Global Report 3: Worldwide analog, power, system, and IC design

In 2004, we conceived the Global Report as an annual project that would allow us to leverage our editorial resources worldwide and to address the global reader base with the results. Readers seemed to appreciate both the inaugural and the 2005 editions, so we now offer our third annual edition. Engineers worldwide face global issues, such as designing for international standards and regulations, and the potential of a global market for their work. We believe you will find that Global Report 3 enlightens you in both regards. This year, our Global Report focuses on global issues centric to four design communities: analog design, power-system design, microprocessorbased design, and chip design. This Global Report includes a cornerstone article on each of the disciplines. Moreover, each of the sections includes sidebars to round out the coverage with information on other disciplines, products, and applications, such as test, programmable logic, and wireless communications.

In the analog section, Technical Editor Paul Rako addresses the fact that differing standards and regulations often affect the analog portion of a system design. In the power section, noted power expert Arnold Alderman, founder and president of Anagenesis, delves into the global concern over power-centric regulatory issues. This article provides a valuable resource and includes a sidebar on testing power systems. In the system-design section, Technical Editor Warren Webb offers an article that focuses on the choice of operating systems, including Linux, in hot applications. Moreover, our editors from around the globe have contributed additional insight into questions about which operating system will dominate in handsets, set-top boxes, and other applications. In the EDA section, our EDA expert, Senior Editor Mike Santarini, weighs in with an article covering IP (intellectual-property) issues in chip design. As you'll discover, you can obtain IP from many sources, and issues about securing IP and similar challenges remain as the globaldesign- engineering movement continues to escalate.

We'd also like to call your attention to the Global Report 3 section of our Web site, www.edn.com/global. The Web portion of our report augments what you'll find in the print edition. For example, the Web offers a virtual global-round-table discussion involving our worldwide editors. Over the next few months, we'll also offer audio broadcasts and some global-centric newsletters for each section of Global Report 3. The newsletters will highlight additional Web material, including audio interviews with key industry executives.

Enjoy Global Report 3. If you find something you like or dislike, please e-mail me at mgwright@edn.com and let me know. Moreover, we encourage you to offer comments on the articles and sidebars in the Feedback Loop in the Web version of the material.EDN