analogZONE Products of the Year - 2004

January 14, 2005....analogZONE today announced the recipients of their annual "Product of the Year" awards. A total of 37 different products in the categories of data acquisition, audio/video technology, connectivity, "green" engineering and "green" power, networking, power management and wireless technology were selected, from among the hundreds of products reviewed annually by analogZONE. The site's first award to an individual also has been included for exceptional dedication to developing environmentally-friendly products.

"As we have noted before, this is not a very democratic process," commented Editor-in-Chief Paul McGoldrick. "We don't ballot our readers; we don't haggle with vendors, or - even as other publications do, heaven help us - ask the suppliers to submit essays for their reasons why they think they should win. As always at analogZONE, with every review we write, we put our money where our mouth is." McGoldrick went on to say that he and editorial colleague Lee Goldberg believe the products selected "will make significant bottom line numbers for the companies involved" because of their strong technical merit, design innovation and marketability.

Recipients were as follows:

acquisitionZONE

• Best Signal Processing Architecture
  Microchip's MCP6275/85/95 Cascoded Op Amps
  "Extremely useful in portable applications as filters, difference amplifiers, load buffers and integrators."
• Best High Precision Op Amp
  National's LMP2011/12/14
  "National has got rid of 1/f noise changing the way low-frequency sensor applications can be played out."
• Best Temperature Sensor
  Maxim's DS600
  "The thermostat function makes this 0.5% sensor a no-brainer."
• Best Industrial ADC
  Texas Instruments' 24-bit ADS1271
  "This wideband part will change the thinking of industrial sensing and analysis."

audio/videoZONE

• Best Video Switch
  Fairchild's FSAV430 800-MHz Video Switch
  "About time that a vendor provided a high-frequency solution such as this."
• Best Video Op Amp
  Intersil's EL5367 Triple 1-GHz Current-Feedback Op Amp
  "Intersil continues to show leadership in high-speed applications knowing the markets and listening to the customer base."
• Best Silicon Tuner
  STMicroelectronics' STB6000 Satellite Tuner
  "ST is reducing both the cost and complexity of the satellite receiver, allowing the remainder of the design to be achieved by digital designers."
• Best Professional Audio Product
  Texas Instruments' PCM4204 4-Channel Amplifier
  "The professional audio group at TI have done themselves proud yet again. This is the first 4-channel part that I have seen with numbers even approaching those here."

connectivityZONE

• Best System "Glue"
  IDT's IDT88P8344 Multi-Port SPI-3 to SPI-4 Packet-Exchange Devices
  "IDT's expanded set of versatile SPI-3/SPI-4 interfaces simplify many of the electrical and timing issues involved with connecting NPU, FG, ASIC, backplane or switch fabric devices, and also include intelligent packet switching and multiplexing capabilities."
• Best Bus Interconnect
  Cavium Networks' GOLDEN GATE SPI Bridge Processor Family
  "These solve many of the tough challenges of connecting devices with SPI-3/4 interfaces to PCI/PCI-X systems."
• Best System Interconnect
  Mysticom's MY3126 CX4 Module-In-A-Chip
  "A practical, affordable and flexible device that doubles the reach of conventional 10-Gbit/s CX-4 links or serves as a cost-effective drop-in replacement for either XENPAK or X2/XPAK optical modules."
• Best SerDes PHY
  Analogix' D-PHY Family of SerDes ICs
  "A unique hybrid analog/digital architecture gives this 6.25-Gbit/s backplane SerDes superior performance in challenging conditions."
• Best Storage Solution
  Broadcom's BCM5773 SATA-Based RAID-on-Chip (RoC) Controller
  "The company has combined its ability to create highly-integrated chips with its deep system knowledge to produce a controller that should help move the cost of RAID storage products into the realm of the SoHo/SMB market."
• Overall Innovation in Connectivity Design
  Xilinx' Virtex-4 Platform FPGAs
  "Xilinx has rethought FPGA design and, in doing so, redefined the way FPGAs are used in the design process. By offering collections of embedded task-specific cores within their gate arrays, they reduced cost and design time while moving programmable logic from the edge to the heart of complex designs."

greenTECHZONE

• Best Green Computing Product
  Hewlett-Packard's Deskjet 6540 Printer and Deskjet 3740 Color Inkjet Printer
  "This family of printers is an excellent example of how consumer products can provide both excellent value and environmental performance. In compliance with HP's Design for Environment (DFE) program, launched in 1992, both products are engineered for long product life with materials selected for minimal environmental impact, low noise, energy savings and easy end-of-life recycling in mind. This has earned them 'Blue Angel' certification, a German eco-label program recognized as one of the toughest and most extensive in the world."
• Best Green Consumer Product
  Wavecrest TidalForce Electric Bike
  "The range, comfort and reliability of TidalForce's family of highly-refined electric bikes makes them a practical alternative to gas vehicles for many short-haul tasks. And their brushless/gearless dc direct-drive adaptive motor technology holds great promise for applications in larger four-wheel electric and hybrid-electric vehicles."
• Green Hero Lifetime Achievement Award
  Pasquale Pistorio, CEO, STMicroelectronics
  "For not only talking-the-talk but making sure that STMicroelectronics walks-the-walk in designing, manufacturing and distributing the company's products with the environment in mind; for showing that 'green' can result in major positive impacts on the bottom line of a company."

greenPOWERZONE

• Best Improvement in Appliance Power Efficiency
  International Rectifier's IRAMS10UP60B iMOTION Power Module
  "Bringing increased efficiency and smarts to domestic appliances."
• Best Standby Power Device
  Philips' TEA1532 "GreenChip" Power Supply Controller
  "A 250-W controller that is extremely efficient up to rated load but which can still deliver 500 mW in standby mode to an idling appliance while consuming less than 1 W."

networkZONE

• Best LAN Product
  Texas Instruments' AR7 DSL Router Designs Integrating VoIP and Wi-Fi
  "TI has combined its considerable expertise with DLS and VoIP to produce and outstanding platform that will help accelerate the acceptance of IP-based telephony services."
• Best WAN Product
  Agere Systems' "Datamapper and "MARS T-PHY" SoC Mapper and Framer
  "Agere's versatile multi-service mapper/framer team enables transparent format translation and traffic management between packet and frame-based systems at much lower cost, and with shorter development times than previous solutions."
• Best Access Product
  Parama Networks' PNI8040/8160 ADM-on-a-Chip
  "Parama could revolutionize the economics of TDM services by dramatically cutting the cost of SONET/SDH access equipment."
• Best Internetworking Product
  Galazar Networks' VersaNode OC-12/3 Multi-Service Networking Solution
  "This monster chip bristles with subscriber-side interfaces for most common communication protocols (other than Token Ring and Teletype) and allows designers to support multiple Ethernet and PDH services over point-to-point networks, SONET, RPR and UPSR rings."
• Best Switch Fabric
  Erlang Technology's ENET Xe Switch Fabric Chipset
  "The scalability and flexibility of Erlang's protocol-agnostic architecture gives it the edge in a highly-competitive field of excellent merchant switch silicon."
• Best Wireless Product
  Engim's EN-3001 Intelligent Wideband WLAN Chipset and AP-310/320 Access Points
  "Engim's innovative multi-channel radio architecture and intelligent controller enable Wi-Fi base stations to deliver quantum improvements in throughput, security and traffic management."
• Best Signal Processor
  Stretch Inc's S5000 Family of Software-Configurable Processors
  "Stretch's powerful, scalable, and easy-to-program architecture combines the best features of RISC, DSP and programmable logic for complex signal compression and transformation tasks at a dollars and watts less per GFLOP than its competition."
• Best Packet Processor
  Xelerated's Xelerated X11 with 20-bits/s Full-Duplex, 24 FE/GE MACs
  "Xelerated has found a sweet spot in the networking market by adding Ethernet-specific functions and 20 GBE MACS to its powerful recursive pipeline architecture."

powerZONE

• Best Use of New Technology in Power Management
  Enpirion's EN5330 Dc-Dc Converter
  "Clever use of MEMS technology to get rid of the external inductor, dramatically reducing real estate and BOM costs."
• Best Advance in Voltage Reference Technology
  Intersil's ISL60002 FGA Precision Voltage References
  "Major breakthrough in voltage reference design that will change the face of many products."
• Best Enabling Technology in Power
  Linear Technology's LT3468 Enabling Xenon Flash
  "Will change the future of phone camera flash and in other digital cameras."
• Best Consumer Advance in Power Management
  Summit Microelectronics' SMB120 Programmable Power Management IC
  "Changes the way and speed that high-volume consumer products can be brought to market."
• Best Use of Research in Battery Management
  Texas Instruments Bq20z80 Battery Management System
  "Applying research to create an almost perfect management system for Lithium-based batteries."
• Best High-Voltage Use of Silicon
  Vishay's MBRF20H20 Dual 200-V Schottky Rectifiers
  "Knocking SiC completely off the shelf with silicon pricing: will sell by the millions."

wirelessZONE

• Best Use of Technology
  Agilent's ACMD-7401 ACPF-7002 FBAR Duplexer/Full-Band Tx Filter
  "FBAR technology was in R&D for 7 years and Agilent has taken it and dominates the US GSM handset market."
• Best Log Amp Technology
  Analog Devices' AD8318 8-GHz Power Detector
  "This confirms ADI's lead in the design and manufacture of high-performance log amps."
• Best Direct Conversion Technology
  Linear Technology's LT5528 Direct Conversion I-Q Modulator
  "Linear has solved the fundamental problems of having the LO and output frequency identical."
• Best Remote Control Receiver
  Micrel's MICRF009 QwikRadio UHF Receiver
  "Micrel has listened to its customers and has 'tuned' its product to meet their needs and price points."
• Best High-Frequency Use of CMOS
  Peregrine's PE4263 GSM Handset RF Switch
  "Connecting CMOS directly to the antenna: a sure fire hit for quad GSM."

Product of the Year award winners were selected from those reviewed throughout the year by analogZONE editor-in-chief Paul McGoldrick and section editor Lee Goldberg, with specific emphasis on the product's performance, anticipated market success, and likely contribution to the field of analog engineering and product design.

analogZONE offers timely content tailored to the needs of design engineers specializing in analog applications. Regular weekly features include product reviews, technical notes, guest articles, news items, and more; and the publication has a reputation for incisive product understanding as well as a broad worldwide readership. Proposals for technical papers and columns, as well as sponsorship inquiries, are welcomed.

Editorial inquiries: Editor in Chief, Paul McGoldrick