Olicom A/S and the Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc unit of Fujitsu Ltd have announced a strategic alliance for the development of Asynchronous Transfer Mode technology. The two are already members of the ATM Forum. The partnership will centre around silicon and software drivers. According to the companies, the silicon will be developed in the UK at Fujitsu’s VLSI centre in Manchester – which it bought from ICL Plc a few years back, while the software drivers will be developed at Olicom’s headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. Olicom says it will also contribute system-level know how. The allies say that they have united to build on Olicom’s Token Ring and Ethernet local network software and system skills combined with Fujitsu’s experience with Asynchronous Transfer Mode silicon development. As a result of the agreement, the companies will develop an IBM-compatible 25Mbps Asynchronous Transfer Mode chip for low cost desktop connection. Olicom will also use other Fujitsu chips in future Asynchronous Transfer Mode Network Interface Cards conforming to ATM Forum specifications. These boards will include support for personal computer bus architectures such as AT, EISA, Peripheral Component Interconnect and PCMCIA. In addition, the Danish affiliate of Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA will develop the software driver technology, including native Asynchronous Transfer Mode interface and software drivers, for Novell Inc, Microsoft and IBM Corp operating systems.
