Dailymotion has created a specific group for program-suitable educational content, which can be accessed by children using the XO laptop at http://olpc.dailymotion.com as well as by users of any PC at http://www.dailymotion.com/group/olpc. Videos from OLPC will be also programmed into applicable Dailymotion channels such as Animals, Music, Sciences, Sports and Latino.

The partnership will enable OLPC to benefit from Dailymotion’s infrastructure, content management systems and user account systems to let children create and distribute videos using the video camera in the XO laptop. Dailymotion’s active role in the program may include assisting in developing additional programs for use on the XO, helping to improve and debug video applications for the laptop and creating activities that will be accessible to children who receive the machine. The Dailymotion platform is also positioned to become a communication distribution system that can be used by organizations around the world to reach remote populations.

“We at Dailymotion truly believe in OLPC’s mission to empower the populations of developing nations with access to educational and technological tools that many of us take for granted,” stated Mark Zaleski, chairman and CEO of Dailymotion. “We are proud to lend our support to this noble and worthwhile project, and look forward to contributing to the brighter future of millions of children around the world.”

“We are delighted to have Dailymotion join the OLPC project,” stated Samuel Klein, director of community content at OLPC. “We are confident that the additional video capabilities that Dailymotion will bring to the XO laptop will serve to further the educational opportunities we can offer to enhance the lives of children around the world.”

Under the terms of the new agreement, the customizable Verizon-Yahoo! portal will be offered as the first portal choice option for all new subscribers to Verizon’s FiOS Internet and High Speed Internet services. Customers who choose the Verizon-Yahoo! portal will get Yahoo! Search, and co-branded e-mail, Instant Messenger and Toolbar applications. Yahoo! also will provide search and display advertising on the co-branded portal and e-mail application, and both companies will share the search, advertising and e-commerce revenues generated by users of the co-branded portal.

“In addition to providing consumers the fastest upload and download broadband connection speeds available, Verizon offers features and services that enhance our customers’ Internet experience,” said Eric J. Bruno, senior vice president, Verizon Corporate Marketing. “Allowing customers to select a portal and personalize their content is a key part of the Verizon broadband experience.”

Beyond news and information, the co-branded Verizon-Yahoo! portal offers access to content and tools from Yahoo!, including e-mail previews, to-do lists, sports updates, weather, finance portfolios and TV listings, as well as photos and videos from Flickr, one of the world’s leading online photo and video-sharing communities. It also offers direct, one-click access to Verizon.net and other select Verizon and third-party sites. Key features include:

* Customizable Personal Assistant, where users can quickly check in for key information during their daily Internet routine, and get easy access to their own priority features, such as e-mail previews, daily horoscopes and local weather.
* Top Picks from Your Page module that highlights key stories, chosen based on articles that a user has read on My Yahoo!.
* Flexible customization tools and controls, such as on-page personalization options, easy drag-and-drop modules, and a variety of layout choices.

“Yahoo! is thrilled to further enhance our partnership with Verizon to deliver our industry-leading consumer experiences to Verizon’s new broadband customers,” said Jim Schinella, senior vice president, Corporate Partnerships, Yahoo!. “Our new multiyear agreement offers greater choices for consumers while enabling both companies to unlock greater monetization opportunities.”

Verizon’s 50 Mbps (megabits per second) downstream and 20 Mbps upstream FiOS Internet connection, provided via the company’s all-fiber-optic network, is the fastest available to U.S. consumers, and the company’s 20/20 symmetrical service is the first of its kind commercially available to U.S. consumers on a mass scale. Pioneering a new category of broadband for the American consumer, Verizon’s symmetrical FiOS provides the ultra-fast, two-way speeds crucial for such burgeoning online activities as video conferencing, social networking and super-fast uploading of electronic photo albums or home videos, as well as multi-player gaming and online work collaboration.

Verizon High Speed Internet service, based on DSL technology, provides the best value in broadband with up to 7 Mbps delivered on a dedicated line from Verizon’s central switching office to the customer’s home or business. Verizon High Speed Internet is backed by live, 24 x 7 customer service and technical support.

The companies will cooperate with the semiconductor industry to help ensure that all of the required components, infrastructure and capability are developed and tested for a pilot line by this target date.

Historically, manufacturing with larger wafers helps increase the ability to produce semiconductors at a lower cost. The total silicon surface area of a 450mm wafer and the number of printed die (individual computer chips, for example) is more than twice that of a 300mm wafer. The bigger wafers help lower the production cost per chip. Additionally, through more efficient use of energy, water and other resources, bigger wafers can help diminish overall use of resources per chip. For example, the conversion from 200mm wafers to 300mm wafers helped reduce aggregate emissions per chip of air pollution, global warming gasses and water, and further reduction is expected with a transition to 450mm wafers.

“There is a long history of innovation and problem solving in our industry that has delivered wafer transitions resulting in lower costs per area of silicon processed and overall industry growth.” said Bob Bruck, vice president and general manager, Technology Manufacturing Engineering in Intel’s Technology and Manufacturing Group. “We, along with Samsung and TSMC, agree that the transition to 450mm wafers will follow the same pattern of delivering increased value to our customers.”

Intel, Samsung and TSMC indicate that the semiconductor industry can improve its return on investment and substantially reduce 450mm research and development costs by applying aligned standards, rationalizing changes from 300mm infrastructure and automation, and working toward a common timeline. The companies also agree that a cooperative approach will help minimize risk and transition costs.

“The transition to 450mm wafers will benefit the entire ecosystem of the IC industry, and Intel, Samsung, TSMC will work together with suppliers and other semiconductor manufacturers to actively develop 450mm capability,” said Cheong-Woo Byun, senior vice president, Memory Manufacturing Operation Center, Samsung Electronics.

In the past, migration to the next larger wafer size traditionally began every 10 years after the last transition. For example, the industry began the transition to 300mm wafers in 2001, a decade after the initial 200mm manufacturing facilities (also known as “fabs”) were introduced in 1991.

Keeping in line with the historical pace of growth, Intel, Samsung and TSMC agree that 2012 is an appropriate target to begin the 450mm transition. Given the complexity of integrating all of the components for a transition of this size, the companies recognize that consistent evaluation of the target timeline will be critical to ensure industry-wide readiness.

“Increasing cost due to the complexity of advanced technology is a concern for the future,” said Mark Liu, TSMC’s senior vice president of Advanced Technology Business. “Intel, Samsung, and TSMC believe the transition to 450mm wafers is a potential solution to maintain a reasonable cost structure for the industry.”

The three companies will continue to work with International Sematech (ISMI), as it plays a critical role in coordinating industry efforts on 450mm wafer supply, standards setting and developing equipment test bed capabilities.

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CSR has also adopted Virage Logic’s yield enhancement and silicon debugging tools – STAR Yield Accelerator – to effectively bridge the gap between design and manufacturing disciplines and maximize yield. Introduced in October 2007, the STAR Yield Accelerator enables automated ATE vector generation, user-programmable algorithms, silicon analysis, fault isolation to physical coordinates and classification to be used at the critical semiconductor tape-out, bring-up and volume manufacturing stages.

Virage Logic enables companies such as CSR to proceed with confidence through increasingly advanced lithography process nodes. For next-generation Bluetooth product offerings, CSR is using Virage Logic ASAP memories at 90-nanometer (nm) and will migrate to 65nm where Virage Logic has developed a customized ultra-high density ROM compiler to address unique application requirements.

CSR designs single-chip wireless devices for Bluetooth and wireless LAN applications. CSR’s BlueCore ICs are used in all principal Bluetooth applications, including mobile phones from BenQ, HTC, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic, Samsung and Sharp; wireless headsets from Hutchison ‘3,’ Jabra, Logitech, Motorola and Plantronics; almost all new models of laptop personal computers with Bluetooth capability introduced since 2003 (including Apple, Dell and IBM); mice and keyboards from Logitech; and in-car communication systems used in Saab, Audi and BMW motor vehicles. BlueCore ICs are also approved by Microsoft for use with its Windows operating system.

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This increased demand is exemplified by the People’s Insurance Company of China Group (PICC), The Dairy Farm Company Ltd. (Dairy Farm) and Dawning Information Industry Co. Ltd. (Dawning), which have agreed to receive Microsoft certificates for three-year support subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell(R).

“It’s very encouraging to see that our business and technical collaboration continues to resonate with customers around the globe,” said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell. “Both Novell and Microsoft are committed to furthering this alliance, and we couldn’t be happier with the results to date. PICC, Dairy Farm and Dawning exemplify the benefits our strengthened alliance provides for the international IT community.”

“We recognize that our customers want to use Microsoft products in heterogeneous environments, and therefore we are pleased to offer this option to meet customer needs in one of the leading global markets,” said Ya-Qin Zang, Microsoft corporate vice president and chairman of Microsoft China. “We are very pleased with the initial response in the Chinese market to our joint offerings for IP peace of mind and technology interoperability in such areas as virtualization and high-performance computing.”

Expanded Investment

Microsoft and Novell’s collaboration in China will focus on joint marketing and training efforts that tap into two emerging areas of interoperability demand: high-performance computing (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server running in a dual-boot configuration) and virtualization (cross-platform virtualization solutions featuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Xen technology). This will include hosting round-table discussions with local chief information officers in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, running a virtualization customer pilot, and conducting technology workshops to assist the conversion from unsupported Linux to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

In addition, Novell and Microsoft’s collaboration will focus on efforts to convert unsupported Linux users to SUSE Linux Enterprise support, in China and elsewhere, which builds upon a growing global trend of large, multinational companies increasing their demand for subscribed and supported Linux. This is due at least partly to the growing recognition among customers of the true costs and risk associated with running an unsupported IT environment, including the need for patches and bug fixes, supporting forked code, and retaining IT staff.

Demand in China

Companies in China are recognizing the challenges of deploying and managing heterogeneous IT environments and the opportunities to simplify with solutions such as the dual-boot operating system configuration from Microsoft and Novell.

“We are very pleased with the original approach by Microsoft and Novell to address our concerns about deploying and managing a complex high-performance computing infrastructure across two platforms. It is essential for our future competitiveness and success that we can simplify with such solutions and look forward to further utilizing the standards-based systems management technologies being developed by both companies,” said Nie Hua, vice president of Dawning. “We fully understand the concerns surrounding intellectual property rights and feel reassured that these issues have been addressed by our vendors.”

“The Microsoft-Novell collaboration helps to solve interoperability problems and creates a more harmonious IT ecosystem. We are confident that Microsoft and Novell would be able to provide the right level of support when we go ahead,” said Colin Rice, IT director of the Dairy Farm. Dairy Farm is a leading pan-Asian retailer, including 7-Eleven in Hong Kong, Macau, Southern China and Singapore, and other well-known local brands.

The Microsoft-Novell Agreement

As part of the five-year Microsoft-Novell agreement, announced Nov. 2, 2006, Microsoft can make subscription certificates available for customers to redeem SUSE Linux Enterprise Server support services directly from Novell. Since the announcement, Novell has invoiced more than $141 million in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscriptions from the Microsoft and Novell collaboration agreement.

A recently released study by IDC, “Worldwide Linux Operating Environments 2008-2012 Forecast: Taking Linux to the Next Level,”(1) reported that SUSE Linux Enterprise-paid server operating environment (SOE) subscriptions increased by 38.6 percent from 2006 to 2007 and that Novell’s share of the paid SOE market increased from 26.1 percent in 2006 to 29 percent in 2007. IDC stated in the report, “That surge, thanks to the company’s alliance and interoperability efforts with Microsoft, led to a highly successful year for Novell in 2007.” Novell’s 2006-2007 growth was the highest of any paid or unpaid SOE distribution tracked by this study.

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