Analysts pan AViA-9600, and the microSparc chip...........
electronicnews.com
C-Cube Chases Set-Top Box Leaders
Steven Fyffe
Sep 18, 2000 --- The release of C-Cube Microsystems Inc.'s latest set-top box (STB) chip is little more than a case of keeping up with the Joneses, according to Jay Srivatsa, senior analyst at Dataquest Inc.
C-Cube says its fourth generation AViA-9600, which debuted today, keeps pace with key trends in the STB market place like home networking, content manipulation and graphical display.
The chip enables manufacturers to build features like pause and rewind into STBs that allow live broadcasts to be treated like video. Srivasta says C-Cube is just trying to maintain its position in a marketplace of fierce competitors like STMicroelectronics Inc., IBM and LSI Logic Corp.
"They're probably just protecting their turf," Srivatsa said. "These boxes are not going to go into volume production for another year.
"They are enabling some interactivity, but I think they are a little late to market. From a chip standpoint, there isn't much. I don't think it's a huge differentiation from what's out there already."
Other analysts agreed.
"There weren't any earth shaking features involved," said Michelle Abraham, senior analyst at Cahners In-Stat Group.
The chip will start being used in systems by the second quarter of next year, according to Edward Silva, senior manager of product marketing for the broadband networks division at C-Cube.
One of the advantages of the AviA 9600 is the five integrated processing elements that free up the SPARC processor to run applications, Silva said.
"Since the host CPU isn't being used for house-keeping functions, it can be used to manage applications like time shifting. It's all about being able to control the content to your liking."
C-Cube is one of the only STB chipmakers using SPARC, which could create problems for OEMs, Srivatsa said.
"One of the drawbacks in my mind is the use of SPARC. It's not a popular processor in the set-top processor space. There's going to be a significant amount of work for operating systems and applications to be ported to a SPARC." |
