This should bode well for java based (Jini) consumer devices.
February 15, 1999, Issue: 1147
Section: Semiconductors
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Japan jumps at Patriot's Java processor core
Mark Hachman
Silicon Valley- Japan may revere its tea, but when it comes to processor cores, it's Java that's good to the last drop.
Lending its stamp of approval, Japan's Venture SystemLSI Assist Center (VSAC), a government-sponsored design agency, last week adopted the next-generation 32-bit PSC1000A Java microprocessor core from Patriot Scientific Corp. Patriot's technology, which executes the Java Virtual Machine directly in hardware with no software interpreter, will be used by Japanese IC designers to prototype Java cores free of charge.
Formed last June, VSAC helps smaller, cash-strapped Japanese design companies procure intellectual property; the PSC1000A was one of the group's first-round IP core picks.
Japan has warmed to Java, especially given Sun Microsystems Inc.'s new attitude toward licensing a version of its processor language for consumer devices, called PersonalJava, according to Phil Morettini, vice president of sales and marketing at San Diego-based Patriot.
"Japan previously had heartburn over Sun's licensing agreements," Morettini said.
Under the VSAC deal, customers and other chip-design companies may use the PSC1000A core free of charge, provided they meet VSAC's limits upon employees and revenue.
Companies may freely prototype up to 1,000 discrete devices, but then must enter a separate licensing agreement with Patriot to enter full production.
Patriot has made the PSC1000A-a version of its existing 0.5-micron PSC1000 core tailored to the 0.35-micron lines of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.-available as a hard core. Patriot has not yet taped out samples, according to Morettini, who said a soft core will follow at a later date.
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc.
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