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Silicon Systems, Inc. 14351 Myford Road Tustin, California, USA
Reader Contact: On June 5, 1996, Texas Instruments acquired TDK's U.S. semiconductor subsidiary, Silicon Systems, Inc. Today, Texas Instruments Storage Products is composed of Silicons Systems, Inc., Intersect Technologies, Inc., and the DSP and ASIC units of Texas Instruments for mass storage applications. |
Silcon Systems launched major program to develop DVD chip setsFewer Components, At Reduced Cost To Speed DVD Market AcceptanceTokyo, Japan, May 23, 1996 -- Silicon Systems, the leading supplier of mixed signal ICs for advanced storage and communications applications, revealed today that it has begun a major program to develop highly-integrated, cost-effective chip sets for the emerging DVD (known as Digital Versatile Disk or Digital Video Disk) marketplace. The program will be global in scope, involving SSI design centers in the U.S., Japan and Singapore to better serve Pacific-rim customers and prospects. DVD is a standard for very high-density optical storage devices developed and supported by major consumer electronics companies including Toshiba, Sony, Matsushita, Philips and others. Originally conceived as a vehicle for storing feature length videos with full stereo sound on a single standard 4.72-inch compact disk, it is now recognized by many computer storage manufacturers as a viable archival recording method. DVD technology is projected by industry analysts to be an important factor in both the personal computer and consumer electronics marketplaces. For example, many observers expect DVD-ROMs to begin replacing high performance (8X and above) CD-ROM peripherals as the read-only storage device of choice on most desktops by late 1996. In addition, DVD-Players will begin to compete with VCRs as the delivery vehicle for full motion video and stereo sound for movies and other software in the consumer electronic arena for the 1996 Christmas season. According to Paul Bibeau, product development manager for removable storage products at SSI, "The DVD marketplace is an ideal match for the mixed-signal design methodologies and high volume BiCMOS manufacturing expertise that Silicon Systems has developed as the top supplier of ICs to the hard disk drive arena over the last two decades." "Our ability to combine analog and digital functions on a single chip for analog front end/read channels, servo/motor speed controllers, dense digital data path and interface controllers, and audio and video mixers will help reduce the overall component count in DVD products. Since the electronics content of DVD products is a major component in product cost, we believe our chip sets will make DVD much more affordable and allow for much faster market acceptance," he noted. As part of the initial phase of this DVD program, SSI and a major DVD company have co-developed a highly-integrated analog front end IC. Designated the 33P3720, this new device provides a complete on-chip DVD servo algebra repertoire for functions such as seeking, focusing and track-following, in addition to read channel functions like data recovery and filtering. Further, SSI's high performance 33C3911 CD-ROM decoder is ideal for use in the current generation of DVD-ROMs soon to arrive on the market. Over the next six months, Silicon Systems will continue work with a number of major DVD players on chip sets for their DVD-Player product lines to supplement the MPEG video chip sets that are already becoming available. The SSI program will culminate with the sampling of advanced, general-purpose DVD chip sets for a range of DVD products in January 1997. "We currently have a comprehensive development road map in place for chip sets for both DVD-ROM and DVD-Player products that should take our customers forward several product generations," Bibeau said. "We will continue to share our plans with other companies involved in DVD under non-disclosure protection to develop a comprehensive and viable chip set for the marketplace." Silicon Systems, a TDK Group company, is a leader in the design and manufacture of advanced application-specific, mixed-signal integrated circuits for the data storage and communications markets. |