Cirrus Logic has hived off its graphics software business to ISD Corporation. Financial terms were undisclosed, but we assume that money flowed into Cirrus' coffers from ISD. Broad outlines of the outsourcing deal are in the public domain. ISD is to take on all the workers of the Cirrus Logic PC graphics software group, organising the team as a standalone division. It will also handle all customer relationships and support agreements for Cirrus graphics software. And it will develop and support software drivers and firmware. The ISD deal has received the blessing of Jon Peddie, author of the graphics card bible The Peddie Report "Cirrus Logic has historically provided some of the best software support in the graphics industry," he says in a Cirrus press release, announcing the ISD deal. "It's a real coup for ISDCorp to hire this team." But how much of a coup is it for Cirrus to transfer this killer team to another company? The recently restructured company is tossing away a strong differentiator. Remember, there are 50 graphics chips companies out there. And that means an awful lot of also-rans. The Register is singing off an old song sheet, according to Zahir Parpia, of ZEN News. He writes: "What you didn't mention is that Cirrus is now refocussing on mixed signal and linear chips (Cirrus was a major player in the graphics business, but is at best a marginal player - they correctly realized that they can't compete and have basically pulled out of the business). Cirrus has always had a strong mixed signal/linear group (it owns Crystal, one of the top companies in the field." ®