Cavium Networks, a provider of networking chips, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire W&W Communications Inc. W&W Communications is a specialist in video processing solutions. The purchase price of the acquisition will be approximately $19.3 million, subject to certain purchase price adjustments. The acquisition is expected to close in December 2008.

Elpida-Powerchip merger?

As reported, Taiwan's DRAM firms are in deep, deep, deep trouble. That article can be read here.

Powerchip--Taiwan's largest DRAM chip maker--may get rescued and acquired by Elpida, according to Reuters. That article can be read here.

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When studying it is more important than doing it

There's an odd and little-studied wrinkle in JDSU's announcement that it will acquire Circadiant. JDSU executives have been saying for a year that they want to emphasize the test and measurement business they launched when the company acquired Acterna (the former merged Wavetek and Wandel & Goltermann) in 2005. It augmented that acquisition by picking up Test-Um Inc. and Casabyte in rapid succession. Meanwhile, the component business was heading south, though JDSU tried to stay active by acquiring Picolight. JDSU had pondered for several months spinning off its components business, and keeping test equipment at its core.

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Ask and you shall receive

Google's reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence will enable Apple iPhone users to voice their search requests. The text results will be accurate enough. President-elect Obama will use YouTube to get his message out. We are entering a new age of communications.

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Believe It

The most interesting aspect of the Nov. 10 Nortel Networks earnings call was not the numbers of potential layoffs, less than anticipated a week ago, but the comment from Nortel CEO Mike Zafirovski to the effect that carrier executives told him in September he was being too pessimistic, only to call him in recent weeks to tell him his anticipation of heavy spending cutbacks was correct. Well duh. We've been arguing for months at EE Times that a financial panic this serious is bound to bring a profound recession in its wake, including cuts in consumer spending, communications, embedded industrial, and commercial services. Why was this not self-evident to the majority of technology executives as soon as sub-prime mortgages started going bad?

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UWB: Bloodied but not dead

Alereon and Staccato both announced this week they got certification on their latest chip sets that support the 7-9 GHz upper bands, a market requirement to get around global regulatory hurdles. For its part, WisAir said it had a design win for a sub-$100 adapter kit that an analyst described in WisAir's own release as "a transition product."

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Help for Taiwan DRAMers

Taiwan's DRAM makers are in deep, deep trouble. Powerchip and ProMos are not in good shape. Nanya may survive. That article can be read here.

Help is here! Or at least a short-term fix. Powerchip and ProMos are getting financial support from Elpida and Kingston, respectively, according to DigiTimes That article can be read here.

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Windows 7 vs. Rocky 6

I don't remember Rocky 6, or even if there was a Rocky 6. Likewise I will probably soon forget Windows 7 based on what I heard today. PC engineers complained more than two years ago about the lack of compelling new innovations in Vista. Well, the replacement looks like even more of a snoozer.

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Tek is a wreck

It's no fun working at Tektronix these days, as the T&M giant laid off 150 employees, according to reports. That article can be read here.

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Say It Ain't So, Dolly!

Forget the elections, my hopes for a unified artists' coalition have been crushed by Dolly Parton, who is joining a coalition led by National Association of Broadcasters to delay the Federal Communications Commission's vote on public use of TV white space, the frequencies between broadcast channels, as supplementary wireless broadband frequency. Dolly! The one we used to dismiss as a big-breasted hick hawking Breeze towels with Porter Wagoner, only to learn post 9-to-5 that she was a working-class angel in disguise. Dolly, the one who jammed with every scruffy indy musician even as she promoted family values at Dollywood. Had she really fallen under the evil clutches of the NAB?

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