Anadigm and Omron alliance

The two companies have formed an alliance to market field programmable analogue array (FPAA) products and technology in Japan.

Omron expects a large demand for programmable analogue IC technology for applications involving less than 10 k a month, and for customers who lack analogue design skills. This is because the FPAA does not require mask preparation, allowing it to be applied in projects requiring device quantities as small as one, addressing fundamental roadblocks to progress in the electronic product industry.

"Electronic engineers are seeking to design at higher and higher levels of abstraction, but a universal analogue HDL is not available, due to performance issues associated with analogue IC fabrication. FPAAs offer a solution to this problem which massively reduces design time and costs compared with analogue ASICs," said Mr Kuninori Hamaguchi, Chief Executive Officer of Omron's semiconductor division.

"We believe that programmable analogue technology will catalyse a step-change in electronics design over the next decade," added Anadigm's CEO, Mr Mike Kay.