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.

ABERDEENSHIRE, UK -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/10/10 -- THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES

Xcite Energy (TSX-V: XEL) (AIM: XEL) (LSE: XEL), a developer of heavy oil assets in the UK North Sea, is pleased to announce that it has exchanged a letter of intent with Applied Drilling Technology International ("ADTI"), the well management arm of Transocean Drilling U.K. Limited, for the provision of a heavy duty, deep water jack-up drilling unit to undertake the drilling and testing of the 9/3b-R well on the Company's Bentley field.

Further details are expected to be announced after the contract is completed, which is subject to various approvals, including Xcite Energy board approval, available funding and regulatory approvals.

ADTI has also joined the Bentley Alliance, the management and operational structure created by Xcite Energy as the vehicle to direct the Bentley field to full field development. The addition of the ADTI technical expertise and project management skills is expected to greatly assist Xcite Energy in moving the Bentley field towards production.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this announcement constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to the Company's future outlook and anticipated events or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "predict", "target", "potential", "continue" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to us, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we currently expect. These factors include risks associated with the oil and gas industry (including operational risks in exploration and development and uncertainties of estimates oil and gas potential properties), the risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations and the ability of Xcite Energy to secure financing. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties are contained in the Company's annual information form dated December 8, 2009 and in the annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for Xcite Energy dated March 26, 2009 filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

ENQUIRIES:

Xcite Energy Limited
Richard Smith
Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0) 1330 826740

Rupert Cole
Chief Financial Officer
+44 (0) 1330 826740

Strand Hanson Limited (Nomad)
James Harris
Director
Rory Murphy
Director
+44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Arbuthnot Securities Limited (Broker)
Andrew Fairclough
Ed Burbidge
Director
+44 (0)20 7012 2000

Pelham Bell Pottinger
Mark Antelme
Director
+44 (0) 20 7337 1500

Paradox Public Relations
Jean-Francois Meilleur
Consultant
Karl Mansour
Consultant
+1 514 341 0408

ABERDEENSHIRE, UK -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/10/10 -- THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES

Xcite Energy (TSX-V: XEL) (AIM: XEL) (LSE: XEL), a developer of heavy oil assets in the UK North Sea, is pleased to announce that Xcite Energy Resources Limited ("XER"), its 100% owned subsidiary, has signed an agreement with AMEC for it to assist Xcite Energy demonstrate the reserves potential of the Bentley field and help bring it into production.

AMEC will advise on the upcoming Bentley 9/3b-R horizontal test well and then provide technical expertise, engineering and project management skills for the planned Early Production System for the Bentley field and the full field development solution in due course.

The services to be provided will include integrated project management, engineering, facilities design, planning and programming, supply chain management and operational support.

AMEC is a focused supplier of high-value consultancy, engineering and project management services to the world's natural resources, nuclear, clean energy, water and environmental sectors. With annual revenues of over £2.6 billion, AMEC designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers. AMEC's Natural Resources, Power & Process and Earth & Environmental businesses employ almost 22,000 people in around 40 countries worldwide.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this announcement constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Forward-looking information may relate to the Company's future outlook and anticipated events or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "predict", "target", "potential", "continue" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. These statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including expected growth, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to us, they may prove to be incorrect. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from what we currently expect. These factors include risks associated with the oil and gas industry (including operational risks in exploration and development and uncertainties of estimates oil and gas potential properties), the risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations and the ability of Xcite Energy to secure financing. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties are contained in the Company's annual information form dated December 8, 2009 and in the annual Management's Discussion and Analysis for Xcite Energy dated March 26, 2009 filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.

ENQUIRIES:

Xcite Energy Limited
Richard Smith
Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0) 1330 826740

Rupert Cole
Chief Financial Officer
+44 (0) 1330 826740

Strand Hanson Limited (Nomad)
James Harris
Director
Rory Murphy
Director
+44 (0) 20 7409 3494

Arbuthnot Securities Limited (Broker)
Andrew Fairclough
Director
Ed Burbidge
+44 (0)20 7012 2000

Pelham Bell Pottinger
Mark Antelme
Director
+44 (0) 20 7337 1500

Paradox Public Relations
Jean-Francois Meilleur
Consultant
Karl Mansour
Consultant
+1 514 341 0408

The innovative CSR7810 will significantly enhance the user experience with voice and audio on mobile phones

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

    --  Photo ref: PEM4873 (concept image)
        To download: http://www.csr.com/images/hires/pem4873.jpg (concept)
    --  Photo ref: PEM4872 (chip image)
        To download: http://www.csr.com/images/hires/pem4872.jpg (chip)

CSR (LSE: CSR) today announced CSR7810, a unique product that embeds an audio processing platform and a handset Bluetooth radio onto a single chip. Users often struggle to make themselves heard on a mobile phone - background noise from traffic, roadworks or even a noisy railway station can render conversations inaudible. CSR7810 contains voice processing technology for handsets designed to radically improve the audio quality of conversations in extremely noisy environments.

"Quality of audio has a significant impact on consumer experience with handsets," said Matthew Phillips, Senior Vice President for CSR's Handset Business Unit. "Our inventive audio platform architecture is providing our customers with a cost effective and space efficient way to provide crystal clear voice processing along with Bluetooth radio connectivity to mobile phone platforms."

By combining Bluetooth and voice processing functionality in a single chip, CSR7810 significantly reduces manufacturing costs and design integration time as well as overall PCB space. Existing handset designs that incorporate a CSR Bluetooth device can be easily upgraded to CSR7810 and benefit from noise cancellation.

"The mobile handset has evolved tremendously over the past decade," said Raj Gawera, Vice President of Marketing for CSR's Handset Business Unit. "However one area that hasn't changed much is the user audio experience - until now. Cellular operators are upgrading their networks to have wider audio pipes to improve the audio experience. On the mobile handset side, there is the increased use of speech recognition technology. Operating systems such as Google Android 2.0 contain built-in speech recognition to enter text and control phone functions. All of this means that active noise cancellation will quickly become a mandatory technology on high end phones."

CSR7810's noise cancellation uses signals from one or two microphones (digital or analogue) to remove background noise from the transmitted voice signal. By 'listening' to both the caller's voice and the surrounding environment, and then calculating the difference between the two signals, CSR's dual-microphone noise cancellation makes a big difference to audibility.

CSR's Audibility Enhancement algorithms improve the incoming audio quality by dynamically adjusting the volume and equalisation at the earpiece to compensate for background noise. The Voice Equalisation and Echo Cancellation for Speakerphone mode from CSR's Clear Voice Capture (CVC) hands-free configuration technology is also included. This mode uses a single microphone noise reduction and echo cancellation algorithm to improve the transmitted and received audio quality, which allows handsets to support a speakerphone whilst still maintaining high voice quality.

The Kalimba DSP, a very power-efficient architecture optimised for low power connectivity applications, is at the heart of CSR7810. Kalimba is the lynchpin of CSR's audio platform solutions. As audio functionality becomes an increasingly prominent capability in more products utilising connectivity, CSR is receiving customer requests to incorporate Kalimba into ever more devices. CSR's Kalimba DSP has shipped in over 100 million Bluetooth devices and this expertise and success provides a proven solution for many other categories of products.

CSR7810 is the first of a range of audio devices to be launched by CSR this year, with further products optimised to suit a variety of different applications. Come and hear the difference for yourself. CSR will be demonstrating CSR7810 at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona from 15-18 February on stand E51 in Hall 1.

About CSR

SR plc is a leading provider of multifunction connectivity, location and audio platforms. CSR's technology portfolio includes Bluetooth, GPS, FM, Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11), UWB, NFC and other technologies to enable silicon platforms that incorporate fully integrated radio, baseband and microcontroller elements. CSR's Connectivity Centre is designed to enhance the user experience with mainstream mobile devices by intelligent integration of multiple wireless connectivity and location-awareness technologies. CSR's Location Platforms are complemented by wireless connectivity and multimedia capabilities for high-volume mobile consumer devices and commercial applications.

CSR's technology has been adopted by market leaders into a wide range of mobile consumer devices such as mobile phones, automobile navigation and telematics systems, portable navigation devices (PNDs), wireless headsets, mobile computers, mobile internet devices, GPS recreational devices, digital cameras, mobile gaming, plus a wide range of personal and commercial tracking applications.

More information can be found at www.csr.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains certain statements (including statements concerning plans and objectives of management for future operations or performance, or assumptions related thereto) that are 'forward looking statements' within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 in relation to the launch of CSR7810 and other future events and their potential effects on CSR. These forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as 'can', 'designed to', 'becomes', 'will', 'to be', and other similar expressions, including statements relating to: whether CSR7810 will significantly enhance the user experience with voice and audio on mobile phones, whether active noise cancellation will quickly become a mandatory technology on high end phones, and whether CSR will launch other audio devices this year. Availability and functionality of CSR7810 is subject to change. Any future release of the product or planned modifications to product capability, functionality or feature are subject to ongoing evaluation by CSR, and may or may not be implemented and should not be considered firm commitments by CSR and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. Such forward-looking statements represent the current expectations and beliefs of management of CSR, and are based upon numerous assumptions regarding CSR's business strategies and the environment in which CSR will operate and therefore involve a number of known and unknown risks, contingencies, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of CSR. Each forward looking statement speaks only as of the date hereof. CSR does not undertake to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statements contained herein, otherwise than required by law.

    Source: CSR plc