Press Releases

Kawasaki, Japan, Feb 10, 2010 - (ACN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and the University of Toronto today announced their joint development of a new processing method for transceiver chips used in gigabit-class(1) high-speed data transmission over wirelines. The new technology employs digital circuitry to replace previously-required structures that used analog circuits. While analog processing require circuits that are adapted to the specifications of a signal being transmitted, such as transmission distance and amplitude, this new digital approach can perform these optimizations automatically, so that a single circuit could be used to accommodate a wide range of various wireline communications. Compared to conventional processing methods, this new digital-processing method makes it possible to shorten development periods by approximately half. It is anticipated that this new technology in the future could be applied to a variety of wireline communication applications, including 10 Gbps high-speed Ethernet in datacenters.

Details of this technology were presented at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference 2010 (ISSCC 2010) being held in San Francisco from February 7-11. (Presentation number: 8.7)

Background and Technological Challenges

File size data volumes for large photographic, audio, and video files are becoming increasingly larger, thus requiring a significant amount of bandwidth to transmit, leading to demand for ever-faster wireline data communications. Conventional transceiver chips rely on analog circuitry which needs to be optimized to accommodate specifications of the signal being transmitted - such as transmission distance and amplitude - and therefore require multiple transceiver chips to be designed in order to accommodate for various applications.

With a growing diversity of devices featuring high-speed data transmission, the need to optimize an existing technology for every new type of device or model has become a bottleneck in the development process. Efforts to develop transceiver chips within short development periods that can accommodate the wide range of different devices have been proven challenging.

Newly-developed Technology

Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto have developed a digital circuit-based transceiver chip. Featuring digital circuitry, the new transceiver chip can automatically optimize itself for a variety of high-speed communications circuits, thus significantly reducing development periods by approximately half compared with conventional methods.

This technology detects variations in the delay on the time axis of the input signal, caused during data transmission, and based on that can automatically adjust the timing it uses for judging whether an incoming signal is a 0 or 1 (Figure 1). Since variations in data transmissions increase along with faster transmission speeds, this new technology is essential for accurate data exchange. This is the world's first technology to achieve Gbps-class speeds without the use of analog circuitry elements, while offering fully-digital timing adjustments for signal-determination.

Results

As a world's first, by using digital circuitry-based high-speed transceiver technology, Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto's new technology makes it possible to reduce the design and development period for a gigabit-class transceiver chip by approximately one-half (1/2) compared with conventional methods. This suggests that transceiver chips for a wide range of communications devices could be offered in a timely manner.

Future Developments

Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto will continue with development of this technology to optimize the digital signal processing, to further reduce the transceiver's power consumption.

Glossary and Notes

1 Gigabit-class/Gigabits-per-second (Gbps):Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) expresses data rate and indicates how many gigabits can be transferred per second. 10 Gbps is 10 billion bits-per-second (10 billion bps) = 10,000 megabits-per-second (10,000 Mbps), and indicates that 10 billion bits of data can be transferred per second.

About University of Toronto

Established in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, recognized as a global leader in research and teaching. U of T's distinguished faculty, institutional record of groundbreaking scholarship and wealth of innovative academic opportunities continually attract outstanding students and academics from around the world. U of T is committed to providing a learning experience that benefits from both a scale almost unparalleled in North America and from the close-knit learning communities made possible through its college system and academic divisions. Located in and around Toronto, one of the world's most diverse regions, U of T's vibrant academic life is defined by a unique degree of cultural diversity in its learning community. The University is sustained environmentally by three green campuses, where renowned heritage buildings stand beside award-winning innovations in architectural design.

For more information: http://www.utoronto.ca/

About Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. For more information, please visit www.fujitsu.com.

Contact: Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
Design Solutions Lab.
Platform Technologies Lab.
Tel: +81-44-754-2635
E-mail:hsio_adc_pr@ml.labs.fujitsu.com

University of Toronto
Prof. Ali Sheikholeslami
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tel: +1(416)978-1681
E-mail:ali@eecg.utoronto.ca
Address: 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4

Copyright 2010 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved.

Kawasaki, Japan, Feb 10, 2010 - (ACN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Limited and the University of Toronto today announced that they have jointly developed the world's first high-reliability read-method for use with spin-torque-transfer (STT) MRAM(1) that is insusceptible to erroneous writes. STT MRAM is regarded as a potential future form of non-volatile memory(2) that could be used as an alternative to flash memory. NOR flash memory that is embedded in microcontrollers widely used in mobile phones and other electronic devices is expected to reach the limits of its feasible miniaturization in the near future, which has led to the search for an alternative low-power non-volatile memory that will allow continued necessary miniaturization. By resolving one of the major obstacles to using STT MRAM, Fujitsu and the University of Toronto's new read-method marks a major step towards the practical implementation of STT MRAM as a necessary replacement for flash memory, in view of future requirements that will be necessary for compact and low-power electronic devices.

Details of this technology were presented at the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference 2010 (ISSCC 2010) being held in San Francisco from February 7-11. (Presentation number: 14.1)

Background

Many electronic devices such as mobile phones or PDAs use microcontrollers with embedded flash memory, which allows onboard software to be rewritten. However, NOR flash memory used in such microcontrollers is nearing the physical limits of its miniaturization, which has led to research on various types of memory that could replace NOR flash memory.

STT MRAM, which uses magnetic materials as the memory storage element, is gaining attention as an emerging potential candidate to replace flash memory, as STT MRAM meets the needs for speed, low power consumption, and miniaturization that would make it a good candidate to replace flash memory.

Technological Challenges

STT MRAM uses memory storage elements that take advantage of the effect in which a current that is passed through a magnetic material - such as a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ)(3) - reverses its direction of magnetization (Figure 1). Passing a current through the MTJ causes its direction of magnetization to switch between a parallel or anti-parallel state, which has the effect of switching between low resistance and high resistance. Because this can be used to represent the 1s and 0s of digital information, STT MRAM can be used as a non-volatile memory.

Reading STT MRAM involves applying a voltage to the MTJ to discover whether the MTJ offers high resistance to current ("1") or low ("0"). However, a relatively high voltage needs to be applied to the MTJ to correctly determine whether its resistance is high or low, and the current passed at this voltage leaves little difference between the read-current and the write-current. Any fluctuation in the electrical characteristics of individual MTJs could cause what was intended as a read-current, to have the effect of a write-current, thus reversing the direction of magnetization of the MTJ.

Newly-developed Technology

In a joint collaboration, Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto have developed an innovative circuit design (Figure 3) that for the first time resolves the issue of erroneous writes in STT MRAM during read operations.

The newly developed read-method uses a negative resistance(4) that is intermediate between the MTJ's high resistance and low resistance on a parallel circuit (Figure 4). If the MTJ is in a high-resistance state, this circuit exhibits negative-resistance characteristics. If the MTJ is in a low-resistance state, then it exhibits normal-resistance characteristics. These characteristics allow the resistance value to be read at lower voltages than before, suppressing the tendency of the read operation to reverse the direction of magnetization and avoiding the problem of erroneous write operations.

Results

The development of this new read circuit with negative resistance has resulted in STT MRAM that is insusceptible to erroneous writes caused by fluctuations in the electrical characteristics of the MTJs. It is anticipated that the STT MRAM used as miniaturized non-volatile memory would enable greater high-performance in mobile phones and other electronic devices.

Future Developments

Fujitsu Laboratories and the University of Toronto plan to continue with R&D related to STT MRAM to strive toward practical implementation, such as lowering write currents and developing process technologies for further miniaturization.

Glossary and Notes

1 Spin- Torque-Transfer MRAM:Spin-torque-transfer magnetoresistive (STT) random access memory. MRAM that uses the "spin-torque-transfer" effect to reverse the direction of magnetization of an element by passing current through it.

2 Non-volatile memory:Memory that persists even when electrical power is cut.

3 Magnetic tunnel junction (MJT):A tunnel junction that uses the magnetoresistive effect. Consists of a recording layer made of ferromagnetic material, an insulating film a few atoms thick, and a layer made of ferromagnetic material that will not change its direction of magnetization in the presence of a current.

4 Negative resistance:An element that has negative resistance value, in which its current decreases when voltage rises.

About University of Toronto

Established in 1827, the University of Toronto is Canada's largest university, recognized as a global leader in research and teaching. U of T's distinguished faculty, institutional record of groundbreaking scholarship and wealth of innovative academic opportunities continually attract outstanding students and academics from around the world. U of T is committed to providing a learning experience that benefits from both a scale almost unparalleled in North America and from the close-knit learning communities made possible through its college system and academic divisions. Located in and around Toronto, one of the world's most diverse regions, U of T's vibrant academic life is defined by a unique degree of cultural diversity in its learning community. The University is sustained environmentally by three green campuses, where renowned heritage buildings stand beside award-winning innovations in architectural design.

For more information: http://www.utoronto.ca/

About Fujitsu Ltd

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. For more information, please visit www.fujitsu.com.

Contact: Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.
Technology Integration Lab.
Platform Technologies Lab.
Tel: +81(46)250-8379
E-mail:til-si@ml.labs.fujitsu.com

University of Toronto
Prof. Ali Sheikholeslami
Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tel: +1(416)978-1681
E-mail:ali@eecg.utoronto.ca
Address: 10 King's College Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G4 Canada

Copyright 2010 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved.

SAN MATEO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/10/10 -- Kabira Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of high performance, network-centric software solutions for telecommunications service providers around the globe, today announced the general availability of its Kabira® MQ Channel 1.0, which provides a high-speed bi-directional link between Kabira's Fluency™ transaction platform technology, its Policy Orchestration™ offerings and IBM WebSphere MQ enterprise service bus (ESB) messaging software. The new Kabira software interface is designed to support client-side integration with the WebSphere MQ software and is fully compatible with MQ versions 6 and 7. Integration with the WebSphere MQ ESB messaging software is completely transparent -- allowing the Kabira system to appear like another node on the MQ network.

By implementing the Kabira MQ Channel, a large UK-based wireless service provider is able to seamlessly integrate their existing WebSphere MQ-based messaging architecture with a Kabira-based policy solution.

"Communications service providers and media companies that have standardized on IBM WebSphere MQ as their corporate message bus now have the ability to directly integrate Kabira's Policy Orchestration solutions into their network architectures," said Manish Gupta, vice president of global marketing at Kabira. "This MQ channel enhances our customers' ability to more rapidly develop and deliver new high-performance solutions that will extend existing functionality and networks."

The Kabira WebSphere MQ channel is supported for Kabira systems that run on version 3.5.4 or later of Kabira's core transaction technology. It is immediately available as an upgrade for Kabira systems deployed on the Intel X86_64 architecture under Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 5.4, as well as for multicore Sun Sparc systems running the Solaris 10 operating system. As with all Kabira software, the MQ Channel 1.0 ships with a fully integrated set of test cases to accelerate deployment and testing within existing MQ networks. Pricing is similar to that of other standard Kabira channels and is available upon request.

You can find additional information about Kabira Technologies and its solutions at www.kabira.com and more information on IBM WebSphere MQ at www.ibm.com/software/wmq. To obtain more detailed information that details how Kabira integrates into existing MQ installations, please send an email to info@kabira.com with your request.

About Kabira Technologies, Inc.

Kabira Technologies provides communications service providers software applications and performance technology elements that accelerate their Pace of Return by reducing time-to-revenue while lowering overall cost of growth. With installations serving over 700 million subscribers for over 100 customers in more than 40 countries, Kabira has established its reputation for delivering highly scalable and highly reliable solutions. Based on Fluency™, Kabira's powerful transaction platform, Kabira's Policy, Fulfillment and Payments Orchestration product suites are designed to provide essential capabilities that enable service providers to launch services in record time, while creating new ways to monetize their investments. Some of Kabira's customers include, AT&T Corp., Orange/France Telecom, Visa, VimpelCom, T-mobile, Hutchison, Saudi Telecom and NTT.

Kabira, Orchestration by Kabira, Policy Orchestration, Fulfillment Orchestration, Payments Orchestration, Fluency, Fluency at the Core and the Kabira logo are registered trademarks, registered service marks or trademarks or service marks of Kabira, and its affiliates, in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For more information, visit: www.kabira.com.

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Kabira Global PR Contact:
Sharon Kawaguchi
+1 650 931 3746
Email Contact

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Omniture, an Adobe company (NASDAQ: ADBE) and a leading provider of online business optimization software, today announced the newest version of Omniture SearchCenter, providing deeper insight into how consumers are engaging with paid search links across all supported search engines. SearchCenter, through an enhanced integration with Omniture SiteCatalyst, now provides search query data for all major search engines. Through this data, SearchCenter offers recommendations on potentially strong-performing keywords, refinement of existing terms and discovery of negative terms. This allows customers the capability to reduce keyword costs and increase conversion rates by matching more relevant ads with search terms. Also, new enhancements to bid management automation save time and give greater flexibility and control over search campaigns.

To better optimize ad spend, search marketers require insight into the actual queries consumers are entering for research or buying needs. However, collecting and analyzing query data and managing bid strategies for large sets of keywords is complicated and time consuming. The newest version of SearchCenter addresses these issues with several updates that include:

    --  Consolidated query data reports across all supported search engines that
        save effort and time required for analysis by search marketers.
    --  Analysis of query data provides additional keyword recommendations based
        on search behavior from actual queries resulting in additional traffic
        for advertisers.
    --  Create bid management strategies with new default templates or easily
        create custom bid management strategies based on key conversion metrics.

"Recently, our company was named a winner in the B2B online awards, thanks to our use of Omniture SearchCenter and Omniture SiteCatalyst," said Petra Studholme, paid search manager, Xbridge Limited (www.simplybusiness.co.uk). "With the new updates to SearchCenter, I no longer have to run search query reports from Google. I can manage this process directly within SearchCenter. This functionality alone saves me a couple of hours a day. SearchCenter now plays a significant role in our growing online initiatives."

"The latest SearchCenter release will help BGT advance the level of insight we provide into our clients' marketing programs," said David Clarke, Founder and Managing Partner of BGT Partners, one of the oldest and most award-winning interactive agencies in the U.S. "The new keyword recommendation application will help further expand and optimize our keyword lists. Additionally, updates to the bid rule functionality have allowed for better and more efficient management of paid search campaigns."

Omniture SearchCenter is the company's search engine marketing management application and is now approaching $1 billion in ad spend under management. SearchCenter is part of the Omniture Online Marketing Suite, an integrated suite of optimization applications for visitor acquisition, conversion, online and channel analytics.

The new version of Omniture SearchCenter is now available. For more information on Omniture SearchCenter, contact your Omniture account manager, call toll free (877) 722-7088 or visit www.omniture.com/en/products/search_marketing/searchcenter.

About Omniture, An Adobe company

Omniture, a business unit of Adobe Systems Incorporated, is a leading provider of online business optimization software for managing and enhancing online, offline and multi-channel business initiatives. Hosted and delivered via on-demand subscription service and on-premise solution, Omniture software enables customers to capture, store and analyze information generated by their Web sites and other sources, providing business insights into the performance and efficiency of marketing and sales initiatives and other business processes. For more information, visit www.omniture.com.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

(C) 2010 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Omniture, the Omniture logo, Omniture SearchCenter and the Omniture Online Marketing Suite are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

    Source: Adobe Systems Incorporated