Xbox 360 Slim Rumor Gets Traction: MS Hiring Motherboard Engineer
Lately, we saw a resurgence of the old Xbox 360 slim rumor in the face of Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, talking about new console models designed for specific price points and dependant on "form factors", or essentially, on the size of the console. While he didn't say anything specific, speculation ran wild, and now such speculation may even have basis thanks to a recent Microsoft job ad, dated from the 7th of March 2010. Take a look:
Motherboard Design Engineer
Location: United States, CA, Mountain View
Job ID: 714897
Product: Xbox Home
Division: Entertainment & Devices Division
Job Description
The Xbox 360 Console development team is seeking qualified candidates for an Electrical Engineer. The responsibilities of this position are focused on specifying, designing (schematic capture, PCB layout, BOM, cost analysis), implementing and verifying the mother-board and other various sub-system boards that make up the XBOX 360 product line. This work includes development of requirements and evaluating different solution for functionality, cost, and risk. The subsystems on the XBOX 360 mother board include (but are not limited to): High speed busses (front side bus, memory bus, PCIe bus, SATA bus, USB bus, I2S, etc.), memory, Ethernet, audio/video, system clocking, power and thermal management, and misc. analog/digital circuitry.
The XBOX 360 Console Development team is responsible for aggressive cost reduction of the console throughout the life of the product as well as expanding the market for the console in derivative products. The position involves working closely with industrial designers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, software engineers, test engineers, component engineers, and program managers.
Qualifications:
Minimum BS/MS in Electrical Engineering
Minimum of 4 years experience contributing to the design and production of complex products in the consumer PC or consumer electronic industry.
A solid understanding of core engineering principles, fundamental circuit design, and analytical techniques is required.
Familiarity with PC, embedded system architectures hardware and software, experience with implementation of high speed serial busses (SATA, PCIe, USB) and/or high speed parallel busses such as: memory bus (DDR2, GDDR3, etc.), CPU front side bus, Hyper transport, and/or voltage regulator/power delivery design a plus.
Design for manufacturing and test experience is required.
Strong bench evaluation and in-lab debugging skills are required.
Strong communication skills required. Including the ability to clearly express technical concepts in verbal and written forms.
Must be able to plan work, and work to a plan adapting as necessary in a rapidly evolving environment.
The ability to comprehend and assimilate technical concepts across multiple disciplines is a plus.
Enthusiastic, motivated and self driven.
Domestic and international travel may be required.
The important info is bolded for your convenience... and while it doesn't necessarily confirm a slim 360 model, it does confirm SOME future redisgns - whether they include a 360 slim or not is up in the air.
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