Issue No. 2 - July 2000
New and Views from STMicroelectronics
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Editorial Notes |
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The All-optical Communications Network
The potential of all-optical communications networks for increased capacity and flexibility may soon be a reality - thanks to silicon technology originally developed by HP and ST to control the production of ink bubbles in inkjet printers! |
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ASCOT: ADSL Solution Cuts On-line Tension
The range to develop the world's first xDSL-based residential gatewa was won by the US company 2Wire, Inc with its HomePortal™ . The Ascot ADSL chipset from ST provides the broadband connectivity. |
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Revolutionary 3D Graphics + Video Accelerator
KYRO - the 3D graphics and video accelerator combines Imagination Technologies' acclaimed Tile Based Rendering technology with ST's world class digital video know-how, process technology expertise and manufacturing capability. |
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Around the World |
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DataPlay: Go with it!
For electronic books, digital music players, games and electronic cameras, the 500MB DataPlay disc provides an exceptionally compact and inexpensive solution to the problem of storing large quantities of data. |
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Powering Ahead at the Front End
In the satellite TV market, STB may soon mean ST Box! |
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Turbo-charging the Digital Satellite TV Industry
Turbo Code technology is poised to make a substantial impact in high volume applications and ST is kick-starting this revolution with the introduction of the world's first Turbo Code chip for consumer applications. |
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Take Five
ST's Euterpe Digital Voice Processor brings five key enhancements for mobile phones: voice-activated dialing, speech readout of text messages, noise suppression, echo cancellation and speaker identify verification. The world wants it - and ST has delivered it, with a little help from its friends. |
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Fact File |
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Brain Teaser |
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Show Time |
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This issue of Challenge was largely written during the opening stages of Euro 2000, the European equivalent of football's World Cup. With Italy and France among the 16 finalists (not to mention England, where ST's Bristol site is the center of excellence for processor core development), ST people in Europe are making the most of this rare opportunity to disagree with each other!
At the time of going to press, Euro 2000 is over with both finalists - France and Italy - brilliantly demonstrating the same combination of teamwork, strategic vision and individual genius that has characterized ST's ascent into the semiconductor stratosphere. All winning enterprises need all three of these ingredients and this issue of Challenge includes many examples that show how ST successfully combines them all:
 Teamwork
ST's tradition of building strong and effective relationships with partners has been a key factor in its success and the Company continues to reap the benefits of this ability, as shown in the articles on the Agilent Photonic Switching Platform (Page 1), the Kyro 3D graphics chip (Page 3) and the handsfree car cellphone kit (Page 8).
Strategic vision
ST has an unrivaled track record in backing winners before anyone else: MPEG-2, MP3 and Flash microcontrollers are just some examples. Competitors may say that we have been lucky but we think that being in the right markets with the right products at the right time owes much more to vision than to luck. Watch out for DataPlay (Page 6). ST is not only providing the System-on-Chip solution for this company's innovative technology but has also taken an equity stake in it.
Individual genius
The number of important patents filed by ST in recent years places it among the semiconductor industry's top innovators. In 1999 alone, 751 patents were filed! We tried to get comments from some of the many geniuses at ST but they all modestly said that what counted most was being part of a true working team, with its head in the clouds but its feet firmly on the ground...
...which brings us back to Euro 2000. The winning team will always be one that minimizes errors at the back, sees the big picture in midfield, and has players who can score goals out of nothing. If there was a World Cup for semiconductor manufacturers...
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