In-Stat/MDR is presenting a new forum, the Electronic Design Forum, focused on addressing the key design decisions of the next generation silicon and system solutions. The first forum will be held at the San Jose Fairmont on October 7, in San Jose, California. This event will focus on deciphering the spaghetti of interconnects offered for board, and system-level solutions.

The agenda will include technical presentations on the selected technologies; general topic presentations intended for educational purposes on particular topic areas, such as switch fabrics; and a two-hour lunch and exhibit to allow the attendees to meet with representatives from the various technical groups. Finally, we will finish the day with a panel of experts from the industry and academia to evaluate and contrast the technical solutions presented throughout the day.

Each technical presentation is intended to address the merit of a technical solution, is limited to 30 minutes and must include information on the following:

• Overview of the technology
  
• Key design and performance considerations (bandwidth, latency, coherency, determinism, cost, etc.)
  
• Status of standards and specifications
  
• Status of supporting hardware, software, and tools
  
• Key applications and designs
  
• The impact on lifecycle, development time, development cost and total cost of ownership of the final product
  
• And, why it should be chosen over other alternative technologies

There are many venues that provide a portion of this information, but the Electronic Design Forum is intended to provide specific information to the electronic designers and decision makers in a manner that allows them to compare and contrast the technology side-by-side. This information should aid them in determining where the market is headed, what solutions are available, and how they can maximize their investment while extending the lifecycle of their design.

The intended audience for the forum will include senior engineering managers and design engineers, as well as those in the press and financial community interested in learning more about the technology. Custom marketing will be used to target each group individually.

If you are interested in representing a technical body or technical innovation that will address these issues, please join In-Stat/MDR in establishing this as a useful tool to the electronic design community through your technology knowledge and insight. All proposals should be sent by June 30, 2004 to trumpf@reedbusiness.com. Future Electronic Design Forums will be expanded to address additional issues of the electronic design community