Position Paper on Value of Technical Publications in the Semicondutor and SoC Industry

1. Position Paper on
Value of Technical Publication in the
Semiconductor and SoC Industry

3. Introduction
In this paper we will discuss the importance of TWB – Leading Technical
technical publications for the Semiconductor and
System-on-Chip (SoC) products, to facilitate the Documentation Outsourcing Company
growth, implementation and evolution of
Semiconductor and SoC. TWB is a leading technical communication
outsourcing company that provides services in
Technical publications in the SoC industry include a technical documentation.
wide variety of materials such as user guides,
solution guides, data sheets, online Help, white TWB is the ideal choice for leading vendors of
papers, reference guides, installation manuals, Semiconductor and SoC systems. TWB helps
application notes, information document, assembler customers with all their technical documentation
guide, conference papers (symposium, workshop and needs TWB’s experience in outsourcing to major
conference articles), contributed and published companies drove its position to be a leader in
articles, process documents, multimedia library, Technical Documentation. Well trained and
technical reference manuals and brochures. experienced employees are the main asset of
TWB.
The semiconductor industry is growing exponentially
with strong demands for a variety of chips catering TWB works closely with client teams located
the electronic and computer industry. The need for globally, and assists them in meeting their
sleek, light, and portable products that are cost- worldwide product announcements and launch
effective has led to the development of SoC devices. deadlines. TWB’s documentation services enable
Chip manufacturers are designing complex SoC customers launch their products with world-class
devices to meet the global demand. documentation.
Despite the rapidly increasing popularity of SoC, the
complexity of having tens of a million gates, multiple “Knowledge is people, money, learning,
IP cores, and complex on-chip buses and protocols flexibility and competitive advantage.
makes quality documentation important to both the Knowledge is more relevant to sustained
vendors of SoC and the organizations that purchases business than capital or labor. And yet
them. The complex information must be documented in knowledge remains the most neglected asset
a simple and comprehensive manner for the end users, of a business. TWB helps you unlock and
which necessitates the assistance of technical share your technical knowledge with the
documentation specialists in the development of these world.”
documents.
“TWB believes that technology cannot exist
without being communicated effectively.”
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4. Semiconductor and SoC – Technical Publication
Growth and Penetration of Challenges and solutions
Semiconductor Industry
The SoCs average growth volume is 31% a year. In Some of the greatest documentation challenges
1999, SoC shipments leaped whopping 116 percent that most companies face today include:
i.e. 345 million units from 160 million units (1998).
Later, in 2004 it touched 1.3 billion units.  Timely availability of quality documents during
product release
 Frequently updating the documents for
changes in integrated designs
 Difficulty in acquiring robust domain
knowledge for documenting complex designs
To capture the market, companies require
system development teams to design better
products. At the same time, functionality
integration, saving cost and product
documentation are very important to improve the
market performance. In most cases the
integration function of SoC is transferred only
through quality documents.
Documentation for a new product requires
The global and regional markets are expected to working closer with the relevant development
grow at Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) teams. Later, this knowledge is used to provide
ranging between 20% and 35% through 2010. Market documentation about functionality, behavior,
for SoCs based on Embedded IP is growing at a implementation, and integration into a SoC.
CAGR of 29% from 2006 to 2010, while standard
cell-based SoCs market is projected to expand at TWB provides structured documentation
21%. solutions that maximize comprehension and
ease-of-use. TWB has expertise in working on
United States represents the world's largest SoC
complex domains and delivering quality
market, worth an estimated US$10.4 billion in
documents. TWB provides continuous
2007, as stated in a recent report published by
documentation support to update the changes in
Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Asia (excluding
products.
Japan) and Europe are the second and third
largest markets respectively. The three regions
collectively account for about 80% of the global Benefits
SoC market.
The market for SoC is set to experience robust Partnering with TWB has extremely benefited
growth with increase in demand for high-speed, low many companies in saving costs and producing
power consuming chips. professional documentation along with:
 Representing complex chip designs in simple
documents
 Protecting technical and commercial data of
newly developed products
 Updating and managing documents easily
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5. Value of Technical Publications
Technical Communication for Communication for Different Levels of
Transferring Product Knowledge Technical and Product Knowledge
The purpose of technical communication is to transfer In technical publications, audience is the focal
product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible point. Hence, the style, language, and content must
manner. The strategies of communication and levels vary depending on the type of audience being
of information vary depending on the type of product addressed. It is because every user has a specific
and audience. role in the implementation and usage of the
technology. Therefore, it is important that
documents be created keeping in mind the role of
Providing end users with information about a
the person who will use the document.
product’s operation and maintenance is critical to the
market performance of the product. Hence, the need
for quality documentation is imperative. For example, when you document a software
application designed for highly technical users, it is
sufficient to provide the users with quick reference
In today’s business scenario, technical publications
information to use the application.
are often developed as an afterthought. This usually
results in inaccurate and incomprehensible
documentation, which, in turn, renders the users For users who start without technical or product
incapable of using the products. knowledge, it is important to provide detailed
product information along with instructions on how
to use the product.
Accurate, readily understandable, and quality
documents determine how a product sells in the
market and result in increased customer satisfaction. Attractive Publications as Useful
Marketing Tools
Faulty Assumptions that Result in
Problems in Documentation Besides transferring knowledge, technical
publications are also used for marketing a product.
Before a product is released in the market,
The faulty assumptions listed below result in information about the product needs to be
incomprehensible document: effectively communicated to the customers.
 Developers know their products better than Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
anyone else – due to time constraints and limited marketing collaterals increase the market prospects
resources, many companies assign their of a product and reduce support costs.
documentation tasks to the programmers. This
more often results in the creation of technology-
centered information, while end users require
task-oriented information.
 Documentation of complex applications requires a
longer learning curve for the writer - learning the
product will not be a major obstacle for writers
with the right technical background.
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6. Conclusion
 Competitive Growth in the Semiconductor Industry: Growth of semiconductor vendors relies heavily on an
accurate, timely, and cost-effective documentation process. Semiconductor vendors cater to a global audience
and hence need simple-to-read content that will minimize localization expenses, while staying ahead of
competitors.
 Value of Technical Publications: Technical Publications are very essential for transferring product
knowledge to end users. Provisioning of proper material to use the technology and products enables the user
to accept and efficiently use the product. Faulty documentation can lead to inaccurate and hard-to-
understand content which will have a negative impact on the product’s performance in global markets.
 Role of Documentation Outsourcing: The complexity involved in implementing a SoC device requires that
vendors and purchasers consider outsourcing their development needs to well-established technical
publications solutions providers. This helps the company cut costs and at the same time deliver their products
with quality documents.
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7. TWB Services
TWB is India’s leader in technical communication outsourcing and education. TWB offers a complete suite of services that
allows our customers to effectively publish their technical knowledge with their people and processes. TWB’s customers range
from Global 500 – including Cisco, Accenture, McAfee, LG, Samsung, Citrix, SAP, Siemens, AOL, Intel; Indian technology
majors – including Infosys, Wipro; Global defense majors - Pratt & Whitney, Honeywell, DRDO, HAL; and exciting technology
startups. TWB's expertise in technical communication ranges from IT Products and Outsourcing, ITES, Banking, Financial,
Aerospace, Defense, Ship Building to Hi-tech Manufacturing, and Discrete and Process Manufacturing.
TWB’s services include:
Technical Marketing Solutions Technical Product Documentation Documentation Quality
Management
 Datasheets
 Administrator’s Guide
 Datasheets  Copy Editing and Proof Reading
 API Document
 Cheat sheets  Managing Writing
 Configuration Guide
 Solution Briefs/Solution Brochures  Editing Services
 Functional Specifications Document
 Presentations –  Layout and Design
Products/Corporate Profile  Installation Manual
 Creating SLAs
 Brochures and marketing collateral  Interface Document
 Web content  Interactive Electronic Technical Business Documentation
Manual (IETM)
 Audio and video scripts
 Maintenance Manual  Business Proposals
 Press releases
 Online Help  Legal Disclaimers
 Direct mail
 Operation Manual  Policy Manuals
 Newsletter design copy
 Product Demo  Style Guide Design
 Sales catalogues
 Product Specifications Document  Template Design
 Sales sheets
 Product Overview Document
 Quick Reference Guide
Business Communication Content Management
 Release Notes
 Short Reports  Requirement Analysis Document
 Single Sourcing
 Proposals  SDK Document
 File Version Control
 Case Studies  Troubleshooting Manual
 Document Naming Conventions
 Lab Reports  User Manual
 Consistent Document Formatting
 Memos  Open Source Documentation
 Data Transformation
 Progress/Interim Reports  Programmers Guides
 Writing for Electronic Media  Functional Specifications Document
 Use Cases Web site Development
Illustrations  Online Help /Context Sensitive Help
 Web 2.0 development
 Troubleshooting Guides
 Graphic Designing  Web content

 Info graphics  Web applications
Qualitative Analytics for Decision
 2D & 3D animation Support Translation and Localization
 Line drawings and illustrations
Services
 Economic Business Research
Process Documentation
 Industry Analysis  Software Translation Services
 Workflows  Market Opportunity Analysis  Document Translation Services
 Standard Operating Procedures  Competitive Business Analysis  Localization (L10N) Testing
 ISO Documentation  Company & Prospect Profiling  Internationalization (I18N) Testing
 CMM Documentation  Reporting Solutions
 Assessment of Unmet Market Needs Records Management
Deployment and Support  Status and Potential of Technologies
 Document Management Solutions
 Benchmarking of Strategies Vs
 Record Management Storage and
 Installation and Configuration Competition
Retrieval
Guides  Forecasting
 Operations Manual  Sales Force Effectiveness
 Market Assessments
 Competitive Intelligence
 Opinion Leadership
 Emerging Markets - evaluation and
research
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8. TWB Software Tools Expertise
Our technical proficiency inin software and authoring tools includes:
Our technical proficiency software and authoring tools includes:
Unstructured Content XML Structured Editors Multimedia/Authoring
Development
 Epic  Adobe Flash®
 Microsoft Word®  FrameMaker+SGML  Adobe Dreamweaver®
 Adobe FrameMaker®  X-Metal®  Microsoft FrontPage®
 Adobe InDesign®  Adobe Captivate®
 QuarkXPress® Macromedia Captivate
 Adobe PageMaker® Graphics/Animations
 Multimedia/Authoring/
Illustrations  Adobe Flash® Supporting tools
 Adobe Photoshop®
 Adobe Flash CS4 Professional  Adobe Fireworks®  Adobe Flash®
 Adobe Illustrator CS3  Adobe Flex®
 CorelDRAW Online Help  Adobe AIR®
 Microsoft-Expression Graphic  Adobe Dreamweaver®
Designer  Adobe Acrobat®
 Xara Xtreme (Windows & Linux)  JavaHelp
 Microsoft Silverlight®
 CuteDraw  Adobe RoboHelp 7.0
 Adobe Authorware®
 Publisher3D(for animation)  HelpScribble
 Adobe Director®
 Sketsa SVG Editor (for vector  WebWorks Publisher
 Adobe Captivate®
graphics)  PowerCHM
 Trivantis Lectora®
 Techsmith Camtasia  Doc-To-Help
 ASP.NET
 Arbortext IsoDraw (technical  WinCHM
 JSP
illustrations for 2D and 3D)  HelpSmith 2.1.1(Windows)
 JAVA
 Fast-Help
 MadCap Flare Standards
Graphics/Animation  Help-Server
 NVU Help
 SCORM 1.2 / 2004
 Adobe Flash®  AICC
XML
 Adobe Photoshop®  W3C
 Adobe Illustrator®  Section 508
 Adobe Fireworks®  XMetal®  QTI XML
 Microsoft Silverlight®  Microsoft Word 2003®,
 Microsoft Word 2007®
Databases Development and Publishing
tools
CMS/ LMS
 Microsoft Access  XSLT/XSL
 Microsoft SQL Server  EDD
 Sharepoint®
 Moodle
Flowcharting  Joomla,
 WordPress
 Microsoft Visio  Media Wiki
 iGrafx  CMS Builder
 EDraw  Author-it (formerly AuthorIT)
 RFFlow  Alfresco
 Flowbreeze
 Smart Draw
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9. Industries Served
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge-driven industries, helping them meet their markets better. These
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge driven industries, helping them meet their markets better, these
include:
include:
 Banking, Insurance and Financial Services  ITES/ KPO/ BPO
 Consulting and Business Services  Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
 Defense, Aerospace and Hi-Tech Manufacturing  Process Manufacturing and Allied Industries
 Education and Learning  Steel, Ship Building, Construction and Aviation
 IT, ITES  Telecom and Digital Communications
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
TWB has been the preferred technical documentation outsourcing company for:
The TWB Building US Office:
No: 4062, 19th Main Road, TWB
HAL 2nd Stage, 11701 Norwegian Wood Drive
Bangalore – 560008 Austin, TX 78758
India.
Landmark: Behind Carlton Towers
Telephone: Telephone:
+91.80.40741400 / +1.512.586.8357
+91.80.41256367
Corporate Enquiries:
corp@twb.in
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