DesignWare SATA Controllers Deliver High-Performance for Next Generation Solid State Drives and Enterprise Class Storage SoCs

Synopsys, Inc. announced the availability of DesignWare(R) SATA AHCI host and device digital controller IP for the latest SATA 6 Gigabit per second (Gbps) data transfer rate as defined in the Serial ATA (SATA) Revision 3.0 specification. This doubles the data rate of the previous (version 2.6) specification. DesignWare SATA IP significantly speeds the deployment of the 6Gbps interface into solid state drives and enterprise class storage system SoCs. Synopsys will be demonstrating its SATA 6Gbps capabilities in the SATA-IO booth at the upcoming Computex exhibition in Taiwan, June 2nd through June 6th.

The DesignWare SATA digital controllers for the SATA 6Gbps data transfer rate support numerous features available in the SATA Revision 3.0 Specification including new streaming Native Command Queuing (NCQ) and power management states. Streaming NCQ introduces isochrononous priority to help improve the quality of service for audio/video streaming. For more power efficient systems, the DesignWare SATA controllers implement power mode states that allow a direct transition from partial to full slumber mode, bypassing the active state. Furthermore, the inclusion of a well-defined embedded DMA engine enables designers to achieve optimal system performance while maintaining low latency and minimal CPU overhead. The included VMM-enabled DesignWare SATA Verification IP speeds the development of powerful SystemVerilog testbenches.

“As a leading fabless design integrator, GUC is committed to delivering high quality designs to our customers,” said Percy Tan, product marketing director at Global Unichip. “Synopsys is an established IP provider and utilizing their silicon-proven DesignWare SATA IP solutions for our state-of-the-art solid state drive designs enables us and our customers to significantly reduce risk, cost and speed development time of our complex SoCs.”

The SATA interface has evolved to address the growing demand for higher performance, greater storage capacity and longer battery life in mass storage devices such as solid state drives, hard disk drives and host storage controllers. As devices saturate the current SATA 3Gbps data transfer rate, the SATA 6Gbps interface, with 600 MB/s of read/write speed, addresses high bandwidth needs. Furthermore, the latest specification is backward compatible with the SATA 1.5Gbps and SATA 3Gbps interfaces, allowing designers to easily migrate to the faster data transfer rate while maintaining interoperability with existing SATA products.

“By providing IP that supports the SATA 3.0 specification, Synopsys is enabling the design community to quickly adopt the SATA interface and benefit from the fast 6Gbps data transfer rate,” said Marc Noblitt, SATA-IO board representative. “We look forward to seeing our members continue to drive advancements that help make SATA the storage interface of choice.”

“As a leading provider of SATA IP, Synopsys employs a comprehensive validation process to deliver DesignWare IP that is of high quality and functions to the SATA 3.0 specification,” said Kevin Kearney, PSG director of Storage Protocol Products at LeCroy. “By utilizing LeCroy’s protocol analyzer as an additional element in their verification process, Synopsys gives designers further confidence that the DesignWare SATA IP has met the full range of protocol requirements at the new higher 6Gbps speeds.”

“Next generation SSD’s and Enterprise Storage Controllers are driving significant advancements into the storage market such as higher bandwidth, enhanced power efficiency and increased reliability,” said John Koeter, vice president of the Solutions Group at Synopsys. “As companies incorporate the new SATA 6Gbps interface in their high-performance SoCs, Synopsys is there with a high-quality, silicon-proven IP solution that will help designers quickly implement the latest SATA functionality with less risk and improved time-to-market.”

Synopsys provides designers with a complete DesignWare SATA IP solution consisting of the device and host digital controllers, PHY and verification IP, which are silicon-proven and shipping in volume production. The complete solution has passed the latest SATA-IO Building Block interoperability testing at the SATA 3Gbps data transfer rate. Synopsys will participate in the SATA 6Gbps interoperability testing as it becomes available. Synopsys will be attending the upcoming SATA-IO Plugfest and Interoperability Workshop in June 2009 with its DesignWare SATA IP solution.

Availability

The DesignWare SATA AHCI host and device digital controllers and verification IP for SATA 6Gbps are available now. For more information on Synopsys’ complete DesignWare SATA IP solution consisting of the digital controllers, PHY and verification IP, please visit: http://www.synopsys.com/sata.


EASEUS announces its latest release: EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard V4.3.6; featuring improved technology to unformat a SD card in order to retrieve lost data on the accidentally or mistakenly formatted SD card in an amazingly easy way.

SD card, short for Secure Digital card, is a highly-sophisticated and non-volatile memory card format which is widely used in digital cameras, handheld computers, PDAs, mobile phones, GPS receivers, and video game consoles.

“We deeply understand how important the data on the SD card is to you. Mistakes happen and it seems the data will be gone forever when you format your SD card due to some unexpected reasons,” says Mr. Liu, CEO of EASEUS company. “Fortunately, you can retrieve the data by unformatting the SD card. And our award-winning data recovery software, Data Recovery Wizard, will assist you to unformat SD cards easily.”

EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard, as its name indicates, provides step-by-step instructions to unformat SD cards as an easy-to-use wizard. Data can be “magically” recovered with several clicks. EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard supports not only SD card, but also hardware RAID and hard drives, USB drives, memory cards, etc. Besides its unformatting function, this program can also recover deleted files emptied from the Recycle Bin or lost data due to partition loss or damage, software crash, virus infection, unexpected shutdown or any other unknown reasons.

“Quality is the soul of a company,” added Mr. Liu. “While at the same time making full efforts to improve the quality of our software to unformat SD cards and perform other data recovery operations, we are always doing our best to make EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard the easiest data recovery solution. Users’ experiences will prove it.”

Pricing and Availability

At only $69.95, you can get this easiest data recovery software, EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard. A demo version is also available for you to try how easy it is to unformat a SD card and recover lost data. More information: www.easeus.com


Interlecta, a world leader in translation and messaging technologies, presents its upgraded translation software featuring Text-to-Speech and Image Translation capabilities.

The users of Interlecta’s Translator for BlackBerry are now going to enjoy an upgraded version of this software. The latest version of the mobile translator will support text-to-speech (TTS) and image recognition and translation (OCR + MT).

Together with the Speech translation technology utilizing the newly incorporated TTS a new OCR technology has been added. This will allow users to translate text captured with their BlackBerry’s camera and then hear the result pronounced by a native speaker.

To provide further enhanced translation accuracy Interlecta have added specialized topical dictionaries such as Law, Medicine, Computer, Business, etc. With this industry-leading translation accuracy users can translate typed text, incoming and outgoing SMS and email directly on the device’s screen choosing from a list of over 36 different languages.

The 70% of the internet and mobile users who do not speak English will now be able to carry and use this simple and reliable technology in their pocket. To make the software even more user-friendly Interlecta have added the world’s most frequently used Latin European languages, Cyrillic, Greek, Finnish, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese as well as rare ones such as Pushtu, Tagalog, Somali, Urdu etc.

Over the past year, Interlecta™ has been awarded the TOP INNOVATOR position at the Mobile Innovation Global Awards at the GSMA Mobile Innovation Contest in Barcelona and was selected as first Runner Up in the 2008 Nokia “Mobile Rules” Enterprise Application Contest. Recent participation as an alliance partner in the RIM® booth at the 2009 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona allowed the company to present their most recent accuracy and ease of use upgrades to the Interlecta Translation Server product suite.


LaCie announced two designer USB Hubs for mobility and desktop convenience – LaCie Core4 and LaCie Core7 USB Hubs, Design by Sam Hecht. Modeled after Hecht’s award-winning LaCie Little Disk, the LaCie Core4 and LaCie Core7 incorporate built-in cables that are ideal for convenience and utility, while preserving a clean, thin, and elegant exterior.

The LaCie Core4 includes four USB ports, three external USB and a built-in mini-USB cable. Resembling the shape of a small matchbox, the LaCie Core4 USB Hub is easily transportable and perfectly suited for peripheral connectivity on the go. Simply push and slide open the product “core,” to access and extract two USB cables – One is a mini-USB cable, which enables users to connect or charge mobile devices like digital cameras, external hard drives or cell phones, without carrying an extra cable. The other is a standard USB cable for connecting the Core4 to your PC or Mac – so the cables go wherever it goes.

For peripheral power-users, the LaCie Core7 offers a sleek desktop form factor, with six USB ports, as well as the built-in extractible mini-USB cable for mobile device connectivity and charging. Designed for usability, the LaCie Core7 positions one USB port on top for USB flash drives or quick-and-easy port access. An additional five ports are conveniently disguised beneath the product platform to accommodate more peripherals. The LaCie Core7 also includes channels to keep cables organized for an aesthetic looking desktop. Similarly, the Core7 includes a built-in standard USB cable for conveniently connecting to a PC or Mac. To power the Core7, it includes a power supply.

“When it comes to USB hubs, convenience and aesthetics matter. LaCie has leveraged the beauty of Sam Hecht’s design while adding entirely new functionality,” said Alexis Kobassian, Product Manager, LaCie. “The Core4 and Core7 include a built-in mini-B cable to allow users to charge and access data from their favorite mobile devices, without keeping tabs on the cable. Now that’s smart.”

Designed by Sam Hecht for style and simplicity, the LaCie Core4 and LaCie Core7 USB hubs are sure to enhance usability for travelers and home users inundated with USB peripherals.

Availability
The LaCie Core4 and LaCie Core7 are available in 3 different colors: Warm Gray, Blue and Orange, and the LaCie Core7 is available in Warm Gray, and can be purchased through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Reseller+ or LaCie Storage Partner starting at the suggested retail price of $9.99 for the LaCie Core4 and $19.99 for the LaCie Core7. For more information, visit www.lacie.com.


Premium Zune digital entertainment service to be available internationally on Xbox LIVE.

Microsoft Corp announced the evolution of Zune, the company’s end-to-end music and entertainment service, to a new platform and new markets. Zune will extend its video service to Xbox LIVE internationally this fall. This marks an important development in the Zune strategy and brings the Zune brand to more than 17 million international Xbox LIVE subscribers. In addition, Microsoft confirmed the next generation of the Zune portable media player, Zune HD. Available in the U.S. this fall, Zune HD is the first portable media player that combines a built-in HD Radio receiver, high-definition (HD) video output capabilities, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) touch screen, Wi-Fi and an Internet browser.

MICROSOFT ZUNE

“The Zune music player is an integral part of the overall Zune experience, and we’re proud to be growing and extending our offering beyond the device,” said Enrique Rodriguez, corporate vice president of the Microsoft TV, Video and Music Business Group. “Delivering on Microsoft’s connected entertainment vision, this news marks a turning point for Zune as it brings cross-platform experiences and premium video content to living rooms around the world.”

Zune Service Expands to New Platform

Zune will be a premium partner in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, bringing an exciting catalog of TV and film to the platform. Zune will occupy the first slot within the Xbox user interface in the Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace, exposing the Zune brand experience to millions of new consumers for the first time. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next week, attendees will see firsthand how Zune integrates into Xbox LIVE to create a game-changing entertainment experience.

Introducing Zune HD

Zune HD is the next iteration of the Zune device family and brings a new level of listening and viewing experiences to the portable media player category.

  • Zune HD comes with a built-in HD Radio receiver so users can listen to higher-quality sound than traditional radio on the go. Users also will have access to the additional song and artist data broadcast by HD Radio stations as well as additional channels from their favorite stations multicasting in HD. If you don’t like the song playing on your station’s HD channel, switch to its HD2 or HD3 channels for additional programming.
  • The bright OLED touch screen interface allows users to flip through music, movies and other content with ease, and the 16:9 widescreen format display (480×272 resolution) offers a premium viewing experience on the go.
  • The HD-compatible output lets Zune HD customers playback supported HD video files from the device through a premium high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) audiovisual docking station (sold separately) direct to an HD TV in 720p.*
  • Zune HD will include a full-screen Internet browser optimized for multitouch functionality.
  • Zune HD is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing for instant streaming to the device from the more than 5 million-track Zune music store.

More information on Zune and related images is available at  http://www.zune.net/ZuneHD.

Source: Microsoft Corp.


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