Infineon OPTIGA security certified to TPM 2.0

The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has certified Infineon’s OPTIGA technology to TPM (Trusted Device Module) 2.0 standard

TPM 2.0 is the most recent version of the TPM standard which addresses the security requirements of a growing number of IoT devices.

Trusted computing based on TPM root of trust hardware provides protection for such devices as gateways and routers used in smart homes, mobile devices as well as connected industrial and automotive systems.

The system offers security from basic authentication products to advanced implementations for protecting integrity, authenticity and confidentiality of information.

Read more Infineon stories on Electronics Weekly »

david manners

Na-ion cathode is robust

eldfellite cathode for Na-ion cellSodium-ion (“Na-ion”) batteries could have taken another step to practicality as “safe and sustainable” cathode material is invented at the University of Texas at Austin.

The material is the the non-toxic and inexpensive mineral eldfellite (NaFe(SO4)2).

“At the core of this discovery is a basic structure for the material that we hope will encourage researchers to come up with better materials for the further development of sodium-ion batteries,” said Preetam Singh, a postdoctoral fellow and researcher in Goodenough’s lab.

Sodium-ion batteries work just like lithium-ion batteries, but the materials are much cheaper. During the discharge, sodium ions travel from the anode to the cathode, while electrons pass to the cathode through an external circuit.

However, they have problems related to performance, weight and instability of materials.

The University’s cathode material addresses instability – its structure has fixed sodium and iron layers that allow sodium to be inserted and removed without damaging structural integrity.

Charge/gramme is two-thirds of that of a lithium-ion battery.

“We believe our cathode material provides a good baseline structure for the development of new materials that could eventually make the sodium-ion battery a commercial reality,” said Singh.

The wok is reported in the journal Energy & Environmental Science in a paper: ‘Eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2: an intercalation cathode host for low-cost Na-ion batteries’.

UK start-up Faradion is attempting to exploit Na-ion cells.

steve bush

Na-ion cathode is robust

eldfellite cathode for Na-ion cellSodium-ion (“Na-ion”) batteries could have taken another step to practicality as “safe and sustainable” cathode material is invented at the University of Texas at Austin.

The material is the the non-toxic and inexpensive mineral eldfellite (NaFe(SO4)2).

“At the core of this discovery is a basic structure for the material that we hope will encourage researchers to come up with better materials for the further development of sodium-ion batteries,” said Preetam Singh, a postdoctoral fellow and researcher in Goodenough’s lab.

Sodium-ion batteries work just like lithium-ion batteries, but the materials are much cheaper. During the discharge, sodium ions travel from the anode to the cathode, while electrons pass to the cathode through an external circuit.

However, they have problems related to performance, weight and instability of materials.

The University’s cathode material addresses instability – its structure has fixed sodium and iron layers that allow sodium to be inserted and removed without damaging structural integrity.

Charge/gramme is two-thirds of that of a lithium-ion battery.

“We believe our cathode material provides a good baseline structure for the development of new materials that could eventually make the sodium-ion battery a commercial reality,” said Singh.

The wok is reported in the journal Energy & Environmental Science in a paper: ‘Eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2: an intercalation cathode host for low-cost Na-ion batteries’.

UK start-up Faradion is attempting to exploit Na-ion cells.

steve bush

Na-ion cathode is robust

eldfellite cathode for Na-ion cellSodium-ion batteries could have taken another step to practicality as “safe and sustainable” cathode material is invented at the University of Texas at Austin.

The material is the the non-toxic and inexpensive mineral eldfellite (NaFe(SO4)2).

“At the core of this discovery is a basic structure for the material that we hope will encourage researchers to come up with better materials for the further development of sodium-ion batteries,” said Preetam Singh, a postdoctoral fellow and researcher in Goodenough’s lab.

Sodium-ion batteries work just like lithium-ion batteries, but the materials are much cheaper. During the discharge, sodium ions travel from the anode to the cathode, while electrons pass to the cathode through an external circuit.

However, they have problems related to performance, weight and instability of materials.

The University’s cathode material addresses instability – its structure has fixed sodium and iron layers that allow sodium to be inserted and removed without damaging structural integrity.

Charge/gramme is two-thirds of that of a lithium-ion battery.

“We believe our cathode material provides a good baseline structure for the development of new materials that could eventually make the sodium-ion battery a commercial reality,” said Singh.

The wok is reported in the journal Energy & Environmental Science in a paper: ‘Eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2: an intercalation cathode host for low-cost Na-ion batteries’.

UK start-up Faradion is attempting to exploit Na-ion cells.

steve bush

Flat forecast from Future Horizons

Unusually for a Future Horizons forecast, today’s was gloomy. Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons told IFS 2015 in London this morning that he expected 2% semiconductor market growth this year and a flat 2016.
image

“This is what we said in January – 8.5% growth for a $364 billion market,” said Penn. What he’s saying now is that the best we can hope for is 2% growth for a $343 billion market and that “growth could even be down at 1% if Q3 is low, said Penn.”

As the year unfolded, the 8.5% January forecast was quickly quashed. “Q1 was almost down 5% with most of the hit taken in March,” said Penn, “March should have bee a strong month but turned out to be very poor.”

Q1 was down 4.9% at $83 billion; Q2 was up 1% at $84 billion; Q3 could be 5% up at $88 billion snd Q4 could be down 1% at $87.3 billion.

What hasn’t changed is the unit growth which has grown for 14 successive quarters. For 29 years, unit growth in the semiconductor industry has been 10% CAGR, so the current downside driver for $ market growth is the level of ASPs.

What is lagging behind the historical trend is capex. Penn pointed out ghat the industry is spending half the historic ratio of capex vs sales. Currently front end capex is running at 7% of sales – half the historical level.

Capacity is now added only to order. It is not added speculatively – only if a customer has given a commitment to use it will foundries add capacity.

In the last five years the US has increased its market by 2%, the European market has decreased 3%, China has increased its market by 8% and Japan’s market has fallen 7%.

“The EU’s policies for the industry are not working,” said Penn, “the ELG (European Leaders Group) have done a fantastic mob of making sure we continue our decline.”

david manners

Flat forecast from Future Horizons

Unusually for a Future Horizons forecast, today’s was gloomy. Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons told IFS 2015 in London this morning that he expected 2% semiconductor market growth this year and a flat 2016.
image

“This is what we said in January – 8.5% growth for a $364 billion market,” said Penn. What he’s saying now is that the best we can hope for is 2% growth for a $343 billion market and that “growth could even be down at 1% if Q3 is low, said Penn.”

As the year unfolded, the 8.5% January forecast was quickly quashed. “Q1 was almost down 5% with most of the hit taken in March,” said Penn, “March should have bee a strong month but turned out to be very poor.”

Q1 was down 4.9% at $83 billion; Q2 was up 1% at $84 billion; Q3 could be 5% up at $88 billion snd Q4 could be down 1% at $87.3 billion.

What hasn’t changed is the unit growth which has grown for 14 successive quarters. For 29 years, unit growth in the semiconductor industry has been 10% CAGR, so the current downside driver for $ market growth is the level of ASPs.

What is lagging behind the historical trend is capex. Penn pointed out ghat the industry is spending half the historic ratio of capex vs sales. Currently front end capex is running at 7% of sales – half the historical level.

Capacity is now added only to order. It is not added speculatively – only if a customer has given a commitment to use it will foundries add capacity.

In the last five years the US has increased its market by 2%, the European market has decreased 3%, China has increased its market by 8% and Japan’s market has fallen 7%.

“The EU’s policies for the industry are not working,” said Penn, “the ELG (European Leaders Group) have done a fantastic mob of making sure we continue our decline.”

david manners

Flat forecast from Future Horizons

Unusually for a Future Horizons forecast, today’s was gloomy. Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons told IFS 2015 in London this morning that he expected 2% semiconductor market growth this year and a flat 2016.
image

“This is what we said in January – 8.5% growth for a $364 billion market,” said Penn. What he’s saying now is that the best we can hope for is 2% growth for a $343 billion market and that “growth could even be down at 1% if Q3 is low, said Penn.”

As the year unfolded, the 8.5% January forecast was quickly quashed. “Q1 was almost down 5% with most of the hit taken in March,” said Penn, “March should have bee a strong month but turned out to be very poor.”

Q1 was down 4.9% at $83 billion; Q2 was up 1% at $84 billion; Q3 could be 5% up at $88 billion snd Q4 could be down 1% at $87.3 billion.

What hasn’t changed is the unit growth which has grown for 14 successive quarters. For 29 years, unit growth in the semiconductor industry has been 10% CAGR, so the current downside driver for $ market growth is the level of ASPs.

What is lagging behind the historical trend is capex. Penn pointed out ghat the industry is spending half the historic ratio of capex vs sales. Currently front end capex is running at 7% of sales – half the historical level.

Capacity is now added only to order. It is not added speculatively – only if a customer has given a commitment to use it will foundries add capacity.

In the last five years the US has increased its market by 2%, the European market has decreased 3%, China has increased its market by 8% and Japan’s market has fallen 7%.

“The EU’s policies for the industry are not working,” said Penn, “the ELG (European Leaders Group) have done a fantastic mob of making sure we continue our decline.”

david manners

Government puts squeeze on mobile operators

mobile phone shutterstock_155694224

(shutterstock)

The UK government is squeezing more money out of the mobile operators. Regulator Ofcom has announced a significant increased in licence fees for the 900-1800MHzz radio spectrum.

Ofcom has today published revised annual fees for mobile operators, determining the amount of money they must pay to use certain parts of mobile spectrum.

It is the result of a five year project by the Government which Ofcom says “reflects full market value”.

But it will be seen as another post-recession austerity measure to get more money from an industry the government believes can afford a price hike.

It remains to be seen how much of the increase will be passed on to users in higher charges.

The fees are paid annually by mobile network operators for the 900MHz and 1,800MHz spectrum bands, which they use to provide voice and data services using a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies.

As a result Vodafone and Telefonica (which still owns O2) will see the cost of the spectrum they use rise from £15m to £50m, EE will see a price rise from £25m to £75m and the fourth operator 3, a rise of £17m to £25m.

The government’s annual revenues for spectrum licencing will more than triple to almost £200m.

The rises are smaller than proposals published at the start of the year.

The new fees come into effect in two phases: one half of the fees increase, from the current to the new rates, will come into effect on 31 October 2015.

The second half will come into effect on 31 October 2016, with full fees payable annually from that point.

Philip Marnick, Ofcom’s group director of spectrum, said:

“We have listened carefully to the arguments and evidence put forward by industry, and conducted a complex and comprehensive analysis to determine the new fees.

“The mobile industry has not previously had to pay market value for access to this spectrum, which is a valuable and finite resource, and the new fees reflect that value.”

 

Richard Wilson

Government puts squeeze on mobile operators

mobile phone shutterstock_155694224

(shutterstock)

The UK government is squeezing more money out of the mobile operators. Regulator Ofcom has announced a significant increased in licence fees for the 900-1800MHzz radio spectrum.

Ofcom has today published revised annual fees for mobile operators, determining the amount of money they must pay to use certain parts of mobile spectrum.

It is the result of a five year project by the Government which Ofcom says “reflects full market value”.

But it will be seen as another post-recession austerity measure to get more money from an industry the government believes can afford a price hike.

It remains to be seen how much of the increase will be passed on to users in higher charges.

The fees are paid annually by mobile network operators for the 900MHz and 1,800MHz spectrum bands, which they use to provide voice and data services using a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies.

As a result Vodafone and Telefonica (which still owns O2) will see the cost of the spectrum they use rise from £15m to £50m, EE will see a price rise from £25m to £75m and the fourth operator 3, a rise of £17m to £25m.

The government’s annual revenues for spectrum licencing will more than triple to almost £200m.

The rises are smaller than proposals published at the start of the year.

The new fees come into effect in two phases: one half of the fees increase, from the current to the new rates, will come into effect on 31 October 2015.

The second half will come into effect on 31 October 2016, with full fees payable annually from that point.

Philip Marnick, Ofcom’s group director of spectrum, said:

“We have listened carefully to the arguments and evidence put forward by industry, and conducted a complex and comprehensive analysis to determine the new fees.

“The mobile industry has not previously had to pay market value for access to this spectrum, which is a valuable and finite resource, and the new fees reflect that value.”

 

Richard Wilson

Government puts squeeze on mobile operators

mobile phone shutterstock_155694224

(shutterstock)

The UK government is squeezing more money out of the mobile industry. Regulator Ofcom has announced a significant increased in licence fees for the 900-1800MHzz radio spectrum.

Ofcom has today published revised annual fees for mobile operators, determining the amount of money they must pay to use certain parts of mobile spectrum.

It is the result of a five year project by the Government which Ofcom says “reflects full market value”.

But it will be seen as another post-recession austerity measure to get more money from an industry the government believes can avoid a price hike.

It remains to be seen how much of the increase will be passed on to users in higher charges.

The fees are paid annually by mobile network operators for the 900MHz and 1,800MHz spectrum bands, which they use to provide voice and data services using a mix of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies.

As a result Vodafone and Telefonica (which still owns O2) will see the cost of the spectrum they use rise from £15m to £50m, EE will see a price rise from £25m to £75m and the fourth operator 3, a rise of £17m to £25m.

The government’s annual revenues for spectrum licencing will more than triple to almost £200m.

The rises are smaller than proposals published at the start of the year.

The new fees come into effect in two phases: one half of the fees increase, from the current to the new rates, will come into effect on 31 October 2015.

The second half will come into effect on 31 October 2016, with full fees payable annually from that point.

Philip Marnick, Ofcom’s group director of spectrum, said:

“We have listened carefully to the arguments and evidence put forward by industry, and conducted a complex and comprehensive analysis to determine the new fees.

“The mobile industry has not previously had to pay market value for access to this spectrum, which is a valuable and finite resource, and the new fees reflect that value.”

 

Richard Wilson