Google vs. Cuil? Really?

Cuil, the new search engine apparently launched by some very brilliant and highly accomplished ex Googlers is now making the headlines!

However, I don't think it is a case of Google vs. Cuil, as the title of this blog says. First, for me, as a user, it gives me an additional choice as far as search engines are concerned. Two, Cuil has recently started. Therefore, it would be incorrect to rank it alongside either Google or even Yahoo, as far as search results are concerned. I am sure Cuil will grow and evolve over time, so let's keep it that way.

What I like about Google is the plain looking home page with the search box! Cuil is along similar lines. The search page is a plain (black page) with a nice box in the center! The letters are grey, with the i of cuil in blue, apparently indicating Internet search... maybe! This is just my guess!

Nevertheless, the search results are not so detailed as yet, as in Google, or maybe, the safe search does not throw up so many results. Or, maybe, my choice of search words are not that interesting. Having said that, I do like the look of Cuil!

What I did find out a little while back is that if I searched for my name within quotes, Cuil shows some results. However, when I remove the quotes, during the same search session, I kept getting a message that no results were available. Strange!

Then, I went back to the Cuil home page, and retyped. This time it throws up lot of results! Maybe, Cuil can take note of this point and enhance the search better.

I also typed semicon blogs as a search. Hey, Cuil threw up more results! I will try some more searches later. What's key for every search engine is the relevance of the results that they throw up.

Another thing with Cuil is that it gives you options like getting search results in two or three columns. This one, personally, I didn't quite like. Maybe, it will take some time for me to get used to it. I am especially so used to Yahoo and Google, and the long lists of results they display on one page. So, maybe, I am biased.

Besides, I am waiting for Cuil to offer similar services like Google, or even Yahoo, including email. Till then, I don't think it is wise to say this is now going to be Google vs. Cuil! Cuil has just started and needs time to grow!

As a user, I am particularly thrilled with an additional search option. Hope to get better results from Cuil (pronounced COOL, i think), and I am looking forward to an email service, or a page like My Yahoo or iGoogle on Cuil as well.

Also, both Yahoo and Google have so many other options and sites like Yahoo 360, Orkut, etc. Or even Blogger, a platform used by so many folks like me for putting down their thoughts -- like this post! Maybe, Cuil will have some or more of these things too, in future, including a chat agent like Google Talk or Yahoo Messenger.

Till then, enjoy Cuil! Cuil needs time to settle down and start functioning on similar or better lines before there are such talks of Google vs. Cuil or Cuil vs. Yahoo and the likes.

Karnataka semicon policy very soon!

The government of Karnataka will be announcing a semiconductor policy very soon, according to Katta Subramanya Naidu, the minister for Excise, Information, BWWB, IT and BT, government of Karnataka, while delivering the opening address at the ISA Excite organized by the India Semiconductor Association.

Over the last several years, India has been a destination favored by almost all leading global semiconductor companies for setting up their development centers for semiconductors and embedded designs.

The size of the Indian semicon design industry is currently $6 billion across VLSI and board design, and embedded software, with the potential to be around $9 billion by 2009. There are nearly 200 companies and it employs over 130,000 professionals, all over India, with the potential to employ over 180,000 by 2009. The Indian semicon design industry has a CAGR of nearly 22 percent versus the global average of 7-8 percent.

Nearly 90 percent of the VLSI design work is done out of Bangalore alone. Appropriately, the ISA is headquartered in Bangalore, the heart of India's chip industry. The minister said: "The conducive work environment policies and high-quality talent are the important attractions for both MNCs and Indian companies to set up shop here. We value the contribution of our technology leaders and engineers to build the economy of the state and make it a global leader. Bangalore is next only to Silicon Valley, California, in terms of the work done here."

New centers likely
In future, the government of Karnataka wants to look at Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli as important centers to be developed. "These are centers of education with high quality and quantity of engineering talent. Our government is working on improving the connectivity to these cities to help attract investment there, as well as the expansion of companies from Bangalore to other towns within Karnataka," he added.

Welcome the ISA initiative to launch Excite, a program for the semiconductor and ecosystem companies, he noted that it was a good platform to understand the technology trends and to collaborate with the right partner.

He said: "Karnataka today is at the crossroads. We have the direction and leadership of Hon'ble chief minister Yeddyruppa. He is extremely committed to the cause of making Karnataka as the most preferred destination for the semiconductor industry and electronics hardware manufacturing. My (BJP) government would be glad to extend any support for your business plans in the state."

Semicon policy soon
The state government plans to announce a semiconductor policy in the very near future, actually. It has also earmarked land for a hardware technology park near the new airport (in Devanahalli).

The government is also thinking in the lines of finishing schools in PPP mode as the semiconductor industry is technology driven, and demands continuous training and re-skilling of the workforce.

Initiatives in Karnataka
The minister pointed out that his government has been taking several pro-active steps for further accelerating the growth of these sectors, as well as for their expansion in tier II and III cities. For these two sectors, the government proposes to identify and set apart exclusive IT/BT zones in Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Shimoga and Gulbarga.

Yeddyruppa, the state chief minister, has made an announcement of a number of initiatives to boost the growth and development of IT/BT. A bio-IT park on a 100-acre plot is proposed to be developed with private participation near Bangalore. IT parks, with private participation, would be set up in tier II and III cities. A massive IT city on the lines of the Electronics City near Bangalore is under consideration. Similarly, BT parks are proposed to be set up in Mangalore, Dharwad and Bidar. KEONICS, a government of Karnataka undertaking, will play a major role in development of the IT city, IT parks and computer literacy campaigns.

He added that the state government believes in formulating initiatives and policies in consultation with the industry. The existing Mahithi IT policy is also being revised with inputs from the Vision Group on IT headed by N.R. Narayana Murthy of Infosys.

"The state government would be happy to see IT and BT developments happening in tier II and III cities. We are taking steps to improve and upgrade the infrastructure in these cities. The CM is personally reviewing the construction and upgradation of airports in Mysore, Shimoga and Gulbarga, which will provide vital air connectivity, essential for the growth of industry and business," he noted.

The NASSCOM-Kearney report has identified 43 potential locations in the country for IT development. The report also suggests measures to be taken to make these locations attractive for IT investments. Recommendations, such as improving the quality of education, imparting employable skills to the uneducated youth, improving infrastructure, particularly, air connectivity, etc., would be taken into consideration.

The minister said: "Our government would take all the necessary steps to ensure that there is no flight of investment to other states, and to make Karnataka the most attractive region for IT/BT investments. We want the semiconductor industry to grow and flourish in the state."

Participative semicon policy likely
Elaborating on the proposed semiconductor policy for Karnataka, Ashok Kumar C. Manoli, principal secretary to the government, said: "When you look at India, it is software, and when you look at China, it is hardware. We should make a beginning and try and become the global capital for both hardware and software. We need to design such a policy that design activities continue and also facilitate manufacturing."

He added: "We will come up with a very participative semiconductor policy. It will also look at addressing infrastructure requirements for manufacturing setups." According to him, the hardware industry is the foundation for the entire revolution, which the government is looking at. He requested all companies present at the ISA Excite to participate at the forthcoming BangaloreIT.com event, and added that the state government was committed and fully geared up to deliver.

Announcing the ISA Excite initiative, Sanjeev Keskar, country sales manager, Freescale Semiconductor India Pvt Ltd, said: "We need to collaborate with the right partner. The ISA felt the need to arrange an ecosystem meet. Telecom and healthcare are the two drivers of importance." The ISA has plans to take Excite to other cities too, possibly, New Delhi, focusing on industrial and consumer.

The one-day ISA Excite event had an exhibition running simultaneously, featuring about 40 companies. These included ARM, Farnell, Ittiam Systems, Broadcom, Cosmic Circuits, Windriver, Wipro, HCL, AMDL, LSI Logic, TI, NXP, Cisco, Synopsys, SemIndia, Freescale, Open Silicon, MindTree, AMD, Analog Devices, RFMD, Cir-Q-Tech, NewEra, STPI, etc.

Bangalore not cowed down by serial blasts, ISA Excite a success

Friends, I am really pained to report that Bangalore has been rocked by eight-nine serial blasts of low intensity today! As per the TV channels, there have been two deaths and several people injured. This is extremely unfortunate!

Countrymen and women, please join me in condemning this dastardly act of the serial blasts in Bangalore today.

I would also like to add a message sent to me by a good friend, Xavier, which says: Bangalore, don't be cowed down!

This is a small gesture that goes out to send the right signal to those who are keen to take away our freedom, our right to live peacefully for whatever their ideology is!

"Let our thoughts and prayers be with the near and dear ones of those killed and injured in these blasts."

Those who indulge in such activities are cowards. While such acts are meant to create panic, Bangalore has stood firm! Yes, people across the city, in various offices and other establishments, left home early, more so as a precautionary measure, telephone lines were jammed for some time, and there were the usual traffic jams -- largely due to the rains. However, there has been little panic. Yes, there may have been panic in the affected areas for some hours post the blasts.

In fact, I wasn't even aware of the blasts as I was attending a wonderful event on semiconductors -- the ISA Excite -- with a colleague, Ravinder, at Leela Palace. We only learned of the blasts on reaching office! Interestingly, there were little signs of panic on the roads as we were driving back to the office! Well, I've had quite a few phone calls and messages, thereafter! Am sure, it's been the same for nearly everyone in the city.

The country has gone on high alert since the blasts, as these can actually happen anywhere! However, India is a strong country, made up of very strong-minded people. Such acts of cowardice will not stop the normal pace of life. At best, normal life could be disrupted for a few hours.

Of course, a lot needs to be done to secure the IT capital of India, and possibly the world. It is hoped that the security agencies in India would do everything within their capability to ensure that such acts are not repeated. The damage could have been far greater, and some even wonder, whether there is some sort of a hidden message behind today's serial blasts.

Going back to the ISA Excite event, organized by the India Semiconductor Association, it was really heartening to learn that the Karnataka state will soon have its own semiconductor policy. I will be blogging more on this later tonight or tomorrow.

I'd also like to mention that the ISA Excite event was a very strong indication that the Indian semiconductor industry is very healthy and doing well, although, we may not yet have a wafer IC fab, and there are infrastructure challenges to mount.

Nearly everyone from the Indian semiconductor fraternity was present at the show. I am sure, several people heard about the blasts, and expressed their disgust at the happenings. However, the show went on! When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It was a message from the Indian semiconductor industry that even in tough times, it will move forward.

The show must always go on! And successfully!

Semicon to grow 10pc during 2008: Future Horizons

Hold on to your horses, folks. The year 2008 may not be so bad after all for the global semiconductor industry, according to Malcolm Penn, CEO, Future Horizons.

While presenting the mid-term semiconductor industry outlook in London this week, he said that the overall semiconductor outlook for 2008 was somewhere between 7-10 perfect. This includes 5-8 percent unit growth plus 2 percent ASP growth.

In his presentation, he ruled out any changes in forecast, saying that the industry could grow at about 10 percent this year, though 12 percent growth was still possible.

Will unit sales will hold up then? This is one of the great unknown answers! Unit visibility is bad, very bad, he adds. The inventory excesses/adjustments can always catch you out, but the underlying 10 percent pa annual unit growth will continue.

When put together with increasing ASPs, will it start to deliver strong overall chip market growth? Penn assumes that this may happen either second half of this year at best, or second half of next year at worst.

How has the memory market been doing among all of this? Well, it has really been lousy, and it is this that is holding back the overall market numbers!

There have been concerns over the lack of investment in the overall semiconductor manufacturing capacity. This trend will likely continue. Penn says: "Yes, this was the whole theme for the capacity section. It's been going on for a year and will continue that way for most of this year. That earliest correction will come in Q4-08, i.e., capacity in Q4-09."

In the midst of all of this, it seems that the Asian giants such as China and India, as well as the other emerging markets have been compensating adequately for the recessionary tendencies elsewhere.

Finally, are the Intels, Samsungs and the foundries of this world spending the required billions of dollars to bring on production at the leading-edge? Penn says: "Intel yes, but Samsung is slowing, but the foundries, no! The reason? To put up their prices; the industry is fed up with four successive years of decreasing revenues per wafer start, despite all of the billions spent on new investment."

So what's Future Horizon's overall outlook for 2008? One, no change to IFS2008-09 analysis. If anything, the fundamentals are stronger! Also, the global economic outlook has strengthened. However, fab capacity expansion rate has slowed. The inventory is as controlled as it gets. PC and mobile phone markets remain robust.

However, there is weakening consumer demand in the US and the UK/Eurozone. The memory markets are continuing to be plagued with price wars. As a result, the YoY maths has been slightly impacted (down). The balance still leans to the upside, depending on the ASPs.

Danger signs to watch?
Multiple, he says! Capacity: It’s hard to see how this can spoil 2008-09, provided unit growth holds up (need to watch capex). Next, demand -- the current IC unit demand is sustainable provided the economy holds up (need to watch inventory). On the economy itself, the current outlook continues good, but risks still on the downside (if it does tank, run for the life boats).

And finally, ASPs, which are always the industry’s first line of defence (ASPs can still derail Q3/Q4, but they are improving, memories aside).

Chip industry in perspective
Technology marches on, new markets open, old ones expand, enhancing our lives. The fall out at the macro level affects the entire world economy. Next, the electronic market was traditionally Japan, North America and Western Europe. It now encompasses the whole Asian Rim, China, Eastern Europe and India. There has been a middle class market growth from 500 million to 3 billion people.

Large chip markets have become larger, niches have become commodities, and new niches have arisen. Far from maturing, the industry is still in its volatile high growth phase, says Penn, with at least a further 20 years of strong growth in prospect.

Third digital wave leaders will be different from today. The shakeout has started. The underlying growth drivers for chips continues good. The market’s not maturing nor slowing, and neither have the industry dynamics / psyche (globally competitive / intensely competitive).

As Penn says, he who dares may not necessarily win, but the feint-hearted will definitely lose! Aptly sums up the state of the global semiconductor industry.

Get ready for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)

Building integrated photovoltaics or BIPV! Hey folks, prepare yourself to hear more about this term and the technology for quite some time to come! Solar/PV will be the next big story in India, and BIPV should be right up there at the top!

While BIPV is not yet talked about a lot in India, though, it may surprise many that there has been a deployment in India, I am sure that BIPV will be doing the rounds very soon.

There's another interesting angle to the BIPV, rather, solar story. Can EDA play a role here? I will examine this angle some time later.

First, what is BIPV? According to PV Resources, BIPV is merely photovoltaic systems integrated with an object's building phase. They are built/constructed along with an object, or planned together with the object. Yet, they could be built later on.

The following BIPV systems are said to be recognized:

* Facade or roof systems added after the building was built.
* Facade integrated photovoltaic systems built along with an object.
* Roof-integrated photovoltaic systems built along with an object.
* "Shadow-Voltaic" - PV systems also used as shadowing systems, built along with an object or added later.

If there are more, kindly share the information with me!

Now, to India. Just recently, Dr. Madhu Atre, president, Applied Materials India, referred to the use of BIPV during a discussion. He said that for energy-efficient glass, you could save on AC costs, etc., by using building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). I hope we take serious note of what Dr. Atre said!

Didn't they say green IT was the most used and abused term? We really love talking so much about green IT. Well, here's an outstanding example, and actually, an example very few have really bothered to look at, so far, at least.

Staying with India, very few know that SunTechnics India, a brand of Conergy Group, a leading supplier of solar system integration, completed the design and installation of India's first green housing project facilitated with building-integrated solar power.

The 58 kilowatt project was developed in partnership with the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency (WBREDA) as an initiative in solar architecture for the Rabi Rashmi Abasan eco-friendly housing complex at New Town Kolkata, of all places! Power will be fed into the public grid and facilitate electricity needs for 25 residential buildings and a community center.

If anyone has any doubts about the scope and power of solar or BIPV, take a look at Nanomarkets' report, which predicts that the market for BIPV will reach over $4.0 billion in revenues by 2013 and surpass $8 billion in 2015.

Late last month, I had written about certain steps Karnataka and the other states could adopt as part of a semicon policy.

Do include BIPV in your plans!

Actually, BIPV is very much part of the Indian semicon policy as well. West Bengal is probably the first state to have successfully implemented BIPV in a project. Congratulations are due!

Cadence C-to-Silicon Compiler eliminates barriers to HLS adoption

Cadence Design Systems Inc. recently announced its C-to-Silicon Compiler, said to be the next-generation of HLS (high-level synthesis) technology.

The C-to-Silicon Compiler is said to eliminate historical barriers to HLS adoption to deliver the quality of results and net productivity gains engineers need. It also produces RTL (register transfer level) with quality at or above the 90th percentile of manual RTL design, while increasing the engineering productivity up to 10X. HLS incidentally, reduces the manual effort required to produce RTL, thereby enabling designers to avoid syntax errors common in traditional methodologies.

I was very fortunate enough to be able to speak directly with Steve Svoboda, marketing director for system level design products, Cadence, in the US, last evening, on the C-to-Silicon Compiler.

According to Svoboda, this tool can accurately predict timing estimates. Logic synthesis ability is embedded into the tool. Cadence logic sysnthesis has been embedded inside HLS. HLS transforms C and C++ into RTL.

What can this product actually do for the EDA industry? He says it can actually take EDA up to a new level in terms of delivering additional productivity to designers.

"When design compiler and logic synthesis came, it was during the golden era of the semiconductor industry. Productivity was increasing rapidly. But the problem is, since the early 1990s, there has been no real change in the RTL design methodology. The only productivity increase has come out in form of design re-use," he says.

"This (C-to-Silicon Compiler) could re-energize semiconductor and EDA industries by at least 10X times. About 20 years ago, there was 10X productivity increase. By having HLS, we can now close the gap and tackle the chips more effectively now."

So, first up, will C-to-Silicon Compiler compete with custom design projects? Svoboda it won't! Custom design projects typically utilize transistor-level design. C-to-Silicon is made to work within a standard ASIC design-flow.

Accelerate and improve verification
The C-to-Silicon Compiler will both accelerate and improve verification as well. The timing-approximate fast hardware models (FHMs) run 80-90 percent the speed of untimed C-models (or two-three orders of magnitude faster than RTL). This enables the hardware-software co-verification with greater timing accuracy.

The next question is: can people use third-party synthesis tools, along with the proprietary Cadence systhesis tool? Svoboda says that the C-to-Silicon Compiler outputs IEEE-standard Verilog RTL. Therefore, the output can go to any third-party synthesis tool. However, as the RTL output is generated using timing estimates from Cadence RTL Compiler, designers will get the best quality of results when using RTL Compiler for logic synthesis.

Will C-to-Silicon Compiler better predict performance and power? And if yes, has this cracked the low-power design issue? Svoboda adds that because of embedded logic synthesis, the C-to-Silicon Compiler can predict performance and (in principle) power better than other high-level synthesis tools.

He says: "Power estimation/optimization are key feature sets planned for upcoming releases of C-to-Silicon Compiler. We believe that those capabilities will enable the designers to create designs that are much better optimized for power, since design decisions with greatest power impact are made at the system-level."

Finally, how does C-to-Silicon compiler handle hardware allocation and scheduling operations? The answer is, C-to-Silicon Compiler handles hardware allocation and scheduling using various proprietary algorithms and heuristics. Many of these are based on previous research at Cadence Berkeley Labs.

Svoboda notes: "One should note that the better quality of results/performance of C-to-Silicon is due primarily to its inherent ability to generate more accurate timing-estimates than other HLS tools. The higher accuracy timing estimates result from the embedding of logic synthesis within the HLS tool/process, which enables gathering of full-context gate-level information to derive the timing estimates.

"Other HLS approaches rely on pre-characterization of technology libraries, which is not accurate enough, because those gate level estimates are only nominal values, and do not take into account the full-context of the design (fan-in, fan-out, buffers, etc.)"

Lastly, what happens to ESL (electronic system-level) tools? He believes that this tool will help the ESL market.

Svoboda says: "We now have a methodology to do design creation in C++ and SystemC. For example, they do virtual prototyping, hardware-software co-design, etc. In the past, when engineers created designs, they had to re-design in C++, etc. Our tool creates the RTL automatically for them. So, this could re-energize the ESL market very well."

It will be interesting to see what the other EDA firms such as Synopsys and Magma have in store!

The Internet is going mobile!

This title of this blog has actually been borrowed from a statement made by Gadi Singer, vice president of Intel's Mobility Group and general manager of the company's SOC Enabling Group, which I came across on SEMI's site.

Is this a recent phenomena, or has the Apple iPhone led to a strong belief in this statement that the Internet is truly going mobile? And what was that craze for 'WAP bashing' some nine to ten years ago all about? Perhaps, it is a bit of both!

I was fortunate enough to use a WAP-enabled mobile phone back in Hong Kong, in 1999-2000, a Siemens model. I tried checking my Yahoo Mail on the phone with some success. Also, I found it very convenient to search for Indian restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui. All of this, when the 'WAP bashing' was at its peak!

In 2001, at an event organized by Frost & Sullivan in Singapore, I was probably among the three people in a large audience found to be using the mobile phone for Internet access. This is so long back, that even I can't recall for sure how many folks were really found to be using mobile Internet! Anyhow! Those were also the days when mobile Internet, as a theme, was quite popular at global telecom events, largely driven by the craze for NTT DoCoMo's i-mode phones.

Well, no one really wanted to accept back then that the Internet was going mobile! Also, the flak that some of the European carriers had to take due to their obtaining various 'quite expensive' 3G licenses dimmed the concept of the mobile Internet.

We have come a long way since! While GPRS and 3G did bring some or quite large extent of the Internet to the mobile, possibly, the push really happened when this phenomena called social networking gathered steam.

The Apple iPhone, and now, the iPhone 3G, with its cool wireless social networking applications have truly ported the Internet to the mobile. The iPhone 3G is all the rage right now. Sales crossed the 1-million mark within three days, as per various reports on the Internet. That's some speed! That's also an outstanding indication of how people are making a dash for the phenomena called wireless social networking.

In the midst of all of this, 3G, and specifically, HSDPA (and W-CDMA), has come really come to stay. The telecom-media convergence has also happened very seamlessly in the background.

While the world's leading semiconductor firms continue to churn out one excellent chip after another, especially for mobile phones/telecom, it is time to acknowledge the fact that the Internet has truly gone mobile!

One last word. Do find time to stand up and applaud the hard work put in by the semiconductor and software industry, who make all of this happen.