[More DSP in the news]
This time from Marty Gold:
techweb.com
<<<
January 12, 1998, Issue: 988
DSP battles dot landscape
Martin Gold
As we enter 1998, one trend in DSP solutions stands out: Communications systems and subsystems will be market drivers for these chips. But don't ignore motor-control systems or mass-storage solutions with DSP cores inside.
Already, we're seeing the start of confrontations among DSP vendors with claims and counterclaims of why one DSP core was selected by a systems company over another. Last month, Analog Devices Inc. touted its design win from 3Com Corp. for modem cards (see Dec. 15, 1997, page 8). ADI's vice president for computer products, David French, wanted the world to know that his company's custom modem chip can replace a five-piece chip set from Texas Instruments in this application.
Very aware of the embedded solutions trends, TI has been pitching its ability to grind out DSP-based mixed-signal chips. To bolster its position in embedded markets, TI acquired Silicon Systems last year for its expertise in hard-disk-drive design. More recently, TI agreed to take over Amati Communications Corp. to strengthen TI's ability to provide DSP solutions for high-speed Internet connectivity. Also, TI said it will buy software-tools vendor Go DSP Corp. and team with Edinburgh, Scotland-based Wolfson Microelectronics in product development of data converters for mixed-signal chips.
Look for DSP vendors Motorola and Lucent to fiercely compete for the
attention of the major systems vendors, especially in their chosen
communications-related market segments. Making the embedded solutions markets even more interesting is that it's not only one company's DSP core vs. another's core. System designers will have
the option to chose a DSP core, a microcontroller core or a RISC processor.
Many of the new chips will contain multiple cores.
From a designer's perspective, embedded DSPs requires system designers to rethink their system partitioning within any application that may incorporate both microcontroller and DSP functionality. "What this means is a paradigm shift in both the hardware and software implementation of the DSP within any future embedded-control environment," said Alan Hutton, 32-bit-product marketing manager at Siemens Microelectronics. His company has addressed that shift with the recent launch of its TriCore architecture, a 32-bit design that integrates DSP and real-time embedded functionality into one RISC-based MCU core.
In 1998, the DSP marketplace will feature a huge embedded-systems
sweepstakes. May the best system-in-silicon solution win.
you can reach me at mgold@cmp.com. |
