Embedded Processor Watch

Editor: Tom Halfhill

In This Issue:

• National Unveils "Appliance on a Chip"
• LSI Logic Buys ZSP
• TriMedia 1300 Arrives Late, Slow
• Industry Resources: No Escape From ESC

National Unveils "Appliance on a Chip"

Battered but not beaten by its brief foray onto Intel's turf, National Semiconductor is launching a long-anticipated flank attack -- an "information appliance on a chip" designed for non-PC devices in homes and offices. The highly integrated chip, scheduled for delivery next January, is the key to National's post-PC strategy. And it's probably the last chance for National to salvage any value from its costly rental of Cyrix.

Although National plans to reveal more technical details at Microprocessor Forum in October, the company has disclosed the basic architecture of the new system on a chip (SOC), which is called the Geode SC1400. It's the first member of a family of Geode SOCs that National plans to introduce over the next few years.

As expected, the SC1400 is based on the GXm, an MMX-enhanced version of the MediaGX, which itself was considered a highly integrated chip when first announced by Cyrix in 1995. National will retain the rights to the GXm even after selling Cyrix to Via (see Microprocessor Watch #5, http://www.MDRonline.com/q/mpw/issues/mpw005.html).

At its target clock rate of 233 or 266 MHz, the SC1400 will deliver about the same raw performance as a fast Pentium, at a time when sub-$500 PCs will have sixth-generation x86 processors cruising at 400 MHz or higher. And the SC1400 has no 3D acceleration, which makes it unsuitable for running the latest PC games. But National thinks the SC1400 is fast enough for set-top boxes that will perform a few basic functions of home PCs, such as Web browsing, email, electronic commerce, and online chat.

The SC1400 has considerably more integration than the GXm, including hardware for MPEG decoding, NTSC/PAL-standard video, USB, and AC97 audio. The memory controller supports two banks of 66-MHz SDRAM. A second memory interface supports from 2M to 4M of SDRAM at 81 MHz, as a buffer for the on-chip MPEG decoder.

Much will depend on National's ability to customize Geode chips for specific applications and customers. The MediaGX briefly made a significant impact on the PC market, and then quickly faded from sight because it didn't keep up with conventional CPUs. Geode will have to evolve more quickly to avoid a similar fate in the emerging and ill-defined market for information appliances.--T.R.H. (The full version of this article appeared in the August 2 issue of Microprocessor Report.)

LSI Logic Buys ZSP

System-on-a-chip powerhouse LSI Logic has purchased DSP startup ZSP Corp. Though neither company will comment, it appears the transaction took place several weeks ago.

ZSP's unusual ZSP164xx processor architecture adapts elements of modern RISC CPU design, yielding a high-performance superscalar fixed-point DSP. The company first demonstrated the ZSP16401 running at 200 MHz in late 1998. Nearly a year later, the '401 remains the second-fastest fixed-point DSP, trailing only Texas Instruments' flagship TMS320C62xx DSP family.

LSI's purchase of ZSP marks the first time the company has assumed ownership of a DSP architecture. Though LSI says an announcement about its DSP strategy is coming soon, at present it's unclear how the ZSP acquisition will affect LSI's plans for Carmel.--J.B. (The full version of this article appeared in the August 2 issue of Microprocessor Report.)

TriMedia 1300 Arrives Late, Slow

Philips has begun sampling the TM-1300, the newest member of the TriMedia family of media processors. Though Philips promised the part would sample by the end of 1998 at speeds up to 180 MHz, it was late to arrive and is initially available at only 143 MHz.

As it has with previous TriMedia products, Philips will sell the TM-1300 as a video processor for editing, conferencing, and security systems as well as for advanced set-top boxes.--P.N.G. (The full version of this article appeared in the August 2 issue of Microprocessor Report.)

Industry Resources: No Escape From ESC

Denizens of embedded processors won't want to miss the tenth annual Embedded Systems Conference, which consumes the San Jose Convention Center on September 26-30. Sponsored by Miller Freeman, the show features 12 full-day tutorials on subjects such as DSP and embedded system design; three days packed with shorter sessions on system-on-a-chip design, wireless technology, embedded architectures, Java, and many more topics; and a large vendor exhibition.

Register before 8/31 and pay $1,645 for all five days, or as little as $475 for one day. To register, call 800.789.2223 or check out http://www.embedded.com.