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 technical
TWB – Leading Technical
publications for the Semiconductor and System-on-Chip
(SoC) products, to facilitate the growth, implementation Documentation Outsourcing Company
and evolution of Semiconductor and SoC.
TWB is a leading technical communication
Technical publications in the SoC industry include a wide outsourcing company that provides services in
variety of materials such as user guides, solution guides, technical documentation.
data sheets, online Help, white papers, reference
guides, installation manuals, application notes, TWB is the ideal choice for leading vendors of
information document, assembler guide, conference Semiconductor and SoC systems. TWB helps
papers (symposium, workshop and conference articles), customers with all their technical documentation
contributed and published articles, process documents, needs TWB’s experience in outsourcing to major
multimedia library, technical reference manuals and companies drove its position to be a leader in
brochures. Technical Documentation. Well trained and
experienced employees are the main asset of TWB.
The semiconductor industry is growing exponentially
with strong demands for a variety of chips catering the TWB works closely with client teams located globally,
electronic and computer industry. The need for sleek, and assists them in meeting their worldwide product
light, and portable products that are cost-effective has announcements and launch deadlines. TWB’s
led to the development of SoC devices. Chip documentation services enable customers launch
manufacturers are designing complex SoC devices to their products with world-class documentation.
meet the global demand.
Despite the rapidly increasing popularity of SoC, the
complexity of having tens of a million gates, multiple IP
cores, and complex on-chip buses and protocols makes “Knowledge is people, money, learning, flexibility
quality documentation important to both the vendors of SoC and competitive advantage. Knowledge is more
and the organizations that purchases them. The complex relevant to sustained business than capital or
information must be documented in a simple and labor. And yet knowledge remains the most
comprehensive manner for the end users, which neglected asset of a business. TWB helps you
necessitates the assistance of technical documentation unlock and share your technical knowledge with
specialists in the development of these documents. the world.”
“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 that
1999, SoC shipments leaped whopping 116 percent i.e. most companies face today include:
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 working
closer with the relevant development teams. Later,
The global and regional markets are expected to grow at this knowledge is used to provide documentation
Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) ranging about functionality, behavior, implementation, and
between 20% and 35% through 2010. Market for SoCs integration into a SoC.
based on Embedded IP is growing at a CAGR of 29%
from 2006 to 2010, while standard cell-based SoCs TWB provides structured documentation solutions
market is projected to expand at 21%. that maximize comprehension and ease-of-use.
TWB has expertise in working on complex domains
and delivering quality documents. TWB provides
United States represents the world's largest SoC
continuous documentation support to update the
market, worth an estimated US$10.4 billion in 2007,
changes in products.
as stated in a recent report published by Global
Industry Analysts, Inc. Asia (excluding Japan) and
Europe are the second and third largest markets
respectively. The three regions collectively account
for about 80% of the global SoC market.
Benefits
Partnering with TWB has extremely benefited many
companies in saving costs and producing
The market for SoC is set to experience robust growth
professional documentation along with:
with increase in demand for high-speed, low power
consuming chips.
 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 point.
product knowledge to end users in a comprehensible Hence, the style, language, and content must vary
manner. The strategies of communication and levels of depending on the type of audience being addressed. It
information vary depending on the type of product and is because every user has a specific role in the
audience. implementation and usage of the technology.
Therefore, it is important that documents be created
keeping in mind the role of the person who will use the
Providing end users with information about a product’s
document.
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 are
information to use the application.
often developed as an afterthought. This usually results
in inaccurate and incomprehensible documentation,
which, in turn, renders the users incapable of using the For users who start without technical or product
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, information about
The faulty assumptions listed below result in the product needs to be effectively communicated to
incomprehensible document: the customers.
 Developers know their products better than anyone Well-designed, accurately presented, and attractive
else – due to time constraints and limited resources, marketing collaterals increase the market prospects of
many companies assign their documentation tasks to a product and reduce support costs.
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 – Products/Corporate  Layout and Design
Profile  Installation Manual
 Creating SLAs
 Brochures and marketing collateral  Interface Document
 Web content  Interactive Electronic Technical Manual Business Documentation
(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
Competition  Record Management Storage and
 Installation and Configuration Guides
Retrieval
 Operations Manual  Forecasting
 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 in software and authoring tools includes:
Our technical proficiency in 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 Supporting tools
 Adobe Flash®
 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 include:
TWB services a wide range of technology and knowledge driven industries, helping them meet their markets better, these
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 / +91.80.41256367 +1.512.586.8357
Corporate Enquiries: corp@twb.in
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