The market for dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is expected to partially reverse the drastic losses it incurred in 2011 and achieve revenue growth this year, the result of balanced supply and demand following the exit of major manufacturer Elpida Memory Inc., according to an IHS iSuppli DRAM Market Tracker report from information and analytics provider IHS.

Global DRAM industry revenue this year is forecast to reach $30.6 billion, up 3.3 percent from $29.6 billion in 2011. Although seemingly small, the revenue expansion for 2012 is a welcome development given the stunning 25 percent contraction last year. The overall picture will continue to brighten during the next few years, as shown in the figure below, with DRAM revenue exceeding $30 billion each year for the next five years and reaching $40.2 billion in 2016—an unprecedented run scaling unparalleled heights for the market.

“This year’s anticipated turnaround comes as somewhat of a surprise, especially as the challenges of 2011 appeared to point to a calamitous 2012,” said Mike Howard, senior principal analyst for DRAM memory research at IHS. “Weak demand was one of the major challenges last year, when revenue slipped each quarter as prices went from bad to worse. However, the key problem was excess DRAM manufacturing capacity—the same trouble that has bedeviled the industry for much of its history.”

Compounding the difficulties last year were the October floods in Thailand, which depressed PC shipments—a traditional DRAM stronghold. The perceived scarcity of hard disk drives pummeled PC sales and thereby DRAM demand; and the paucity of hard drives meant PC manufacturers were paying more for storage—leaving even fewer dollars to spend on DRAM.

When Bankruptcy is a Good Thing

DRAM prospects started looking better, however, after the bankruptcy filing in February of Japan’s Elpida. Elpida was part of the elite echelon of DRAM manufacturers that includes Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. of South Korea, as well as U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc.

“Elpida’s insolvency will have a massive impact on the industry’s fortunes, primarily because it promises to shift the market from a state of endemic oversupply to sorely needed balance for most of 2012,” Howard said. “As a result of such developments, IHS is now cautiously optimistic that the DRAM industry may actually be through the downturn and headed for improvement.”

Even with the final outcome of Elpida’s bankruptcy uncertain and the disposition of its assets still in negotiation, the rest of the industry is expected to benefit from Elpida’s exit, with the market lifting on signs of supply rebalance.

Moreover, no significant deterioration is expected within the global economic environment, which should help reverse the paucity of demand that has hobbled the industry of late.

Article source: http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=84140

Intel looks set to face its biggest challenge in the balde server market next year.

But the first serious microprocessor challenge to Intel’s leadership position will not be from ARM-based processors, but Freescale Semiconductor which is already making inroads into the blade server market with its Power Architecture.

But ARM processor-based systems are expected to follow Freescale into the blade server market.
 
“Freescale is making the biggest challenge right now,” Rob Pettigrew, director of marketing at Emerson Network Power’s embedded computing business told Electronics Weekly.

“ARM will be there too,” said Pettigrew.

“I expect there to be major announcements in the blade market next year,” added Pettigrew.

ARM’s move into the server market is expected to be based on its next generation ARMv8 architecture, the first ARM architecture to include a 64-bit instruction set.

ARMv8 architecture’s 64-bit processing and virtual addressing differentiates it from the 32-bit ARMv7 architecture which the Cortex-A9 and Cortex-A15 processors are built on.

Emerson is the largest supplier of Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA)-based embedded computer systems with a 19.2% market share in 2011.

This is a market which has 12% annual growth and is expcetd to be worth $831.2m by the end of 2012.

ATCA-based boards are used in CPU blades and fully-configured systems which the main end-markets being telecoms infrastructure equiment and servers.

Emerson’s ATCA prodct range is based largely of Intel processors and the latest telecoms server the ATCA-7370 uses the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600.

According to Pettigrew: “The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 family offers significantly better performance in control plane applications than any other server processor.”

Emerson’s ATCA product range is not exclusively wedded to Intel and it has introduced blades based on non-Intel processors.

The 40G ATCA payload blade, the ATCA-9405 is based on dual OCTEON II CN6880 processors from Cavium, each with 32 cnMIPS cores running at up to 1.5GHz.

While Emerson’s Katana QP blade is based on a single or dual MPC7448 Power Architecture processor running at up to 1.4 GHz.

Emerson earlier this year announced its committment to the 28nm OCTEON III MIPS64 family of multicore processors from Cavium for ATCA systems.

“AdvancedTCA has become the industry standard form factor for carrier grade infrastructure. We are committed to staying at the forefront of the Cavium processor roadmap to address the processing density and scalability needed for the future,” said Pettigrew.

Article source: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2012/05/17/53670/freescale-faces-up-to-intel-in-the-blade-server-market.htm

Acal BFi says it is sampling the market’s smallest web-server, the xPico chip-sized module from Lantronix.

The device, which is an Ethernet-based web server and full IP stack, measures just 24mm x 16.5mm.

“xPico answers customer demand for an Ethernet-based, embedded networking module with a benchmark form factor,” said Martin Kemp, European sales manager, Acal BFi.

“The launch of four new products in the past four months highlights our aggressive global growth strategy for Lantronix,” said Martin Poppelaars, v-p of EMEA sales for Lantronix. 

Development kits and a limited number of initial samples are available now, via Acal BFi.

Volume shipments are planned for early in the second half of calendar 2012.

 

Article source: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2012/05/17/53669/acal-bfi-claims-lantronix-web-server-is-smallest.htm