Embedded Processor Watch

Editor: Tom Halfhill

In This Issue:

• Centillium Licenses MIPS32 4Kp Core
• Best New Technology: IBM's POWER4
• Transmeta, PC Processors, and IA-64 at March 9 Event
• Industry Resources: Portable By Design Settles Into San Jose

Centillium Licenses MIPS32 4Kp Core

Centillium Communications (http://www.centillium.com/) has licensed the MIPS 4Kp core from MIPS Technologies for a new family of hybrid CPU/DSP processors scheduled for introduction in 2H00. (See Embedded Processor Watch #51, http://www.mdronline.com/epw/issues/epw_51.html). The Fremont-based company plans to integrate the 4Kp with its own DSP core to create a system-on-a-chip device for wired-communications products. The licensing deal expands MIPS's presence in the fast-growing communications market and is an important design win for the 4Kp, which was the first synthesizable core introduced by MIPS. (The full version of this article is available online to Microprocessor Report subscribers with a password: http://www.MDRonline.com/mpr/h/2000/0131/140505.html)

Best New Technology: IBM's POWER4

By Keith Diefendorff

Bringing together the most awesome collection of microprocessor technologies we have ever seen, IBM's POWER4 has been selected by the Cahners MicroDesign Resources analyst staff as the Best New Microprocessor Technology disclosed in 1999. In recognition of this achievement, the first annual Microprocessor Report Technology Award was given to IBM, beating out five other nominees: Compaq's Alpha 21464, HAL's SPARC64 V, HP and Intel's IA-64 architecture, Sony and Toshiba's Emotion Engine and Graphics Synthesizer, and Sun's MAJC.

Selecting a winner from this group was excruciatingly difficult. In fact, the race for first place was so tight we also awarded an Honorable Mention to Compaq for the Alpha 21464.

Never before have we seen such an awesome collection of technologies brought together in one chip as IBM has done with POWER4. It uses chip multiprocessing, combining two cores on a single chip. Each core is a 64-bit, five-issue, superscalar processor that will operate at more than 1 GHz, making each one more powerful than any single CPU in existence today. POWER4 will be deployed in a four-chip multichip module, providing an eight-way SMP system for servers in a single package. (The full version of this article is available online to Microprocessor Report subscribers with a password: http://www.MDRonline.com/mpr/h/2000/0207/140601.html)

Transmeta, PC Processors, and IA-64 at March 9 Event

Microprocessor Report's next quarterly seminars and dinner meeting, to be held March 9 at the Westin Santa Clara, will feature seminars on PC processors and IA-64, as well as a dinner presentation by Transmeta CEO Dave Ditzel.

This dinner presentation provides a rare opportunity to hear directly from Transmeta's founder about the design tradeoffs in the Crusoe design, the innovations in the VLIW architecture and code morphing software, and how it may affect the future of the microprocessor industry.

Two seminars are offered concurrently. "Inside Today's PC Processors: Architectures, Microarchitectures, and Performance" will be presented by Keith Diefendorff, editor in chief of Microprocessor Report. This seminar gives an inside look at the microarchitectures, bus and cache architectures, and performance of the most important PC processors. This is our most technical seminar and is designed for attendees who want to understand the internal design differences in today's PC processors.

The second seminar, "Intel's Itanium and IA-64: Dawn of a New Era?," will be presented by Linley Gwennap, founder and principal analyst of The Linley Group. This seminar starts with the philosophy behind IA-64's EPIC technology and then moves into a description and evaluation of the complete instruction set. Linley explains the Itanium design, compares it with its RISC and x86 rivals, and projects the performance and pricing of Itanium -- as well as future IA-64 processors such as McKinley, Madison, and Deerfield.

Registration is $99 for the dinner presentation only, $795 for a seminar only, or $845 for one seminar and the dinner meeting. Register today on the Web at http://www.MDRonline.com/sve or call 800.527.0288. Advance registration is required.

Industry Resources: Portable By Design Settles Into San Jose

Designers of portable systems may want to attend Penton's Wireless Symposium/Portable By Design. The event, held February 22-25 at the San Jose Convention Center, includes 19 full-day tutorials and workshops, a technical conference with 80 sessions in 20 tracks, and an exhibit floor with more than 400 vendors. Exhibit admission is free, while four-day registration for the symposium runs $1,380. For more information, point your browser to http://www.wirelessportable.com/west or call 201.393.6213.