Parthus Technologies began as a start-up company called Silicon Systems Limited. The initial focus was on data storage devices, such as tape/disk drive pre-amplifiers, read/write channels, and controllers.
We also developed a family of custom DSP cores for audio applications and CD/DVD storage.
The early business model was design services, so we worked closely with end customers. As well as driving the silicon evaluation work in Dublin, I occasionally travelled to customer sites in Europe and the US to provide support to product engineers, and correlation between evaluation and production test.
I also acted as an advisor on DFT (Design For Test) issues, established an in-house board design capability, and initiated our use of programmable logic for emulation and IP demonstration.

Our basic evaluation strategy was to use “rack-and-stack” GPIB equipment, with National Instruments’ LabVIEW running on Windows PCs. We also performed temperature testing in-house.
As the company prepared for IPO, our technical focus shifted to mobile internet applications, and our business model to platform-level IP licensing. We offered 7 major platforms:

• MediaStream: Audio DSP cores for MP3 decode, speech recognition, etc.;
• BlueStream: Bluetooth software stacks, baseband and radios;
• In8Stream: Wireless-LAN 802.11 platform solution;
• NavStream: GPS baseband and RF for automotive or mobile use;
• InfoStream: ARM-based SoC for PDA / Smartphone applications;
• MachStream: Hardware acceleration engines for Java, etc.;
• MobiStream: GPRS / EDGE baseband.

Less well known were Parthus’ “strategic accounts”, primarily in wireline areas such as PLLs, Gigabit Ethernet, InfiniBand, etc.

The role of the Silicon Evaluation Group depended on the individual customer’s requirements, but we were particularly strong in board design, programmable logic prototyping, mixed-signal and RF test, embedded system debug, and protocol conformance.
We also interfaced with the independent foundries and IC assembly houses.

My main challenge was the continuous re-definition of the group as the company’s direction (and the semiconductor industry) changed.

Apart from project-specific work, I was actively involved in several company-wide initiatives within Parthus. I attended the corporate Quarterly Technical Review, sat on two sub-committees of the Engineering Process Working Group, acted as the single point of contact for our Prototype Design & Fabrication Centre, and co-ordinated our use of ARM development & debug tools.