Cover Story
IBM Becoming the Brain of the World
Morphing from a US research organization into a global one―IBM Corporation, a giant in the IT industry, is making a major switch in its R&D strategy, the keyword being “true globalization.”
IBM plans to establish research laboratories, one after another, all over the world.The announcement of the first results from this initiative is expected before the end of 2008.According to IBM, it plans to open more than eight new research laboratories, more than the total current number, primarily in high growth markets such as BRICs nations. In the past, the company always operated its research laboratories on its own, but from now on plans to operate them jointly with external entities, such as other corporations, national governments, local governments, and universities.
Part I: R&DNew Era
Coming out of its shell to work with companies in all areas
IBM's objective in establishing R&D facilities all over the world is entry into new fields, such as energy, the environment, ITS, medicine, and agriculture. The company, which gave birth to industries such as the personal computer and HDD, is once again taking onthe challenge of creating major industries that will form the backbone of the next era. Toward this goal, the company has chosen the concept of "collaboratory," which involves establishing and operating research laboratories jointly with partners such as other corporations, national governments, local governments, and universities. If IBM, which continues to hold the largest number of U.S. patents, is successful in its new approach, Japanese companies may not be any match for it.
Interview with Head of Research
IBM Corp., Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research,
John E. Kelly III:Changing IBM Research as the World Changes
Part 2: Success Story—CNSE
Cutting-Edge Sites for Developing Next-Generation Technologies; Adopting Open System to Encourage Innovation
IBM is modeling its new collaboratory strategy on the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE), an industry/government/academia collaborative research project led by IBM and other organizations. In the 4 years following its establishment, CNSE has signed cooperative agreements with more than 250 companies and successfully hired more than 1,000 researchers. CNSE received a massive amount of funding from the state of New York and adopted a framework in which the participating corporations can enjoy its research results. In the future, IBM and other companies look set to create many CNSE-like research projects the world over.
Special Feature
DNA Chips Shift from Research to Real Industry
Until recently, DNA chips have been commercialized solely for use in research laboratories. Now, however, their market is beginning to expand into industrial applications, perhaps greatly altering the direction that DNA chips will take.The expanding market size and changing performance requirements may significantly change the industry map.
Electronics Corporations Propose Future Technologies for Automobiles:Report from AT International 2008
AT International 2008, Japan's first professional event featuring the latest in car electronic technology, was held at Makuhari Messe from July 23 through 25, 2008. Many electronics corporations, including NEC, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Murata Manufacturing, Renesas Technology, and Rohm, set up booths to promote their own automobile-related technologies.
Thermal-hydraulic Analysis Tools: Using Virtual Prototyping to Tackle Thermal Issues
As product sizes decrease and more parts are mounted at higher density, conventional approaches can no longer cope with thermal problems. Thus, more manufacturers are trying to implement thermal measures at the initial stage of product design. The thermal-hydraulic analysis tool, which simulates thermal flows using design data, can be extremely useful in this situation. This tool allows the user to understand temperature distribution over an entire PCB or other products by using a so-called virtual prototype, eliminating the need to actually build a prototype or run experiments.
Guest Paper
Proposing a Blu-ray Disc Business Model that Can Beat Emerging Nations
In February 2008, Blu-ray Disc finally won its battle to become the next-generation DVD standard. Soon, however, corporations in emerging nations will enter the market with their cheaper products, quickly turning Blu-ray Discs into a regular commodity. This paper explores how Japanese corporations may be able to extract profit from their Blu-ray Disc technology in the face of the unavoidable modularization trend.
Documentary
Origin of Innovation: Development of Matsushita Electric Industrial’s UniPhier (Final)
Are you trying to destroy our business?!
Matsushita Electric Industrial's UniPhier concept unified the technical foundations (platforms) of all of the company's digital consumer appliances. Triggered by the need to support One Seg cellphones, this concept then began to spread to the mobile device field. The UniPhier chip, launched against the objections of those in production, turned out to be full of bugs. Enduring scornful looks from their colleagues who were designing cellphones using other companies’ chips, the engineers involved in UniPhier worked frantically trying to fix the many problems.
NE Tutorial
Technology Trends in Switching Power Supplies for Flat-Panel TVs (Part 3)
More and More PDP Power Supplies Use Half-Wave Current Resonance Method Suitable for Multiple Outputs
Since PDP TVs tend to have larger screens than LCD TVs, they require higher-output power supplies. In addition, power supplies for PDPs require high output voltage and have to supply power to two separate discharging circuits. This article describes the half-bridge, half-wave current resonance method gaining popularity in PDP power supplies.
Introduction to CMOS RF Circuitry Design (Part 8)
Optimum Method for Designing RF Element Circuits; VCO and Image Suppression Mixer
The previous two installments explained the optimum method for designing element circuits for use in CMOS RF circuits. This is the last installment in the series and discusses two types of circuits: a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and an image suppression mixer. Both of these are important circuits that can greatly affect the performance of radio communication systems.
Academy
Session 5: Caching to Increase Memory Speed
Keyword
Digital Signage
Key Person
Willcom Inc., Mihoko Hotta: Finding Joy of Design in Concept Sharing with Engineers
NE Interview
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. Executive Vice President, Mitsuru Honma:
“The Many Mistakes We’ve Made Have Made Our Mass Production Technologies the Best”
World Seport
From U.S.: U.S. Differs Significantly from Japan in the Workings of Venture Corporations and Venture Capital Environment
News
- Olympus and Matsushita Establish Standard for High-End Small SLR Camera
- Dissecting Willcom D4
- Nissan Motor Unveils Prototype Electric Vehicle
- Matsushita Electric Works Develops World’s First Germicidal UV-LED
