Intelligent I/O (I2O) - An Open Standard
Allen and all,
With the recent positive news about the emergence of I2O, we need to keep in mind that it is an open industry standard supported by many companies. It can be implemented on other micro-processors besides Intel's i960RP/i960RD, and/or with another RTOS besides IxWorks. Although potential I2O royalties are not yet factored into the analyst's estimates for WIND, they most assuredly were considered by some of us who bought the stock. Now that it is clear that I2O is taking off, I think it is time to ask the question: How secure are Intel's and Wind River's positions as the I2O pilot and co-pilot?
Recall that earlier this week Mitch posted about the following EE Times article: techweb.com . Here is an excerpt from that article (Caveat: this seems to be slightly garbled writing. See my footnotes):
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One agent for that spread will be a new chip set from PLX Technology. "Up until today, I2O has been an [Intel 960] RP space-the RP(1) was the only thing available," said PLX vice president Mark Easley. "Now we have an alternative. In addition to working with other processors, this(2) expands our offerings to the full RP(3) line."
That means the I2O can move easily beyond its current role.
"We've taken a standard that was really developed for servers and migrated it to the embedded world," said Mike Salameh, president of PLX. "We were successful doing that with PCI, and we feel we can do it again with I2O."
The PLX chip set, the 9080, marks the chip maker's first move into the software space. The move should open doors to a range of high-end embedded systems.
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My footnotes:
(1) i960RP/i960RD
(2) PCI 9080 Peripheral Component Interconnect bus master chip, I2O(TM)(Intelligent I/O) Manager messaging software and associated development kits for OEMs building high-end embedded and adapter board products
(3) i960 line? Their news releases mention the i960Hx and i960Cx
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PLX Technology is a privately-held company in Sunnyvale, CA. Their web site is plxtech.com . It has links to six I2O-related press releases dated April 16 from the recent PCI-Plus conference. Adobe Acrobat (a royal pain, IMO) must be used to read these press releases.
One of these press releases mentions collaboration with Wind River regarding the intel i960Hx and i960Cx chips. Another regards extending I2O capability to the PowerPC401GF chip. But another mentions the PLX I2O Manager software that is "Modular and independent from RTOS's and CPU's", and makes the following statement: "The libraries of the I2O Manager may be linked to other control software for the IOP (I/O Processor) and do not require a real-time operating system."
Allen, can you or anyone make any sense out of this? What are the i960Hx and i960Cx processors? Can I2O be implemented without an RTOS? Do the PLX products potentially result in an end-run around WIND's IxWorks, or are they more likely to expand the use of I2O and increase royalties from IxWorks? What are the risks for Intel and Wind River?
Regards,
Greg |
