Atmel Corp. (San Jose, CA) announced that it has joined the Z-One™ Digital Power Alliance. It is the first semiconductor manufacturer to join the Z-Alliance™ organization that currently includes power supply manufacturers Power-One Inc. and C&D Technologies Inc. The addition of Atmel increases the semiconductor development, manufacturing, and supply chain capabilities of the Z-Alliance organization, and combines the strengths of all three companies to define and provide the next generation of digital power conversion and management products based on Z-One Digital Power Architecture for the communications and data infrastructure markets.
Atmel will apply its semiconductor foundry expertise by initially working with Power-One in developing the next-generation, single-chip, Z-One Digital Power Manager module. Later, Atmel, Power-One, and C&D Technologies will define and develop other digital power management devices. The first jointly-developed products are expected before the end of 2005.
"Our decision to join the Z-Alliance organization was motivated by the accelerating acceptance of Z-One digital power technology in the market," said Atmel Senior Vice President of Marketing Jeff Katz. "We believe Atmel's semiconductor design and manufacturing capabilities complement our partners' strengths in the traditional power supply market, and allow further expansion of Z-One application coverage through reduction of system cost and time to market. We also feel this will complement Atmel's existing offerings in low voltage and low power products."
