Elliptic intros world’s first commercial touchless gesturing technology!

Source: Elliptic Labs, USA.

Palo Alto, US-based Elliptic Labs has introduced the world’s first commercial touchless gesturing technology using ultrasound, designed for electronic devices and Windows 8. Elliptic’s breakthrough technology is the first of its kind commercially available and has been incorporated in the Windows 8 Gesture Suite, introduced today. So, what’s this new technology from Elliptic Labs really all about?

Well, OEMs now have a commercially available technology to integrate gesture recognition in their terminals – with extremely low power and robust detection of hand gestures. The technology is based on ultrasound, and requires a small number of low-cost components (microphones, transducers) for integration in the terminal.

The actual gesture recognition is done on the host CPU, running a power-efficient detection software provided by Elliptic labs. Ultrasonic gesture recognition has a perfect fit with Windows 8 user interface, and the company provides gestures for very simple interaction with a Windows 8 terminal with the new Modern/METRO user interface.

With this technology, you can command a laptop simply by gesturing in front of the computer, and to the sides and above the screen. A key feature of ultrasound is that Elliptic Labs supports gestures not only in the front of the computer, but also to the sides and above, enabling intuitive interactions with the terminal.

Another advantage of ultrasound is that it works in complete darkness, and in direct sunlight, which is challenging for camera-based solutions, and very important for mobile use. Yet another great news is the availability of a Software Development Kit (SDK), so that the OEMs and ISVs can adapt the technology to their particular applications. Elliptic Labs has provided a Starter Kit to get started with ultrasound gestures in minutes!

Mobiles and tablets groove!
This technology can also be used in laptops, mobiles and tablets. A Windows 8 laptop can be operated by simple gestures, which is

Source: Elliptic Labs, USA.

usually found on touch screens. The OEMs and ISVs can now create new and intuitive user interfaces for a Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer as they wish.

With the SDK, game developers can quickly port their games to support ultrasound controls, and business applications can leverage gestures for quick browsing, selection, and general operation of software. Mobiles and tables can also leverage ultrasound gestures, as the SDK is being made available also for the Android operating system.

Ultrasonic approach!
Elliptic Labs has made use of the ultrasonic approach, which apparently, makes life easier for batteries. The amount of information from a few microphones is much smaller than the amount of information from camera-based solutions. The algorithms for ultrasound gesture recognition can execute with less instructions, resulting in significant lower power usage.

As a result, the ability to do gesture recognition can be “always on”, so users can rely on gestures for all applications of the terminal. The aspect of power consumption is of particular importance for mobile terminals.

Elliptic is a leader in ultrasonic touchless gesturing for consumer electronic devices. Its patented, low-power, responsive new technology is superior to the limited, camera-based approaches on the market. The Windows 8 Gesture Suite enables a touchless version of all touchscreen gestures in the new operating system. Combined with Elliptic’s SDK, the technology gives OEMs the flexibility to create disruptive new ways to interact with devices.

Elliptic’s ultrasound technology uses sound waves and microphones to detect movement, similar to how radar detects objects. The technology is not limited to detecting movement within camera view — it detects natural hand movements that extend beyond the camera, surrounding a device screen.

Nominum launches world’s first purpose-built suite of DNS-based solutions for mobile operators

Late last month, Nominum launched the world’s first purpose-built suite of DNS-based solutions for mobile operators at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona Spain.

Doug Miller, GM, Mobile Solutions, Nominum, said that Nominum has been in the mobile space for many years now. The news at MWC was to announce the new Nominum Mobile Suite, which takes the lessons learned and best practices from working closely with the top mobile providers in the world to craft purpose-built solutions designed to solve very specific mobile provider needs.

He added: “With the demand on mobile networks at its highest and only growing by the day, mobile providers face specific issues their fixed line counterparts simply do not. For example, the concept of spectrum efficiency is a mobile issue and something Nominum can help with via solutions crafted around our core engines, platforms and applications. There are other examples like this built on both network and subscriber needs.”

DHCP and DNS core engines
So, what are the DNS and DHCP core engines all about? According to Miller, typically when people think of core engines such as DNS and DHCP, the need to respond to queries and enable basic mobile routing and provisioning come to mind. These engines were considered single-purpose network functions. Nothing more, nothing less. However, although these functions are still vital, beyond the base requirements, there are a number of considerations that must also be taken into account.

At the base level, these engines must be considered for latency and availability to ensure the fastest and most reliable network services. Without considering this, the network may have lower performance or potentially become unavailable in its entirety. Further, the concept of network orchestration must be considered. Without these engines, mobile networks simply do not work. This is very different from fixed networks that are not as reliant on DNS as mobile networks. In the case of mobile, there are a number of control plane functions that must be considered.

Arguably more important than these functions is the ability to deliver business-impacting solutions. The concept of spectrum efficiency was already mentioned, but consider the ability to report on customer and network activity. This is a function that was simply never considered when talking about DNS and DHCP. However, with these elements in place, an entirely new world of reporting and analytics is opened up without the need for additional hardware components being added to the network that create additional complexity or add new risks.

Similarly, these engines can also be the basis for subscriber affinity solutions that generate new revenue and add a new dimension to the battle on churn by creating stickiness not possible previously. Simply put, DNS and DHCP can and should be leveraged for more than they have been historically for true business value.

ARM connecting the world!

John Cornish, VP and GM, Design Division ARM.

ARM is connecting the world today, according to John Cornish, VP and GM, Design Division ARM. Over 4 billion people are using ARM-powered mobile phones currently. He was speaking at the ARM Technical Symposium in Bangalore, India.

Looking at the end user product demand in 2010, there were 3.7 billion SoCs in mobile phones, 15.3 billion embedded and other SoCs, 1.5 billion SoCs in enterprises, 230 million units in client computing devices, etc. The end user product demand in 2015 will be 7.3 billion SoCs in mobile phones, 21.6 billion embedded and other SoCs, 750 million SoCs in client computing, 2.7 billion SoCs in enterprises, 1.2 billion SoCs in DTVs/STBs, and 110 million server and 140 million desktop and PC SoC devices.

It is well known that there are and will be billions of Internet connected devices. Mobile is now the nexus of this revolution. The computing revolution is driving computing, content and the cloud.

ARM is said to be scaling across the digital world. For instance, ARM technology is suitable for application processors across a huge range of devices. Chip suppliers can develop for multi-industrial applications. Also, OEMs can re-use software across  mobile/consumer devices.

Despite all of this, there is still some way to go. As of now, 5.1 billion inhabitants of the planet don’t have access to the Internet, and 2.2 billion don’t have a mobile phone.

Cornish listed certain challenges such as the need for greater energy efficiency, greater software efficiency,  improved security and diversity of solutions vital to address the opportunity.

Regarding smart energy-connected systems, he mentioned smart home energy management (HEM), smart meters, smart appliances, smart heating, home area networking, etc. “We will need smart devices that can be embedded on anything,” he added.

Celebrating the World IPv6 Day!

June 8 happens to be World IPv6 Day. On this day, tomorrow, Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai and Limelight Networks will be among some of the major global organizations offering content over IPv6 networks on a 24-hour test flight!  World IPv6 Day’s goal is to motivate organizations — ISPs, hardware vendors, OS vendors, web companies, etc., to prepare their services for IPv6, as IPv4 addresses run out!

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a version of the Internet Protocol (IP) that is designed to succeed Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4).  The growth of the Internet has mandated a need for more addresses than is possible with IPv4. IPv6 allows for vastly more addresses.

Dave Kresse, CEO of Mu Dynamics.

Thanks to Lauren Willard at Sterling Communications, I got into a conversation with Dave Kresse, CEO of Mu Dynamics, on the eve of the IPv6 Day. Mu has been working with network operators and service providers for years now to ensure that their networks are up for IPv6.

Wednesday, the company will be announcing a free solution for network operators and service providers to ensure that their networks will operate smoothly both during the transition to IPv6 and once it’s complete. Mu is doing all of this in conjunction with the leading lab for IPv6 testing in the nation – UNH-IOL InterOperability Lab.

Talking about the significance of the World IPv6 day from Mu’s perspective, Kresse says that everybody has been talking about IPv6 for the longest time, and a majority of our customers have been focusing on it for awhile. The IPv6 World Day bring additional visibility to the exhaustion of the IPv4 addresses and for those who have not started to make the transition, they are definitely behind the game.

As for Mu’s role in IPv6, he adds: “For the last several years, our proven testing solution has helped network equipment manufacturers and operators around the world with their IPv6 testing and certification. The Mu Test Suite for IPv6 is comprehensive suite of automated testings solutions and test content assisting customers and prospects to test, certify and validate their products and services for conformance, security and resiliency.”

India is World Cup Cricket champion! Yaayyy!!

India has won the World Cup Cricket championship for 2011! Yaayyy!!

It was just brilliant! When Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni clouted that second ball of the 49th over from Nuwan Kulasekara over long on for a huge six, the World Cup of cricket was finally ours! After 28 years!! Wow, take that!!!

India win the World Cup of Cricket, 2011!

Chasing a ‘huge’ score of 275 runs at the start of the Indian innings, the first blow came off the very second ball, when Virender Sehwag was adjudged LBW to a sharp in-cutter from Lasith Malinga. That grand old man of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, kept playing some great shots, till the first ball of the 6th over, when his poke was well held by a diving Kumar Sangakkara, the Sri Lankan keeper-cum-captain. The sight of Malinga celebrating that wicket stands out in memory! The reason: Sri Lanka never got a second chance thereafter!

So good were Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni, that India never lost track of the target, post that dismissal! In between, Virat Kohli, the young turk, played a nice cameo, and later, Yuvraj Singh (who is six days younger to me ) played really special knocks, that took India to a very historic win, after 28 long years!

Never before has a team won a World Cup final chasing a target of 275 runs. Australia scored 274, before being all out in the 1975 final to the West Indies, chasing 291 runs. Never before has a team, with a centurion – Mahela Jayawardene – lost in a final! Never has a host nation won the World Cup playing at home, although Sri Lanka, a co-host, won in 1996 vs. Australia, at Lahore. The last time India won the World Cup, in 1983 vs. West Indies, no player scored a century. This time, again, no Indian player scored a century!

There should be many other firsts. However, I am too overwhelmed to even mention them! For now, let’s all savour the famous win crafted by India over Sri Lanka at the new-look Wankhede Stadium!

For me, personally, I have been privileged to view both the triumphs — the 1983 win at Lords against West Indies as a young boy, and now this, in 2011! Which one was better? Perhaps, 1983! Why? Simply because the conditions were really challenging, and India had to face a much, much deadlier bowling attack as well as a lethal batting line-up!

For now, let us all celebrate India’s second World Cup triumph over Sri Lanka at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium! I simply can’t sleep tonight for sure!!

Reshaping the embedded world: Vivek Sharma, ST

Vivek Sharma, regional VP, Greater China & South Asia region -- India Operations and Director, India Design Center, STMicroelectronics.

It was a pleasure to catch up with Vivek Sharma, regional VP, Greater China & South Asia region — India Operations and Director, India Design Center, STMicroelectronics, on the sidelines of the 4th Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) 2010 in Bangalore. We had a wonderful discussion on the trends that are reshaping today’s embedded world.

Sharma said: “Moore’s Law has governed many new things. In fact, it has ruled the roost. The industry has been able to push up complexity within a chip and also bring down costs.” As an example, during the last two decades, cost and complexity have combined to create the mobile device — which has turned out to be a disruptive application. The world recently added its 5 billionth mobile subscriber in July 2010. There is likely to be a whopping 50 billion connected devices by 2020!

SiP reshaping embedded world

Touching upon ‘more than Moore”, Sharma added that shrinking will keep on happening. System-in-package is a reality today and is reshaping the embedded world. It can allow more shrinking in size and push down costs.

Borrowing from wikipedia, for those interested, a system-in-a-package or system in package (SiP), also known as a chip stack MCM, is a number of ICs enclosed in a single package or module, and performs all or most of the functions of an electronic system.

3D heterogenous integration and  TSV

3D heterogenous integration and  through-silicon via (TSV) is another trend reshaping the industry. 3D packaging with 3D TSV interconnects provides another path toward “More than Moore”, with relatively smaller capital investments.

3D-ICs stack multiple chips together and interconnect them using through-silicon via (TSV) structures, thereby providing much more functions in a smaller footprint.

MEMS key segment

MEMS is yet another sector which is reshaping the industry. Sensors play a major role in our lives. “If we can develop good sensors, they can change our lives,” said Sharma.

“Accelerometers and gyroscopes are two key segments with substantial growth. MEMS takes advantage of the electrical and mechanical properties of the silicon.’ Sharma added that all MEMS gyroscopes take advantage of Coriolis effect. In 2009, ST introduced over 30 multi-axis gyroscopes.

For the statistically inclined, earlier this year, Dr. Robert Castellano of the Information Network said in their report 3-D TSV: Insight On Critical Issues And Market Analysis, that while the overall equipment market will grow at a CAGR of nearly 60 percent between 2008-2013, the metrology/inspection sector is expected to grow nearly 80 percent. On the device side, TSVs for MEMS is expected to grow nearly 100 percent in this time frame.

SAP World Tour 2010: Sustainability transforms business, increases profitability!

Peter Gartenburg, MD, SAP India.

The SAP World Tour 2010, held this week in New Delhi, focused strongly on sustainability, a point stressed repeatedly and heavily by company executives.

According to Peter Gartenburg, managing director, SAP India, the company’s sustainability strategy is multi-fold. “A lot of factors come together in India. India has the potential for innovation with sustainability,” he said, while delivering the opening address at the SAP World Tour 2010 in New Delhi.

He added: “India has the skills in IT and services. India also has a culture of frugality, especially, the ability to work in scarce and complex environments. At SAP, we can be a key partner in India’s quest for leadership.

Delivering the keynote, Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive VP of Sustainability Solutions, SAP, said: “We are still finding new ways to use the Internet. What can you do with IT? It goes way beyond data centers.”

He added that sustainability is inevitable. The reasons include population growth, western lifestyle and linear value chains. The symptoms are resource intensity, risk price volatility, climate change, etc. The consequences can be pretty severe, such as growing consumer awareness, brands at risk, war for talent and growing customer and legal requirements.

Graf said, “Sustainability is all about business, about profitability.” Sustainability drives profitability!

Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer and executive VP of Sustainability Solutions, SAP.

He also presented a sustainability business case, which includes:

* Reduce compliance and risk; comply with customer requirements.

* Attract, retain and effectively deploy the best people.

* Saving on material and energy costs.

* Drive competitiveness and resources.

* Sustain your business model — especially by future proofing your strategy.

FPGAs sizzle, thanks to Actel, Altera and Xilinx at Embedded World 2010!

Three major announcements, simultaneously, from Actel, Altera and Xilinx in quick succession, indicates that ‘all is well’ in the FPGA market. And it seems, the Embedded World Conference is playing a major role in all of these developments. Great!

Altera announced an industrial safety data package for automation applications at the Embedded World Exhibition and Conference in Nuremberg, Germany.

Then, Xilinx introduced the Xilinx automotive (XA) family of Spartan-6 field FPGAs optimized for applications requiring high-speed connectivity and high-resolution video performance. At the same conference, Xilinx and Inova Semiconductors introduced an Automotive Pixel Link (APIX) IP solution for the Xilinx automotive (XA) family of FPGAs.

World’s first intelligent mixed signal FPGA
The best one, I believe, has come from Actel. Also at the Embedded World 2010, Actel unveiled SmartFusion, the world’s first intelligent mixed signal FPGA.

Now, isn’t that interesting? There has been a lot of focus on analog/mixed-signal (AMS), and Actel’s SmartFusion could not have been timed better.

I recall a story I had done some time ago with Cosmic Circuits for the India Semiconductor Association’s (ISA) website. The company said that the AMS market in India is set to expand rapidly in the next several years — driven by consumer, communications, automotive and industrial. The variety of analog chips required and the complexity are no different from those needed in other regions of the world!

Why? About 18 months ago, when speaking with Synopsys regarding the Galaxy Custom Designer, I distinctly remember the company telling me that it improves AMS productivity!

As per information, Actel’s SmartFusion devices feature Actel’s proven FPGA fabric, a complete MCU subsystem built around a hard ARM Cortex-M3 processor and programmable analog blocks on a flash process. This means, embedded designers can now easily build the system they want, with all the features they need, on a single chip.

Wonder what’s taken the FPGA suppliers so long to come out with an intelligent mixed signal FPGA. Am sure, the others have things lined up as well!

By the way, I couldn’t find anything from Achronix! Maybe, something is on the way from this company as well!

SAP World Tour ’09: Heralding a "Clear Enterprise"

Challenges that businesses face today are still around! Although India seems to have seen the worst of the economic downturn, contends Ranjan Das, managing director, SAP Indian Subcontinent, SAP India Pvt Ltd, business as usual, as we know, is now dead. The reason being, there’s lot more volatility and risk present. There are also a lot of regulations. Besides, there exists a gap between strategy and execution.

According to a survey, over 60 percent of businesses are still thinking about laying off people in 2009. About 40 percent of the businesses are thinking about restructuring. About a third of the businesses are looking at introducing new products, and all of them are looking at cost cutting!

What’s a clear enterprise?
It would be interesting to see what the well-run companies are doing!

1. They have an enhanced focus on customers.
2. They are focused on getting more out of employees and also that the employees themselves are growing.
3. Good companies are focusing on cutting costs and enhancing their brands.

SAP, which has 80,000+ customers globally, and 4,000+ customers in India alone, has come up with the idea of a “Clear Enterprise.” Enterprises need to think, see and execute clearly! Clear enterprises need to do the following:

a) They are agile!
b) They are collaborative — within enterprises and across the entire value chain.
c) Focus on transparency and accountability.
d) Focus on sustainability.

Perhaps, I would agree with all of these points, but then, these have been talked about for a long time now! An agile enterprise is bound to have all of these qualities. So, am not quite sure whether ‘clear’ is any different than ‘agile’! Nevertheless!!

Citing an example of BSNL, India’s leading telco, Das said that until recently, BSNL did not really have enterprise visibility. “They realized it, and are now trying to get closer to its customers and also have a clear visibility of assets,” he added. “It is in the path toward becoming a clear enterprise.”

Commenting on SAP’s current status, Das noted that the company is in a transformation phase toward becoming a clear enterprise. The company had re-organized itself to achieve this goal. SAP has especially cut down on the carbon footprint. It has also acquired Clear Standards.

A privately held innovator of enterprise carbon management solutions, Clear Standards helps organizations accurately measure, optimize and report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts across internal operations.

With this move, SAP expects to accelerate its ability to meet the carbon management requirements of organizations in this time of increasingly stringent government regulations and expectations for better transparency by the public.

Clear Standards provides SAP a mature sustainability solution and expertise in carbon management delivered through an agile, Web-based, on-demand delivery model. In order to reduce customer effort and cost around carbon management, SAP will leverage its business process expertise to enable Clear Standards to tap into financial and other data stored in enterprise solutions such as SAP Business Suite 7 software and the SAP Environment, Health, and Safety Management application.

Das further added that SAP looked at social accountability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) as well. These include: economic bottomline, environmental bottomline and social bottomline, respectively.

SAP has 75 percent SMEs as customers and the enterprises make up the remaining 25 percent. Reliance, ONGC, etc., are among its major Indian customers. Das said, “We enable customers to do three things — help automate, and if automated, optimize; provide companies with best practices — and Indian companies are certainly very interested in best practices; and enable businesses/users at all levels to make decisions.”

He added that ERP is a subset of all processes. In this respect, SAP is much more than an ERP company. Commenting on Business ByDesign, he added that it has been introduced in six countries. “When we are ready, India will be one of the key markets. It will help a lot of customers, especially, the SMEs, to grow,” he added.

SAP BusinessObjects Explorer
Sanjay Deshmukh, vice president, Business User and Platforms, SAP India Pvt Ltd, took the opportunity to introduce the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer.Sanjay Deshmukh, vice president, Business User and Platforms, SAP India Pvt Ltd, making a point, while Ranjan Das, managing director, SAP Indian Subcontinent, SAP India Pvt Ltd, looks on.

This tool — the SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software — enables you to put the power of business intelligence (BI) into the hands of all of your business users, arming any employee with the clarity and insight to act more quickly and make smarter, more effective business decisions.

According to Deshmukh, a majority of the casual users are underserved by traditional BI tools. A majority of users tend to use search engines while looking for information. The SAP BusinessObjects Explorer software makes use of the power of the Web as well!

This solution provides intuitive experience, data and speed — rather, immediate insight into mountains of data! “Explorer is a self service, search driven and discovery solution for exploring and analyzing your corporate data,” added Deshmukh. “It brings BI to all business users and helps IT to become successful.” Among SAP APJ’s ramp-up customers are names such as Mahindra and Innogence.

He estimated the Indian BI market to be worth $75-100 million, and about 25-30 percent market share — the highest market share as per analysts.

Deshmukh added that as a standalone entity, BusinessObjects had the largest share in BI. “Since being bought by SAP, we have also provided clear, futuristic view landscape for customers. Second, it helped us understand business processes better,” he said. “Third, SAP also brought in a lot of solutions, such as EPMS, GRC, etc. BI is just a stepping stone toward becoming a clear enterprise.”

Before I end, may I take this opportunity to thank SAP for inviting me to this wonderful conference!

MCUs are now shaping the embedded world!

As promised, here’s a discussion I had with STMicroelectronics (ST) on its new 8-bit microcontroller, the STM8S — the STM8S105 and STM8S207 MCUs for industrial and consumer applications. The discussion focused on how MCUs are now beginning to shape the embedded world.

Addressing this specific query, Patrice Hamard,8-bit Product Line Marketing Manager, STMicroelectronics, said that ST is reshaping the microcontroller with a solid offer on 8bit that has a strong overlap with STM32 in terms of feature and price. “Therefore, we are going to cover the need for embedded functions with only two architectures. Compared to the previous segmentations (8-, 16- and 32-bit), we are changing it to become 8- and 32-bit only,” he clarified.

On the STM8S, Hamard said that the key application areas addressed by the MCU are industrial and appliances in consistent with the robustness and the reliability. He said: “The STM8S family is supporting 5V as well as 3V, thereby making it ideal for the platform evolution as well as a good offer for the consumer and mass market. The cost advantage given with the fine lithography also allows us to propose this family to key customers in PC peripherals and consumer applications.”

Rich feature set an imperative in MCUs
Rich feature set is an imperative in the MCU market. How is the STM8S meeting this requirement?

According to him, the feature set is driven by the need to reduce the bill of materials (BoM). The robustness allows simple design and board layout with less filtering. The clock controller gives low noise emission figure, thereby reducing the need for shielding. The precise clock allows the suppression of the external resonator. The embedded true E²Data suppresses the need for additional E²PROM. Safe reset (no grey area) makes the reset system safer suppressing the need for external reset circuit.

The clock system, as well as the two independent watchdogs will contribute to pass safety regulations together with ST’s class B libraries. All communications peripherals are available as well — (U(S)ART, I²C, SPI, CAN, LIN), advanced 16-bit timers and timebase, fast and precise 10-bit ADC.

Finally, the 8-bit core is one of the most efficient with 20MIPS at 24MHz. Built around the 8-bit data path, the micro has 16bit registers and 32bit memory memory width.

So, how does the STM8 deliver high performance with excellent code compactness?

Hamard said that thanks to the new CISC instruction set designed in collaboration with ST’s C compiler partners, the compactness has been significantly improved. The Harvard architecture with its three-stage pipeline allows to reach up to 20MIPs @ 24MHz.

ST is offering family demonstration boards and instrument cluster reference designs as well. In fact, there are currently solutions available in ST with the STM8S/128-EVAL, as well as with third parties like raisonance with the REVA KIT. Many reference designs are complete or in progress demonstrating motor control (sensorless brushless DC motors), power management, smart card protocol, capacitive sensing, etc.

Demand for low-power MCUs
According to Hamard, the trend of low power is coming from the increase of the application base on battery in consumer and personal care, combined with a strong demand for power meters (electricity, water and gas). Energy saving is important and electronics can contribute a great deal to reduce the overall energy consumption.

“The STM8S is not specifically aiming low power applications even though the features of the family are good for many low power devices. It is in our plan to introduce later this year a dedicated family to address low voltage/low power arena,” he added.

Why 8-bit?
Considering that there are 8- vs. 16- vs. 32- bit MCUs, and also that affordable prices are perhaps the reason that the Asian region is witnessing a migration to 16-bit architectures. In this scenario, why 8-bit?

Hamard said: “Everything depends on what we consider to be “affordable” and who we are talking to. For large quantity and simple functions, affordability is between $0.20 cents to $0.50 cents. By construction, a 16-bit device cannot be as effective as an 8-bit product. We even believe that the microcontroller prices will decrease and address applications served with few discrete devices. The main reason is the consistency of architecture.

“The construction of the 32- and 16- are very similar, especially with the new generation of ARM-based products. The only reason to go from 8- to 16-bit is for performance improvement. We say that our 32-bit portfolio is already overlapping the 8-bit segment in performance and in price, leaving no room for the third core structure.

“Taking a closer look at our portfolio, you will realize that our 32-bit is also providing 16-bit instruction set, and our 8-bit is built with 16-bit register, 24-bit memory address bus, etc.”