Embedded Processor Watch

Editor: Jim Turley

In This Issue:

• Sun to Give Away PicoJava, SPARC Cores
• Industry Resources: Intel to Disclose StrongARM-2
• Industry Resources: Los Angeles Goes to HEC
• New Embedded IC Announcements

Sun to Give Away PicoJava, SPARC Cores

In an unusual move that signals either genius or desperation, Sun Microelectronics is giving away synthesizable models of its SPARC and PicoJava microprocessor cores. The company will make RTL descriptions, verifications tools, and reference materials for its processors available for download beginning the end of this month. Anyone can download, modify, and synthesize the processors for free; Sun will charge a royalty only if customers ship the processors for revenue.

The maneuver is not unlike the open-source movement that is growing in popularity among software developers. Like Linux, Apache, Netscape's Communicator, and other software products, the "source code" for synthesizing Sun's processors will be free for the asking. After enduring the 300-Mbyte download, users may alter the core of the PicoJava or SPARC processors in any way, even if they break binary compatibility with other SPARC or Java processors. Users will be encouraged-but not required-to give any such modifications back to the community, so that third parties may benefit from the enhancements.

Unlike with Linux, this design freedom does not extend to shipping products. Before customers can fabricate and ship for revenue, they must demonstrate compliance with the verification suite included in the download package. Incompatible products cannot be shipped, under Sun's licensing terms.

Users must negotiate royalty terms with Sun before they can ship any chips based on the downloaded designs. Royalty rates are negotiated on a case-by-case basis, so serious customers may wish to arrange terms up front before they begin development in earnest. The PicoJava-I core (see Embedded Processor Watch #16) will be available for download at the end of March. Sun expects to make SPARC v8-based cores available by midyear, with SPARC v9 cores coming on line by the end of 1999.

Although Sun's decision to emulate the open-source movement with hardware IP is certainly innovative, it is not clear what effect this move will have on the processor-IP market as a whole. On the surface, it appears to be a good move to broaden the appeal of Sun's two processor families. Developers can evaluate SPARC and/or Java processors with no up-front cost or risk. Sun's license agreement even permits customers to fabricate limited quantities of the chips for internal evaluation. A license for ARM or MIPS, in contrast, generally costs millions of dollars. Lexra, ARC Cores, and Tensilica also charge significant up- front licensing fees for access to their CPU designs.

On the other hand, there's little up-front cost in evaluating these other microprocessors, either. Standard off-the-shelf ARM and MIPS (and, by extension, Lexra) microprocessors are readily available. Both ARC Cores and Lexra allow users to download synthesized designs into FPGAs for development, testing, and evaluation. ARC Cores even lends users the development systems for free. It is only semiconductor vendors, not individual ASIC developers, who must pay the multimillion-dollar fees for MIPS and ARC licenses.

What Sun's unusual community-source arrangement will allow customers to do is tinker with the RTL description of the microprocessor for free, something its competitors charge real money for. Until a customer produces a real SPARC- or Java-based ASIC, no funds are committed. Unlike the case of Tensilica, ARC Cores, or Lexra, however, that tinkering cannot substantially alter the processor, because Sun requires all production chips to pass its compatibility test. In the end, Sun's free-source distribution may appeal primarily to hobbyists, academics, tire-kickers, and frustrated CPU architects-classes of users not known to generate lucrative licensing deals. But it may also encourage grass- roots support for Sun's two CPU families, something that might pay off in a more indirect, long-term way. While the rewards may not be great, the risks to Sun are minimal.

Industry Resources: Intel to Disclose StrongARM-2 at Forum

One of the most closely watched presentations at the Embedded Processor Forum in May will be Intel's first public disclosure of its second- generation StrongARM processors. The new generation of chips is expected to build on Digital's fabulously power-efficient StrongARM design but take advantage of Intel's semiconductor manufacturing prowess. The new chips should be compatible with today's StrongARM processors, while perhaps adding new features as well.

Intel's StrongARM presentation is just one of nearly two dozen new CPU and DSP announcements. For a complete Embedded Processor Forum program, schedule, and registration information, visit http://www.MDRonline.com/epf.

Industry Resources: Los Angeles Goes to HEC

WinHEC, that is, the annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, to be held in the Los Angeles Convention Center April 7-9. Makers, designers, and purchasers of Windows hardware (commonly called PCs) will congregate to hear Microsoft executives Steve Ballmer, Brian Valentine, David Cole, Carl Stork, Jay Torborg, and others pronounce on the future of Windows and the systems that run it. Intel's Pat Gelsinger and our own Michael Slater will also be presenting on hardware directions and design trends.

In addition to the presentations and general sessions there will be technical sessions covering system architecture, modem and audio integration, mobile platforms, embedded, security, and encourangingly, a session on quality and simplicity.

Registration fees are around $995 for the whole shooting match; passes for the evening soirees only are $35. For more information, or to register, call 800.254.5509 or direct your built-in browser to http://www.microsoft.com/winhec/.

New Embedded IC Announcements

ZPSD813F1V (WSI) Flash MCU integrates 128 K of flash memory, 32K of EEPROM, 2K of SRAM; operating at 2 MHz, drawing 1.6 mA. Price: $8.95/25,000; Production: Now; Call WSI at 510.498.723.

M40Z300/W (STMicroelectronics) Non-Volatile RAM controller converts low power SRAMs into NVRAMs; with reset output for power-on reset; in 28-pin SOIC package. Price: $4.25/100,000; Production: Now; Call ST at 781.861.2650.

70V3579, 70V3569(IDT) Synchronous dual-port SRAM chips are organized as 32Kx36 ('79) or 16Kx36 ('69) with 3.3-V supplies and 100-MHz data rates. Price: $39.95/10,000; Samples: Now; Production: 3Q99.

70V3389, 70V3379 (IDT) Synchronous dual-port SRAM chips are organized as 64Kx18 ('89) or 32Kx18 ('79) with 3.3-V supplies and 100-MHz data rates. Samples: Now; Production: 3Q99; Price: $39.95/10,000.

CS4340, CS4341 (Cirrus Logic) DAC has 100-dB dynamic range, audio sample rates of 2 kHz to 100 kHz, power on/off transient control, and operates at 3 V to 5 V. Price: $1.95/1000; Production: Now; Call Cirrus at 510.249.4244.

74LCX16244T (STMicroelectronics) Three-state non-inverting, 16-bit buffer in a TSSOP-48 package features power-down protection, latch-up performance, and 2-kV ESD immunity. Price: $1.00/10,000; Production: Now; Call ST at 781.861.2650.

S2076 (AMCC) Quad-fibre channel transceiver bundles four channels in a 23x23 mm 208-pin TBGA package. Price: $65/100; Production: Now; Call AMCC at 800.755.2622.

ML6460, ML6461 (Micro Linear) Video encoder chips integrate output filters, amplifiers, A/D converters, and Macrovision copy protection ('60) for DVD applications. Price: $8/1,000; Production: Now; Call Micro Linear at 408.433.5200.