OREANDA-NEWS. Toshiba's Logic LSI Division is replying to market challenges that custom LSI face now.

Recognizing that the trend in equipment under development may take an unexpected turn, particularly in the case of protracted development, or that use of the latest processes and devices may raise development costs, Toshiba offers three types of strategic products that provide solutions.

Application Processor Plus (ApP Plus), Mobile Peripheral Devices (MPDs): Addition of MPDs and/or ApP Plus to complement the functions necessary for existing application processors realizes performance comparable to that of the latest processors, with minimal design lead times and development costs.

Structured Array: Through collaboration with BaySand Inc. of the U.S., Toshiba has structured arrays to satisfy increasing market needs for high performance, high specification and low power technologies. Because it offers performance equivalent to an FPGA, a pilot sample can be quickly supplied using verified RTL data with as short lead time as one fifth—five weeks—a conventional ASIC.

Toshiba is also able to supply samples with the same footprint as the FPGA. Also, by decreasing the layers of metal masks, development cost can be reduced significantly. Engineering samples will be available in the first half of FY 2013, mass production will follow in turn.

ApP lite: ApP lite products are able to enrich the daily life by cultivating sensing technology or communication technology for transferring data captured by sensors. ApP lite does not simply feed data to the cloud but also performs signal processing, image recognition, etc., between equipment and the cloud, thus adding value to the equipment while minimizing the data-communication load. In March 2013 Toshiba introduced an App lite for a thermometer designed for Rakuten Kirei °C Navi, a health and beauty service for women launched by Rakuten Inc.

Commenting on the product strategies, Mr. Koji Miyamoto, General Manager of Logic LSI Product Development Dept., Logic LSI Div., Semiconductor & Storage Products Company, said, "Toshiba will deliver solutions to customer by expand its lineup of these three strategic product areas. We will also supply application processors from partners, including third parties, and offer solutions, for example Rakuten Kirei °C Navi, by cultivating sensing, data transfer and low power technologies. I believe that Toshiba is the company best positioned to support customers' needs to raise the commercial value of data and to develop services or businesses based collecting and analyzing those data."