performance can be dramatically improved by offloading static, less relevant data such as Microsoft Exchange messages from the primary storage systems to the RISS solution.
In addition, unlike archiving solutions that search content indirectly via an external database tied to an external archiving application, the RISS solution's storage smart cells use onboard disks to store reference-documented data, indexes and meta-data. This allows data to be searched and retrieved within seconds regardless of how much total capacity is stored in the archive or the application from which the information was derived.
The HP StorageWorks RISS solution and ILM-related services and partner solutions are available today. More information is available at
***Transmeta's Energy Efficient Crusoe Processor Selected for Vulcan FlipStart MiniPC; Future Designs of Innovative Mobile Device Support Transmeta's Efficeon Processor
SANTA CLARA, Calif. & SEATTLE
May 6, 2004
Transmeta Corporation announced that the company's Crusoe processor has been selected by Vulcan Inc. for the award-winning FlipStart MiniPC.
FlipStart is a highly innovative and compact mobile computer, combining the performance and functionality of Microsoft Windows XP with the connectivity of wireless PDAs to provide users with high productivity through continuous (WLAN and WAN) access to software, email, and the Web.
FlipStart combines high performance and connectivity in one ultra-mobile device weighing only one pound. While PDAs are limited to specific organizer personal information management functions and laptop computers require a desk, FlipStart delivers a truly personal and handheld computing experience. It is easily carried everywhere in a pocket, purse or small briefcase, and gives its users constant access to e-mail, office documents, multimedia files and Windows XP software applications. Users can create a Microsoft Word document, edit or design a PowerPoint presentation, surf the Web or send and receive e-mail in the complete Windows XP environment instead of limited feature mobile versions of programs, or view-only applications common in PDAs. FlipStart is a true PC with the complete, professional Windows XP environment and applications that users expect.
The FlipStart MiniPC specifications include:
-- 5.8" x 4" x 1" magnesium case
-- 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe Processor
-- 256MB system RAM
-- 30GB internal hard drive
-- 5.6" HDTV-quality display (1024x600)
-- 3D graphics with 8MB video RAM
-- Internal 1.3 Mega-Pixel digital camera
-- USB 2.0 port
-- Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional Edition
FlipStart pricing and availability will be announced in a future update by Vulcan, Inc. For more information about FlipStart, visit
***Microsoft Offers Anti-Spam Capabilities to Distinguish Legitimate E-Mail
REDMOND, Wash.
May 5, 2004
Microsoft Corp. and IronPort Systems Inc. announced initial success with the Bonded Sender Program, IronPort's legitimate e-mail sender program to reduce the deluge of unwanted e-mail sent to Microsoft customers. For the past five months, Microsoft has worked with IronPort Systems's Bonded Sender Program (http://www.bondedsender.com/) legitimate e-mail sender program on its MSN and MSN Hotmail platforms. The Bonded Sender program, powered by IronPort and certified by TRUSTe, identifies legitimate senders of e-mail based on their adherence to program standards and the posting of a financial bond.
Programs such as safe lists reputation, rating and e-mail accreditation have emerged to help prevent good e-mail from accidentally being blocked by filters. Such programs reinforce the importance of allowing legitimate marketers to communicate with their customers and help ensure that customers can correspond with institutions and organizations such as banks, political groups and retailers. These approaches are the inverse of the early e-mail-blocking lists and avoid many of the pitfalls associated with those lists. Microsoft continues to evaluate a variety of programs for potential implementation on its MSN and Hotmail platforms.
Sender identity and reputation are the cornerstones of the next generation of e-mail systems. The root cause of today's e-mail headaches stems from the anonymity of today's e-mail protocol SMTP. Next-generation e-mail infrastructure will use sender identity and reputation to dynamically implement e-mail policy. The system is similar to a credit rating service: The more suspicious a sender appears to be, the more restricted the access to the receiver's network. Bonded Sender is a critical part of IronPort's sender reputation service; it allows legitimate e-mail sources to easily identify themselves so they don't get caught in increasingly aggressive spam filters.
With certification systems, e-mail recipient networks determine an e-mail message's status using a process similar to that of a conventional domain name system (DNS) query. The receiving e-mail gateway sends a simple query to the program to identify the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of program participants, one part of an e-mail message that is nearly impossible to forge.
For example, Bonded Sender provides Internet service providers (ISPs), enterprises and other recipient networks with the IP addresses of Bonded Sender participants. Recipients can use this information to validate sources of inbound e-mail and reduce false positives (legitimate e-mail mistakenly filtered).
For the Bonded Sender program, certification, third-party oversight and dispute resolution services are provided by TRUSTe, the online privacy leader known for its Web site certification program. TRUSTe monitors sender complaint rates and audits compliance with program standards. To qualify for Bonded Sender status, participants must meet a strict set of best practices for sending commercial e-mail that exceeds standards set forth in the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM) and must demonstrate a history of good sending behavior derived from recipient feedback. Once certified, senders post a financial bond and undergo TRUSTe monitoring of compliance with program standards and complaint rates. To make certain that only legitimate e-mail is sent through Bonded Sender, a sender's bond is debited when end-user complaints exceed a certain threshold.
http://www.microsoft.com/spam/
***Managing Microsoft Environments: Oculan 5.0 'Tames the Beast'
RALEIGH, N.C.
May 5, 2004
Oculan announced the release of Oculan 5.0, the world's first plug-and-play appliances for managing both Microsoft and non-Microsoft network environments, and at a fraction of the cost and complexity of all the alternatives.
Oculan's multi-functional platform integrates network, systems and desktop management, intrusion detection, vulnerability assessment, asset management, and bandwidth analysis plus produces network performance reports, notifications and alerts. With 5.0, the same platform can now manage and secure Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, Active Directory, and Terminal Services, as well as Windows servers and desktops. Other platforms like Unix, Linux and AS400 servers are also supported by Oculan 5.0.
Oculan's latest 'purple box' enables organizations with limited IT budgets to establish control over their entire IT infrastructure, including its Microsoft components. For larger companies with many different management tools already in place, Oculan 5.0 unifies those tools into one system with one view.
The 5.0 platform delivers Inventory, Performance, and Availability information for the entire infrastructure. For Microsoft servers, 5.0 provides the added capabilities to automatically restart "dead" services, plus start and stop those services from a single console at a remote location. Two new features, an "Executive View" and a "Network Report Card", provide managers with summary information on network security and performance. Oculan's reporting features have also been greatly expanded, enabling users to export a wide variety of network and inventory data into XML or Excel or other 3rd party software.
http://www-test.oculan.com/file_cabinet_public/docs/
***Texas Instruments Introduces Cost-Effective, Single-Chip 1394a (FireWire) Link & PHY for Audio/Video Data Connectivity in Consumer Electronics
DALLAS, Texas
May 5, 2004
Providing consumer electronics designers with advanced functionality to communicate audio/video (A/V) data across a 1394 (FireWire) network, Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:TXN) (TI) announced a new cost-effective, integrated 1394a link-layer-controller and two-port physical-layer-controller (PHY). This cost-effective technology, which has a PCI host interface option, gives designers of multi-media applications, such as set-top boxes, DVD player/recorder, digital TV and digital VCR, an off-the-shelf component that facilitates the communication of compressed A/V data (i.e. DV, MPEG-TS, DirecTV TS) and digital audio according to the IEC61883 standard.
The TSB43DA42 and TSB43DB42 Link and PHY each includes three high speed data interface (HSDI) ports. Each port, which supports I/O of data, is dedicated to an isochronous data path and can be independently configured to transmit/receive to and from 1394. Additionally, all three ports support seamless connections to the various codecs on the market. The integrated two- port PHY is capable of communicating at 400, 200 or 100 Mbps.
Equipped with digital transmission content protection (DTCP), the TSB43DA42 can handle all of the formatting of the IEC61883 packets. To do this, the device must first be configured by an external CPU which is connected to the host interface using either a PCI or SRAM/68K bus. The TSB43DB42 is pin-for-pin compatible with the TSB43DA42, but does not include DTCP.
When transmitting to the 1394 network, the codecs will be responsible for outputting the compressed data, and the device will generate and output the IEC61883 packet containing the data. When receiving data from the 1394 network, TSB43DA42 will remove the 1394 headers and timestamps from the IEC61883 packet and then output the compressed A/V data to the codec.
Key Features
-- IEEE 1394a compliant
-- DTCP (5C) content protection (TSB43DA42 only)
-- Three data paths for isochronous data (4KB FIFO and DTCP cipher)
-- 2-port PHY (400Mbps each)
-- Controlled by external CPU using either PCI or SRAM/68K interface
-- DMA engines to accelerate communication of SBP2 (serial bus protocol)
transactions and OSD (on-screen display) data
The TSB43DA42 and the TSB43DB42 are available now in a 196-pin MicroStar BGA 15x15mm package.
0417.9 Languages – Text-To-Speech
***ScanSoft Introduces Steffi, a New Female German Text-to-Speech Voice
Voice World Europe
LONDON
May 6, 2004
ScanSoft, Inc. announced the availability of "Steffi," a new female text-to-speech (TTS) voice for RealSpeak and RealSpeak Solo. Steffi is the first in a series of new TTS voices to be introduced by the SpeechWorks Division of ScanSoft to support telephony-based and embedded applications for European and Asia-Pacific markets.
The SpeechWorks Division offers the industry's preeminent TTS solutions for converting text to human-sounding synthesized speech. Its high-performance TTS solutions offer an unprecedented 23 languages and dialects with a variety of female and male voices to provide customers worldwide with the most comprehensive and flexible solutions available today. RealSpeak TTS has proven itself as a highly scalable solution within a wide range of telephony-based applications for leading organizations including the FIFA World Cup, Nortel Networks and Ericsson. RealSpeak Solo powers TTS solutions for customers including Ford Motor Company and NCR, and educational programs from Auralog, Cornelsen, Oxford University Press and TextHelp.
RealSpeak and RealSpeak Solo Features and Applications
RealSpeak Steffi is available today for telephony-based applications and through its RealSpeak Solo offering for embedded applications. Regardless of the memory footprint, Steffi delivers premium voice quality and natural-sounding synthesized speech. Steffi also offers advanced multilingual capabilities to properly pronounce foreign, borrowed words from certain languages that are frequently used in the colloquial German language. For example, conversational German often incorporates popular French and English words such as "ordinateur" and "world wide web." In addition, multilingual capabilities can be used to read English song titles and street names in an embedded application. Steffi can be incorporated into a variety of applications including the following:
-- Large-scale deployments of sophisticated telephony applications that deliver dynamic, real-time or personal information, including personal account information, email by phone for unified messaging systems, locator services for stores and ATMs, traffic and road conditions, weather reports, automated voice dialing, SMS-to-voice, directory assistance, all kinds of announcement systems and many others.
-- SpeechWorks TTS solutions can be used to decrease costs by reducing the need for professionally recorded prompts in telephony-based speech applications, resulting in additional savings in application cost and deployment time.
-- Optimized for embedded navigation applications, RealSpeak Solo provides accurate pronunciation of navigation related text commonly used in automotive solutions and navigation devices.
-- RealSpeak Solo supports a range of low-footprint embedded applications designed for optimal performance in talking dictionaries, mobile devices, language learning solutions, gaming consoles, automated teller machines (ATMs) and desktop solutions.
http://www.scansoft.com/products/
***Cisco Delivers the Industry's Only Enterprise-Class Wireless System with Market-Leading Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Multilayer LAN Switch
SAN JOSE, Calif.
May 5, 2004
Cisco Systems, Inc. announced a new standard for enterprise-class wireless local area networks (LAN) with the introduction of the Wireless LAN Services Module (WLSM) for Cisco's premier multilayer switch, the Catalyst 6500 Series. As part of the Cisco Structured Wireless-Aware Network (SWAN), the Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series is the industry's first enterprise-class switch capable of delivering large network scalability, performance, manageability, and proven security across the entire integrated wireless/wireline network without the added complexity and cost of a completely separate overlay wireless LAN.
Leading the industry in scalability, a single Catalyst 6500 Series WLSM deployed anywhere in the network supports out-of-the box configuration and operation of up to 300 Cisco Aironet Series Access Points (AP) and up to 6,000 users. The new Catalyst 6500 Series WLSM also delivers the industry's fastest, highly secure user roam times, allowing users to now move throughout the campus seamlessly even under high network utilization.
By integrating the Catalyst 6500 Series WLSM into the best-in-class Catalyst 6500 Series switch, customers can use their existing wireline infrastructure to reduce total cost of network ownership, making it ideal for any enterprise, university, health care institution or service provider planning to deploy a large scale wireless LAN network. Deployment of a wireless LAN is now fast and easy with the new Catalyst 6500 Series WLSM which does not require any changes to the underlying wireline infrastructure. Management and availability of the wireless/wireline network is also greatly improved with centralized configuration and policy enforcement and Layer 3 Supervisor Non-Stop Forwarding/Stateful Switchover (NSF/SSO). Additionally, the Catalyst 6500 Series switch capabilities are transparently available to wireless LANs either natively through the Supervisor Engine 720 or through the addition of other service modules such as the Firewall Services Module, Intrusion Detection Services Module and VPN Services Module.
These services can also be applied to various types of wireless users, such as staff, guest and temporary workers via Catalyst 6500 Series WLSM mobility-group separation and policy application. Up to 16 logical mobility groups across different subnets can be established, providing network managers with greater control of user access to network resources. Wireline services such as firewall, intrusion detection, rate limiting and filtering can also be implemented on a per mobility group basis. Finally, with continued Catalyst 6500 Series switch feature enhancements planned, customers' network investments will continue to grow in value over time.
With this announcement, Cisco also delivers additional components in its Cisco SWAN framework. The Cisco SWAN framework encompasses four key areas: Cisco IOS Software-based Aironet APs; centralized management and security servers; wireless LAN client devices; and Cisco wireline infrastructure devices such as the Catalyst 6500 Series WLSM.
http://www.cisco.com/go/ciscocompatible/wireless/
***Space Systems/Loral-Built DIRECTV 7S Satellite Successfully Launched
PALO ALTO, Calif.
May 4, 2004
The DIRECTV 7S high power spot beam direct broadcast satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) for DIRECTV Inc., El Segundo, Calif., was successfully launched at 8:42 am EDT today. The satellite was sent into space on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket from the Odyssey Launch Platform, positioned on the equator in the Pacific Ocean.
DIRECTV 7S will use highly focused spot beam technology to provide DIRECTV with the capacity to deliver local channels to 41 additional markets, expanding its local channel coverage to a total of 106 markets.
The DIRECTV 7S satellite is the third Loral-built satellite in the DIRECTV fleet. SS/L also is building two additional satellites, DIRECTV 8 and DIRECTV 9S, at its facility in Palo Alto, Calif.
DIRECTV 7S will generate more than 13kW of total satellite power at the beginning of its life and is designed to operate from orbital locations at 101 degrees West longitude, the primary orbital slot for DIRECTV, or 119 degrees West longitude.
The spacecraft is a version of SS/L's space-proven 1300 satellite platform, which has an excellent record of reliable operation. The geostationary 1300 has a designed service life of 15 years and maintains station-keeping and orbital stability by using bipropellant propulsion and momentum-bias systems. In all, SS/L satellites have amassed more than 1,000 years of on-orbit service.
http://www.directv.com/
Return to index
***Intersil Announces New Full-Duplex RS-485/422 Transceivers with 15 kV ESD Protection
MILPITAS, Calif.
May 6, 2004
Intersil Corporation (Nasdaq:ISIL announced two new LINEARLINK full-duplex RS-485/422 transceivers, the ISL8489E and the ISL8491E. These new transceivers are drop-in upgrades from competing parts of similar nomenclature and offer full 15 kV ESD protection and high performance for a wide range of applications including, but not limited to, factory automation, process control, security networks and building environmental control.
These new RS-485/422 transceivers are full duplex, configured for four-wire RS-485 networks, which allows simultaneous transmit and receive capability, or for RS-422 networks where only one driver is allowed on a bus. The ICs are ESD protected to 15 kV on all transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) bus pins and up to 7 kV on all logic pins, which greatly improves survivability from random static charges during manufacturing and use. Packaged in a 14-lead SOIC, the devices are rated for the industrial temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees. Exceeding the tolerance of many competing parts, the ICs operate with a +/-10 percent tolerance from a 5-V supply (4.5 to 5.5 V range).
Both the ISL8489E and ISL8491E are single-unit load devices that allow up to 32 nodes per bus and offer a choice of speed. The ISL8489E is a 250-kbps data rate device that has slew rate limited drivers intended for long-run applications. The slew rate limiting reduces EMI and minimizes reflections from improperly terminated transmission lines or non-terminated stubs in multi-drop and multi-point applications. The ISL8491E is a 10-Mbps device designed for high-speed short runs.
ISL8489E and ISL8491E Technical Summary
-- Drop-in performance upgrades for MAX489E, MAX491E and SP491E
-- Full duplex
-- Single-unit load, 32 nodes per bus
-- Balanced differential signaling
-- 15 kV ESD protected on all Tx and Rx bus pins
-- 7 kV protection on all other pins
-- Single 5-V supply, +/-10 percent tolerance, 4.5 to 5.5 V range
-- -7 V to +12 V common-mode input voltage range
-- RS-485 and RS-422 standards compliant
-- Rx inputs feature "fail-safe-if-open" design (logic high Rx output if Rx inputs are floating)
-- Driver outputs short circuit protected, even for voltages exceeding the power supply
-- On-chip thermal shutdown disables the Tx outputs, prevents damage if power dissipation becomes excessive
-- ISL8489E - 250 kbps
-- ISL8491E - 10 Mbps
http://www.intersil.com/interface/
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