Silicon Image is an American semiconductor design company. The company manufactures a variety of integrated circuits commonly used in modern computers and consumer electronic devices, but is focused on storage, distribution and presentation of high-definition content in the consumer electronics, personal computing, and mobile device markets. The company was founded in 1995, and is traded on the NASDAQ market under the symbol SIMG. The company, which employs around 600 people, is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
Simplay Labs, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Image, offers testing tools, technologies, support services, consulting and product certification to electronics manufacturers to increase performance, interoperability and ensure quality.
The company's products include high-speed communications devices for use in DVI capable displays and PCs, HDMI set-top boxes, DVD players, AV receivers, displays, PCs and mobile devices; and SATA chipsets for internal and external hard disk drives.
Silicon Image SiI3112 Serial ATA controller chips have a quirk which can cause problems with certain hard drives. When writes of larger than 8 kByte in size are sent to the drive, the controller may send Serial ATA Data FISes which are not split on a 512-byte boundary. This behavior is allowed by the Serial ATA specification, however some older Seagate drives cannot deal with this and lock up when receiving such frames. The workaround when using the affected drives with these controllers requires limiting writes to the disk to 15 sectors at a time, which has a performance impact.
Silicon Image SiI3114 and SiI3512 have another issue that shows up when writing blocks of more than 8 kByte to the drive. Under some timing conditions, the controller may incorrectly send an R_ERR response to the drive in response to a DMA Activate FIS. This can be prevented by a controller configuration change made by the driver.
Even when Silicon Valley is in a downturn, some reqs continue to be hard to fill. It is our observation that candidates do not move for the same incentives as they did 20 years ago, yet hiring practices seem stuck in the 1980's. Silicon Valley Executives might want to consider the following changes from the employee's point of view:
Downsizing, while necessary, has resulted in longer hours for everyone, and a substantial increase in burnout. A new position necessitates an enormous time investment and burden.
Wall Street rewards super fast growth, but higher growth is often poorly managed and chaotic. Stock performance no longer defines a "good" company to work for. Stress levels climb.
Mergers & Acquisitions are the way companies grow, and sudden takeovers of healthy companies are commonplace. Private companies seem more stable that public corporations.
Executive and Management turnover is high. It is not unusual for the hiring executive to leave in the first quarter of a new hire's employment. New hires are demanding more in sign-on bonuses.
It is not unusual for a contributor to see his or her work canceled repeatedly due to budget cuts, change of management, stock price fluctuations, or corporate takeover. Low morale from lack of accomplishment is epidemic.
The phrase "challenging and dynamic" is code for "high-turnover-sweatshop."
Attractive projects are promised to be "six-to-twelve months away", and the projects never materialize. Fewer candidates are willing to jump ship until projects have been given a full green light and companies can prove through their track records that they will be able to support the project to completion.
It is understandable that candidates today manage their careers differently than in the 1980s; they need to constantly position themselves for the next layoff. Long term potential at a company has very little pull today for most candidates. They have seen too many buyouts, reorganizations, and sudden downturns to count on the long term.
When we started in High-Tech recruiting, we spent a lot of time working with three-, five-, and ten-year plans. We analyzed the long-range career plans of a rising star and attempted to match his or her goals with a complementary corporate environment. To forecast a candidate's potential promotions at a company today is pure speculation. We manage for the realistic short term now, and only hope for the long term.
Retention
We believe that employees should have a level of comfort about various aspects of their lives. At Silicon Image™, we've designed a Benefits package which protects and rewards our employees in numerous areas. Below are just some of the programs we have put in place for Silicon Image employees. Your particular benefits package will depend on your location - not all plans are available in all geographic locations.
Company Benefits:
Health, dental, vision insurance
Company bonus
401k plan with company match
Employee referral bonus
Tuition reimbursement
Patent award bonus program
Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)
Flexible spending accounts (medical and dependent care)
Fitness center membership
Medical
PPO: Blue Shield
HMO: Blue Shield or Kaiser
Dental
Comprehensive coverage up to $2,000 per calendar year through Delta Dental
Vision
Coverage through VSP.
Life, AD&D, Disability
Life coverage at 2x annual salary up to $500,000 for employees.
Additional coverage available for employees and their dependents.
Simplay Labs, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Silicon Image, offers testing tools, technologies, support services, consulting and product certification to electronics manufacturers to increase performance, interoperability and ensure quality.
The company's products include high-speed communications devices for use in DVI capable displays and PCs, HDMI set-top boxes, DVD players, AV receivers, displays, PCs and mobile devices; and SATA chipsets for internal and external hard disk drives.
Silicon Image SiI3112 Serial ATA controller chips have a quirk which can cause problems with certain hard drives. When writes of larger than 8 kByte in size are sent to the drive, the controller may send Serial ATA Data FISes which are not split on a 512-byte boundary. This behavior is allowed by the Serial ATA specification, however some older Seagate drives cannot deal with this and lock up when receiving such frames. The workaround when using the affected drives with these controllers requires limiting writes to the disk to 15 sectors at a time, which has a performance impact.
Silicon Image SiI3114 and SiI3512 have another issue that shows up when writing blocks of more than 8 kByte to the drive. Under some timing conditions, the controller may incorrectly send an R_ERR response to the drive in response to a DMA Activate FIS. This can be prevented by a controller configuration change made by the driver.
Even when Silicon Valley is in a downturn, some reqs continue to be hard to fill. It is our observation that candidates do not move for the same incentives as they did 20 years ago, yet hiring practices seem stuck in the 1980's. Silicon Valley Executives might want to consider the following changes from the employee's point of view:
Downsizing, while necessary, has resulted in longer hours for everyone, and a substantial increase in burnout. A new position necessitates an enormous time investment and burden.
Wall Street rewards super fast growth, but higher growth is often poorly managed and chaotic. Stock performance no longer defines a "good" company to work for. Stress levels climb.
Mergers & Acquisitions are the way companies grow, and sudden takeovers of healthy companies are commonplace. Private companies seem more stable that public corporations.
Executive and Management turnover is high. It is not unusual for the hiring executive to leave in the first quarter of a new hire's employment. New hires are demanding more in sign-on bonuses.
It is not unusual for a contributor to see his or her work canceled repeatedly due to budget cuts, change of management, stock price fluctuations, or corporate takeover. Low morale from lack of accomplishment is epidemic.
The phrase "challenging and dynamic" is code for "high-turnover-sweatshop."
Attractive projects are promised to be "six-to-twelve months away", and the projects never materialize. Fewer candidates are willing to jump ship until projects have been given a full green light and companies can prove through their track records that they will be able to support the project to completion.
It is understandable that candidates today manage their careers differently than in the 1980s; they need to constantly position themselves for the next layoff. Long term potential at a company has very little pull today for most candidates. They have seen too many buyouts, reorganizations, and sudden downturns to count on the long term.
When we started in High-Tech recruiting, we spent a lot of time working with three-, five-, and ten-year plans. We analyzed the long-range career plans of a rising star and attempted to match his or her goals with a complementary corporate environment. To forecast a candidate's potential promotions at a company today is pure speculation. We manage for the realistic short term now, and only hope for the long term.
Retention
We believe that employees should have a level of comfort about various aspects of their lives. At Silicon Image™, we've designed a Benefits package which protects and rewards our employees in numerous areas. Below are just some of the programs we have put in place for Silicon Image employees. Your particular benefits package will depend on your location - not all plans are available in all geographic locations.
Company Benefits:
Health, dental, vision insurance
Company bonus
401k plan with company match
Employee referral bonus
Tuition reimbursement
Patent award bonus program
Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP)
Flexible spending accounts (medical and dependent care)
Fitness center membership
Medical
PPO: Blue Shield
HMO: Blue Shield or Kaiser
Dental
Comprehensive coverage up to $2,000 per calendar year through Delta Dental
Vision
Coverage through VSP.
Life, AD&D, Disability
Life coverage at 2x annual salary up to $500,000 for employees.
Additional coverage available for employees and their dependents.