Embedded MPUs Seek the Next Killer App. STBs, cell phones may be the product of choice For years, electronics industry insi ers have been asking a question that has huge ramifications on the vA AAAAARARY future of the business: Why would anyone want to give up the versa- tility of the personal computer for a TV set-top box that allows users to just get on the Internet? For Tom Halfhill, the answer to the question of whether or not the set-top box will be the killer con- sumer application can be summed up by pointing to another con- ‘sumer electronics device. “[ask (consumers) what kind of camera they have,” said Halfhill, an analyst with MicroDesign Resources, Sebastopol, Calif. “Something like five percent of allcameras sold are 35mm single- lens reflex cameras with inter- changeable lenses and lots of versatility. ‘The rest are all simple point-and-shoot cameras that sim- rat let you get the picture.” Inshort,consumers want some- thing simple that does the job that they want done, Halfhill said. ‘That argument carries lots of weight in the world of embedded microprocessors. For everyone in the business, it seems the Internet is the place to be and each vendor hopes to get its chips inside the next must-have consumer device, whether it be a set-top box,acon- nected handheld organizer or one of a new generation of Internet- “smart phones.” “Tread a statistic once that said a large percentage of America Online subscribers use their PCs only for AOL access,” Halfhill said. “I personally think that these boxes will outsell PCs.” Other analysts seem to agree. One study by International Data Corp. conducted earlier this year that Internet-connected by the end of 2001 asthe growth in PC shipments begins to level off. Cellular phones in particular have been very good for the ARM architecture in particular, whose cores are found in about 70 percent of all mobile phone handsets. As summarized by anew study of the providing a RISC MPU core tobe included onan ASIC thats avail- able for licensing by almost any , And mobile phone ship- ments are not slowing. The study forecasts that handset shipments will grow from just under 150 mil- lion units this year to more than 350 million by 2003. And while consumer-side appliances will have their own ‘ontinued on page 26] eS| 1) Gian / of Units: ' me ‘| jointly developed processors. One such joint development project expected to be announced today is Embedded MPUs Seek the Next Killer App. [Continued from page 23] attractions because of the poten- tial for high volume shipments, other analysts see major opportu- nities in providing silicon for the communications infrastructure. “Ifyou look atit froma revenue standpoint, telecommunications is going to be a big driver,” said Will Strauss, president and prin- cipal of Forward Concepts Inc., Tempe, Ariz. “That is why Intel is moving toward everything that has to do with communications because they see that the bloomif off the PC rose.” Strauss also expects a renewed push in the embedded space for that of Hitachi Ltd. and STMicro- electronics, who will jointly develop the next generations of the SuperH architecture to be called the SH-Sand SH-6. The new parts will be available in the fourth quar- terofnext year. “That deal to me was a shocker,” Strauss said. “I never though of Hitachi working with someone else to jointly develop the SH-5. Certainly ST Micro would license it, but I never dreamed they would jointly develop it.” But the deal stands asanindic- tor of a continuing trend toward joint development projects in the embedded marketplace, Strauss said. Other examples include proj- ects between Intel and Analog Devices Inc. on a new line of dig- ital signal processors and Lucent Technologies and Motorola on the Star Core DSP line, which is aimed squarely at competing with ‘Texas Instruments’ DSP products. “It’s getting ever more expensive todevelop these ever more complex processors,” he said. “There are several cases where outright rivals, Rev Growth for RISC Processors Worldwide 32- and 64-bit RISC MPU shipments. 98 (244 35.7 are finding that it’s easier to work together in order to compete with amutual competitor.” 2000 smal Suns sige seu Siow siase $2008 $222 S280) $4287 es ms m2 et Ob $7335 $6682 $5209 $38.89 $3058 $26.33 $242 $24.24 Max Baron, a semiconductor analyst with Cahners In-Stat Group expects a handful of new architectures to begin to show up ‘on the market as design tools become increasingly powerful, a trend likely to have a big impact on the embedded market. “Creating a new architecture has suddenly become pretty easy,” he said. Baron mentioned one firm ‘Tensilica Inc.,Santa Clara, Calif. “It basically allows you to create your own instruction set, and the inter- esting thing is it generates at the same time, the hardware-oriented design and the compiler.” Some of Tensilica’s founders are from the original MIPS design team, Baron said. ‘Similar moves elsewhere in the design world could lead to several new proprietary architectures aimed at embedded applications, Baron said. “From now on, intellectual property could be not only encap- sulated in software that you ship witha system-on-a-chip or inasys- tem box, it could also be a part of the am 02 03 a $23.80 $23.15 Source: Microtocic RESEARC. microprocessor itself. Now your intellectual property isalso included in the hardware,” he said.