<span style='color:red'>Silicon Labs</span> expands senior management team
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Silicon Labs expands senior management team

Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB), a provider of silicon, software and solutions for a smarter, more connected world, announces two new executive appointments. Daniel Cooley has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. In this new role, Mr. Cooley will focus on Silicon Labs’ overall growth strategy, business development, new technologies and emerging markets. Matt Johnson, a semiconductor veteran with more than 15 years of industry experience, joins Silicon Labs as Senior Vice President and General Manager of IoT products. Both executives will report to Tyson Tuttle, CEO.Mr. Cooley has led Silicon Labs’ IoT business for the past four years. Under his leadership, the company built an industry-leading portfolio of secure connectivity solutions, with IoT revenue now exceeding a $100 million per quarter run rate. Mr. Cooley joined Silicon Labs in 2005 as a chip design engineer developing broadcast audio products and short-range wireless devices. Over the years, he has served in various senior management, engineering and product management roles at the company’s Shenzhen, Singapore, Oslo and Austin sites. The new role leverages Mr. Cooley’s proven talents in strategy and business development.Mr. Johnson will lead Silicon Labs’ IoT business including the development and market success of the company’s broad portfolio of wireless products, microcontrollers, sensors, development tools and wireless software. Mr. Johnson has a track record of growing revenue and leading large global teams, and he brings a deep understanding of analog, MCU and embedded software businesses to Silicon Labs. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of automotive processing products and software development at NXP Semiconductors/Freescale, as well as SVP and General Manager of mobile solutions at Fairchild Semiconductor.“With these executive appointments, we are expanding our ability to execute on large and growing market opportunities in the IoT,” said Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs. “Together, these two talented leaders will help Silicon Labs scale the business to the next level and focus on future growth.”
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Release time：2018-07-17 00:00 reading：1176 Continue reading>>
<span style='color:red'>Silicon Labs</span> completes Z-Wave acquisition
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Silicon Labs completes Z-Wave acquisition

　　Silicon Labs has completed the acquisition of Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave business, including a team of approximately 100 employees, for $240 million in an all-cash transaction.　　Z-Wave is a developer of mesh networking technology for the smart home and more than 2,400 certified, interoperable Z-Wave devices are now available from the Z-Wave Alliance, which comprises of more than 700 manufacturers and service providers around the world.　　The combination of Z-Wave’s mesh technology and its focus on product interoperability with Silicon Labs’ multiprotocol expertise will give smart home developers access to a large, varied network of ecosystems and to a full range of end-node technology options. The strategic acquisition complements Silicon Labs’ comprehensive wireless hardware and software portfolio for the smart home, which includes Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Thread, Bluetooth and proprietary protocols.　　“Adding Z-Wave to Silicon Labs’ extensive IoT connectivity portfolio allows us to deliver a unified vision for the wireless technologies underpinning the smart home market,” explained Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs. “A secure, interoperable customer experience is at the heart of how smart home products are designed, deployed and managed. Our smart home vision is one where multiple technologies work securely together, where any device using any of our connectivity options easily joins the home network, and where security updates and feature upgrades occur automatically.”　　Commenting Raoul Wijgergangs, Vice President and General Manager of Z-Wave said, “Z-Wave is a proven, broadly deployed technology that just reached the milestone of 100 million devices in the market. The acquisition will drive collaboration and expand access to a diverse ecosystem network of partners including Amazon, Alarm.com, ADT, Samsung SmartThings, Yale, Vivint, Google Home and Comcast.”
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Release time：2018-04-20 00:00 reading：1278 Continue reading>>
<span style='color:red'>Silicon Labs</span> Juices Wi-Fi in IoT Portfolio
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Silicon Labs Juices Wi-Fi in IoT Portfolio

　　PARIS — Among wireless technologies powering Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, Wi-Fi has been conspicuously absent from Silicon Labs’ IoT product portfolio — until now. The Austin, Texas, company is formally joining the Wi-Fi in-crowd with home-grown low-power Wi-Fi transceivers and Wi-Fi modules designed for battery-operated IoT devices. The company is making the announcement Monday (Feb. 26) at a trade show in Nürnberg, Germany.　　Silicon Labs is touting its Wi-Fi solution’s “exceptionally low transmit (TX: 138 mA), and receive (RX: 48mA) power, along with 200 ?A average Wi-Fi power consumption will enable ultra-low system power for IoT devices.”　　Daniel Cooley, senior vice president and general manager of IoT products at Silicon Labs, told us, “We’ve been thinking of how to enter the Wi-Fi market, when to do it and what makes sense for us to do it,” especially after “tons of money already invested into Wi-Fi chip companies over the last 20 years.”　　Wi-Fi for battery operated devices　　So, why Wi-Fi now?　　First, this is all about ubiquity. Wi-Fi is the most widely deployed wireless technology in the world, said Cooley. “When a consumer walks into McDonald’s, he expects to have a Big Mac and Wi-Fi,” he said. More specifically, Wi-Fi access points are already installed everywhere, he added.　　Second, the IoT market is facing requirements to enable transmission of more and more data. “There are more IoT apps — like IP cameras — that need to pump a lot of data,” said Cooley. In parallel, those who build IoT systems also demand a fatter pipe for more frequent software updates, especially when patching security updates.　　However, as IHS Markit’s senior analyst Christian Kim noted, despite Wi-Fi’s geographic spread, Wi-Fi’s high-power consumption compared to other wireless standards has “made it prohibitive for line-powered/battery powered applications” to embrace Wi-Fi on IoT devices.　　Silicon Labs is hoping that a low-power Wi-Fi technology that meets the tight power budget of battery-operated devices will change the landscape.　　IHS Markit predicts that the market for Wi-Fi devices in low-power IoT end-node applications to grow from 128 million units per year in 2016 to 584 million by 2021.　　But now, given the glut of Wi-Fi chips on the market, how exactly will "Wi-Fi for IoT devices" differ?　　Wi-Fi chips today “don’t respect network or data,” said Cooley. “Wi-Fi has notorious protocols that flood the network with packets. If the other device didn’t get a packet, it keeps chirping and chattering away — with no respect for the network where other wireless protocols exist.”　　IHS Markit’s senior analyst Kim agreed. “Traditional Wi-Fi chips constantly connect to the network bringing the network performance down,” Kim said. Low-power apps need “low-power Wi-Fi chips,” he noted. The low-power Wi-Fi chips are designed to remain disconnected to the network and reconnect to the network only when the network has enough bandwdith available.　　More specifically, “Clients will let go” of packets and try re-sending them later, said Cooley. Clients know effective throughputs, so once the network starts degrading, it backs off and lets others use the network. When it clears, it re-sends packets at a higher data rate. Cooley said, “Some access points manage the network better, as they started to embrace such flexible schemes.”　　Silicon Labs also noted the company’s core RF performance improves the sensitivity and link budget of its Wi-Fi solution, resulting in a link budget of 115dBm for long-range Wi-Fi transmission.　　Power comparison　　Silicon Labs claims its new Wi-Fi devices “cut power consumption in half.”　　Although a 50 percent reduction in power sounds great, the question is: Compared to whom? And where’s the proof? The IHS analyst rattled off a list of competitors in the low-power Wi-Fi chip space that includes Cypress Semiconductor, Texas Instruments and Microchip Technology (which acquired Atmel in 2016).　　Silicon Labs, though not naming a specific competitor, shared the comparison table below. A company spokesman stressed, “The comparison is based on actual lab tests, chip to chip, and not data sheet specs.” Asked about the unsub in the table, he said, “The competitor has been around for a few years and they have made many public claims (like Cypress) about being the leading low-power Wi-Fi for IoT provider.”　　Cooley also stressed the importance of the Wi-Fi SiP module for customers. “This 6.5 mm x 6.5 mm SiP includes antenna,” he said, “makes it possible for IoT system designers to add the Wi-Fi module to retrofit their existing IoT devices.” An added benefit of a SiP-based solution is reduced import/export taxes in some countries. SiP, technically, is considered a component, rather than a system with a printed circuit board.　　Security for Wi-Fi　　Last but hardly least, security is essential in every Wi-Fi chip. “We take security seriously,” Cooley intoned.　　Fresh in not only Cooley’s memory, but throughout the tech industry is the scare of a massive Wi-Fi worm malware attack, known as Broadpwn, that took advantage of specific flaws in Broadcom’s Wi-Fi chips.　　Last summer, both Google Android and Apple iOS had to scramble to patch a flaw that could have left all their users at risk from a critical remote exploit vulnerability. As experts noted then, Broadpwn was remarkable in its design as “a truly remote exploit.” The victim doesn’t have to do anything to be infected, the attacker doesn’t need to know anything about the target device, and the system under attack can be taken over without crashing.　　A security expert at the Black Hat conference traced a vulnerability in Broadcom’s Wi-Fi chipset code. The flaw, as he explained, was a remotely exploitable “buffer overflow that could have enabled arbitrary code execution.”　　It turns out, as Cooley noted, in many cases, there exists no encryption between a Wi-Fi transceiver and an application processor. Service-set identifiers (SSID) and password information were often left unencrypted. The serial link between a transceiver and a host processor also remained unprotected.　　Cooley noted, “Data transferred between host processor and Silicon Labs’ Wi-Fi chip, for example, is safeguarded with Secure Link to protect information like SSIDs and passwords.” Likewise, firmware and code need to be authorized with secure boot. Silicon Labs’ Wi-Fi solution features advanced security technology, including secure boot and host interface, hardware cryptography acceleration supporting Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Public Key Encryption (PKE) and True Random Number Generator (TRNG).　　In the end, security will continue to dog IoT market growth. In this market, Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates and security patches will be SOP for IoT vendors in efforts to serve a broad customer base. But not each and every one of those IoT system vendors is a giant like Apple who can spend unlimited resources on security. Silicon Labs know that’s where a nimble little IoT chip company can find its niche.
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Release time：2018-02-28 00:00 reading：1190 Continue reading>>
As Rivals Tussle, <span style='color:red'>Silicon Labs</span> Soars
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As Rivals Tussle, Silicon Labs Soars

　　Silicon Labs is riding high. The Austin, Texas-based chip vendor has taken a methodical approach in its pursuit of the IoT market, focused keenly on expanding its wireless portfolio and developing a multiprotocol environment among different wireless networks.　　These efforts, most recently, resulted in a record $100 million in revenue from the company’s IoT products in the third quarter of 2017.　　Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle, buttonholed at the Consumer Electronics Show, conceded that his company has benefited from turmoil among its rivals, who have been preoccupied with M&A upheavals.　　Tuttle explained that during the prolonged M&A fever, companies facing uncertainty about the future tend to start either canceling programs or losing talent. Instability breeds confusion and anxiety among both customers and employees. “People tend to think, ‘we’ll wait for what will happen,’” said Tuttle.　　Silicon Labs, on the other hand, has been able to snag a few stars who were formerly with Freescale or NXP Semiconductors. NXP’s acquisition by Qualcomm, originally scheduled to close at the end of 2017, is still pending. Meanwhile, Qualcomm might be acquired in a hostile takeover bid Broadcom launched late last year.　　Silicon Labs’s edge, for now, is that “our customers know that we are in the IoT business for the long haul,” the CEO said. Silicon Labs is expecting its IoT business to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 percent, Tuttle told us. Noting that a half of the company’s IoT revenue is generated from wireless products, he added, “Our wireless business is growing at a 40 percent (CAGR).”　　Focus on wireless　　Last month, Silicon Labs announced a plan to acquire Sigma Designs for $282 million in cash. The deal is designed to broaden Silicon Labs' IoT connectivity product portfolio to include Z-Wave, a wireless mesh technology using low-energy radio waves for IoT smart home devices.　　The acquisition has not closed yet, so Tuttle declined to detail plans for Z-Wave. However, the addition of Z-Wave would mark a crowning moment for Silicon Labs. It has spent several years steadily expanding its wireless portfolio — which now includes Bluetooth, Thread and Zigbee — and patiently developing multiprotocol solutions.　　According to the Z-Wave Alliance, more than 2,100 interoperable Z-Wave uses have been developed, and more than 70 million Z-Wave products sold since 2001.　　What about WAN?　　So, what’s next for Silicon Labs? Any plans to get into NB-IoT or any other low-power Wide Area Network technologies?　　Tuttle said, “Wide Area Network (WAN) is something we are monitoring,” but the company has no immediate plans in that market.　　Silicon Labs’ focus has always been on Personal Area Network (PAN) and Local Area Network (LAN), but not WAN. Tuttle remains skeptical of WAN, when [cellular] operators get involved in building IoT networks. The issue for IoT device vendors is, he asked, “How are you going to make money” if you have to shell out fees to cellular networks?　　Silicon Labs, thus far, has never had to build any relationships with [cellular] operators. For his company, Tuttle sees in WAN “market risks, time-to-market problems and uncertainty of overall development.”　　He noted that Silicon Labs is no Qualcomm, MediaTek, Huawei or Intel. “We find WAN a difficult landscape for us. Besides, we don’t want to jump in the market where we can’t become a leader.”　　Tuttle did mention last week’s announcement of a collaboration with Hager Group (Obernai, France). Hager is rolling out a new smart RF module incorporating Silicon Labs’ wireless Gecko SoC, combining 2.4GHz Bluetooth, sub-GHz KNX and Sigfox LWAN connectivity. The module is designed to enable “energy-efficient multiprotocol and multiband connectivity at 2.4 GHz, 868 MHz and 433 MHz,” according to the two companies.　　In contrast, MediaTek’s CFO David Ku, asked about his company’s IoT strategy, told us, “I think we were too late to get into the low-power wireless home networking technology like Zigbee.” MediaTek, instead, is opting to play to its strength by connecting IoT devices to gateways and the cloud. “Take a look at voice assistant devices like Amazon Echo. We essentially see it as a tablet without a screen,” Ku said.　　Asked about the company’s lack of wireless technologies such as Zigbee or Z-wave to connect lights in a building, Ku countered that IoT for consumer applications at home is already well established with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and 2G and 3G modules. He said, “I’m not sure if consumers need a daisy chain (network topology, like Zigbee.”　　Separately, MediaTek is probing the notion of installing a small AI SoC in every home-connected device, such as light switches. MediaTek’s low-power AI processor, able to recognize 20-30 key words, is designed to control connected devices by voice. “You can turn lights on and off at home” without using a smartphone or installing Amazon Echo in every room, he explained.　　Challenges of broad IoT market　　The biggest challenge facing Silicon Labs, as Tuttle sees it, is “how to make R&D more efficient.” The fragmentation of the IoT market has generated hundreds of IoT applications, with thousands of customers seeking different implementations.　　Silicon Labs needs to deliver a differentiated portfolio that responds to those needs across varying applications. Designing a separate product for each and every company, however, is inefficient and not scalable. “That’s why it’s so important for us to develop a common platform,” Tuttle said. The goal is to offer one piece of hardware supported by multiple protocols in software, which then aggregate many functions.　　This is where RAIL comes in, said Tuttle. The company developed a common RAdio Interface Layer, called RAIL, on which both Bluetooth and Zigbee stacks run. Notably, Silicon Labs acquired in 2016 real-time OS supplier Micrium. Silicon Labs’ engineering team has “bent its RTOS kernel for connected IoT applications,” as Daniel Cooley, senior vice president and general manager of IoT products at Silicon Labs, told us in a previous interview with EE Times.　　Silicon Labs designed a Radio Scheduler, which manages requests from the protocol to access the radio while the Micrium OS kernel resource-sharing between the stacks. In short, IoT device developers can use RAIL as a common API and interface to share the radio.　　Tuttle said that prioritizing projects and simplifying IoT designs for its customers is critical. Developing modules is also important. “Modules can help. In fact, 25 percent of our IoT revenue comes from our module business.”　　Tuttle sees Silicon Labs’ advantage today is that “our customers know that we’re committed to the IoT market. We are a one-stop shop for IoT, supporting everything from software to hardware, and all the way to modules.” That market confidence — the notion that Silicon Labs “will be always there with a complete IoT solution including the company’s own software” —can carry his company a long way into the future, Tuttle explained.
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Release time：2018-01-17 00:00 reading：1207 Continue reading>>
<span style='color:red'>Silicon Labs</span> to Acquire Sigma Designs
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Silicon Labs to Acquire Sigma Designs

　　Silicon Labs announced a deal to acquire fellow chip vendor Sigma Designs for $282 million in cash.　　The acquisition broadens Silicon Labs' IoT connectivity product portfolio to include Z-Wave, a mesh networking technology using low-energy radio waves for Internet of Things (IoT) smart home devices. There are currently more than 2,100 certified, interoperable Z-Wave devices available from more than 600 manufacturers. Sigma Designs is one of two chip vendors that provides Z-Wave chips.　　Silicon Labs plans to shutter or divest Sigma Designs other product lines, which include chips for smart TV and media connectivity. The company will wind down or sell Sigma Designs smart TV business and is in activity discussions with prospective buyers of the media connectivity business.　　Tyson Tuttle, CEO of Silicon Labs, said in a conference call following the announcement of the deal that there is no single dominant wireless technology for home automation, which relies on a number of protocols including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Thread and proprietary technologies.　　"With more than 70 million Z-Wave devices deployed to date, adding Z-Wave technology to Silicon Labs' IoT portfolio better positions us to serve this growing market," Tuttle said. He said Silicon Labs would collaborate with the Z-Wave Alliance to drive further development and adoption of Z-Wave technology.　　Asked to compare Z-Wave with Zigbee, another wireless networking protocol that Silicon Labs markets products for, Tuttle said striking the deal with Sigma Designs would enable the company to provide a choice to customers.　　"I see this as actually being, hopefully, additive and to bring those ecosystems together and those device makers together so that we can offer the complete portfolio of parts to them as opposed to cannibalizing one standard versus the other," Tuttle said.　　Sigma Designs announced a restructuring in October, including the elimination of more than 200 jobs, intended to refocus the company's expenses and accelerate a return to profitability.　　About 100 Sigma Designs employees will join Silicon Labs after the company winds down or sells the smart TV and media connectivity business, according to the company. Sigma Designs had roughly 700 employees at the close of the third quarter.　　The deal, which has been approved by both companies boards of directors, remains subject to customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in early 2018.
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Release time：2017-12-15 00:00 reading：3218 Continue reading>>
<span style='color:red'>Silicon Labs</span> Bends Micrium RTOS to IoT
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Silicon Labs Bends Micrium RTOS to IoT

　　It’s hard to argue with anyone who insists that the Internet of Things (IoT) still has a long way to go, if only because no application-level standards exist to ease interoperability among various IoT devices. An issue possibly even more serious is sloppy IoT security, thrown in as an afterthought more often than not.　　But the IoT industry isn’t standing still. Chip vendors are making progress in connectivity, an integral part of the IoT story. Since neither homes nor commercial buildings are built on a single wireless network, IoT chips with built-in multi-protocol support are fast becoming mainstream.　　By launching Monday (Nov. 6) what the company describes as “dynamic multi-protocol software” for its Wireless Gecko SoC and module portfolio, Silicon Labs hopes to stand out among a growing list of IoT chip vendors with multi-protocol capability already designed into their hardware. Silicon Labs claims its new software is unique, because it enables “IoT devices to dynamically connect to Zigbee and Bluetooth Low Energy ecosystems at the same time,” as put it by Daniel Cooley, senior vice president and general manager of IoT products at Silicon Labs.　　Dynamic multi-protocol　　Lee Ratliff, senior principal analyst for connectivity and IoT, technology, media & telecom at IHS Markit, said, “Off the top of my head, I know that Nordic, TI, NXP, Qorvo, and ON Semiconductor have multi-protocol capability in hardware.”　　However, dynamic switching is not prevalent in their solutions. Ratliff told us, “All multi-protocol products and demos I’ve seen have been either programmed (one time switch after device provisioning on the network) or switched (multiple switches between protocols during normal operation, but not real-time dynamic).”　　A variety of IoT use-case scenarios serve to explain the need for dynamic multi-protocol operations. Dynamic time slicing between networks becomes critical, for example, when a primary Thread network must periodically transmit Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon. This also applies when a primary Zigbee network must switch to BLE if an eligible device is present, or when IoT devices have to listen on one network and transmit on another for network translation.　　Ratliff said, “Coordinating dynamic switching in software is difficult, even if your hardware is already capable. That’s why this Silicon Labs announcement is important.” Ratliff added that Silicon Labs “has done the hard software work to ensure that dynamic switching is easy and reliable without the OEM needing to write all the low-level radio scheduler software.”　　Silicon Labs’ Cooley noted, “Think about a wireless network like Zigbee… a low-duty cycle radio network that doesn’t really need to be ‘on’ all the time. In contrast, BLE is an unforgiving wireless network that must be maintained all the time.” A “dynamic multi-protocol radio scheduler” comes into play for time-slicing among two different wireless networks, all the while maintaining multiple radio protocols.　　Bending Micrium OS to IoT　　A year ago, Silicon Labs acquired Micrium, a supplier of real-time operating system software. The purchase of Micrium was motivated by the need to support Silicon Labs’ customers who want an RTOS for their IoT apps.　　However, more important, owning Micrium empowers Silicon Labs to “bend the kernel of Micrium RTOS for connected IoT applications,” explained Cooley, so that the RTOS can support dynamic radio schedulers, while meeting real-time requirements in wireless protocol stacks. “Our long-term strategy is to make Micrium an IoT OS, and that is paying off now,” he added.　　IHS Markit analyst Ratliff explained that the dynamic multi-protocol radio scheduler is very low level in the software stack — just above the OS, but under the connectivity stack. “At this low level, it’s very important to have essentially unrestricted access to the OS for best performance,” he noted.　　In short, he said, “You can only do this by owning the OS or having an extremely good partnership with the OS vendor. You not only need low-level OS support, but you also want to make sure that your solution doesn’t break when the OS version is revised. If you don’t own the platform you’re building on, you are at the mercy of someone else.”　　Ratliff added, “This [dynamic multi-protocol scheduler software] could be ported to another OS, but Silicon Labs told me that they have no plans to do so.”　　Cooley added that by owning its own RTOS, Silicon Labs won’t face a dreaded future in which it has to port an IoT app to five operating systems, every time a new one pops up.　　What will this software buy us?　　First, “We are delivering an IoT solution with one antenna, one software package and one CPU,” said Cooley.　　Second, “We are meeting IoT users’ desire to interface with mobile phones.” With dynamic multi-protocol software, IoT device users can now “commission, update, control and monitor Zigbee mesh networks directly over Bluetooth with smartphone apps,” according to Silicon Labs.　　Third, with the dynamic multi-protocol software inside Silicon Labs’ IoT chips, IoT applications such as lighting, home automation and security can be controlled by mobile devices “without having to go to Internet,” Cooley added.　　Brief history of IoT chips　　IoT chips have already seen some notable evolutions over the past several years. Here’s how Ratliff sees “a couple of stages of MCU integration in connectivity chips.”　　It all started some five years ago when small MCUs (like ARM Cortex M0) began to invade the transceiver, allowing the connectivity software stack to run on-chip — a single chip connectivity solution. “This allowed semiconductor vendors to qualify standalone software stacks and distribute as tested object code rather than source code that had to be integrated in a larger external MCU that also ran the application,” Ratliff explained. This was considered progress, because “abstracting the connectivity function in the design just made life easier for the OEM — one less thing to worry about,” he explained.　　The second phase of MCU integration started 2-3 years ago when the connectivity MCU got powerful enough (like Cortex M4) to run application software in addition to the stack. “While this worked against the concept of abstracting the connectivity function, it has still become popular because it has often allowed OEMs to eliminate an external MCU, saving space and cost,” said Ratliff.　　A good example is Dialog Semiconductor winning the original Xiaomi Mi Band socket several years ago, he noted. “Xiaomi wanted to make a fitness band with incredibly low cost, but with most of the functionality of the Fitbit. They chose a Dialog BLE chip — the DA14580 — and it ran the stack and the application code, eliminating an external MCU.” He added, “The DA14580wasn’t even designed to run more than the stack, but Dialog and Xiaomi pared down the code until they made it work. This was a major factor in enabling the $15 price point that was their goal.”　　Ratliff said that integrated connectivity plus MCU for the stack has become the norm, especially for BLE and multi-protocol devices. For most low-power wireless protocols, transceivers without an MCU for the stack are only used in legacy designs.　　The next step up, Ratliff noted, is “connectivity with an MCU capable of running stack plus app.” Although this has gained popularity, “this is still far from ubiquity,” he noted.　　More low-power wireless connectivity vendors have added this option, often along with multi-protocol support, said Ratliff. Examples include Nordic Semiconductor with its nRF52 family, TI with CC26xx, Qorvo with GP695, ON Semiconductor RSL10, Cypress with BCM207xx chips and Silicon Labs’ Gecko products.　　These are obvious examples, he said, “because they have upgraded to Cortex M3 or M4.”  Ratliff added that many Cortex M0 chips (such as the Dialog DA14681) are also capable of running application code in addition to the stack. “There’s a spectrum of solutions with varying levels of support for application code.”　　As Silicon Labs sees the market’s evolution, the newest phase — and where it seeks differentiation — lies in RTOS. Do you have an RTOS kernel capable of dynamic multi-protocol scheduling? Or, do you continue to write the stack to the bare metal? Are you forced to meet dynamic multi-protocol scheduling demands by using a two-chip solution consisting of a host MCU and a connectivity SoC?　　By owning Micrium RTOS, Cooley said, “We think we can meet customers’ needs faster” by running Silicon Labs’ connectivity code and customers’ application code on Silicon Labs’ integrated “connectivity plus app” IoT chips.　　Late to the BLE party?　　Ratliff described Silicon Labs’ two strengths as “experience and software.” They are intertwined, he said. Silicon Labs has “a deep bench of engineering experience” with more than 15 years’ experience with low-power and embedded connectivity in Zigbee.　　On the software side, Silicon Labs has its own, “industry leading Zigbee and Thread stacks,” he said. Silicon Labs has demonstrated its prominance “right in the middle of the creation of both of those standards.”　　The reality in the IoT market today is that many other connectivity vendors “rely on third-party or open-source code, requiring their customers to piece together a software solution and perform extensive testing and qualification to make sure it all works together,” Ratliff observed. “Silicon Labs can offer a pre-qualified solution that can reduce risk and decrease time to market. Equally important as their run-time code is their portfolio of software dev tools, which have been honed over many years,” he added.　　He said, however, that Silicon Labs’ weakness lies in “their late time-to-market with a BLE solution.”　　Noting that Silicon Labs is on its first generation of BLE chips, the IHS analyst said, “They’ve designed what I suspect is an over-engineered set of chips that can be configured to address any application.” Calling such a move “typical for any vendor’s first-gen chips” in hopes of gaining share, he cautioned, “if the share doesn’t gain, management may lose interest in funding more R&D.”　　Availability　　According to Silicon Labs, the new multiprotocol software is available now to customers using Silicon Labs’ EFR32MG12 and EFR32MG13 Wireless Gecko SoCs and associated modules. “I don’t want to say it’s free, but, yes, the software package comes without extra charge,” Cooley said.
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Release time：2017-11-07 00:00 reading：3341 Continue reading>>

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