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To: lkj who wrote (9710)	5/25/2001 3:32:53 AM
From: lkj	Respond to of 10309

I/O Controller With XScale Microarchitecture By Embedded.com May 8, 2001 (10:10 AM) URL: embedded.com New Haven, CT, April 17, 2001 -- The CPCI-710 is Cyclone Microsystems' next generation of 64-bit CompactPCI intelligent I/O controllers. It features Intel's IOP310 I/O processor chip set, which employs the XScale microarchitecture, enabling core-processing speeds of up to 733 MHz, according to the company. The CPCI-710 features 64-bit PCI-buses, 128MB to 256MB SDRAM with 800 MBps memory bandwidth, and two PCI mezzanine card (PMC) module locations that provide storage and communication I/O for embedded and real-time systems. In addition, the CPCI-710 supports hot swap capability. On the CPCI-710, both the primary 64-bit PCI bus interface to the CompactPCI bus and the secondary 64-bit PCI bus interface to the dual PMC modules have access to the main memory, as well as each other, through a 64-bit PCI-to-PCI bridge with multiple read and write queues. The three buses have a balanced dataflow architecture in which I/O data can move from the primary PCI bus to the local I/O processor memory at the same time data is moving on the secondary PCI bus. Two PMC module locations can be found on the CPCI-710's secondary PCI bus. Developers can mix and match expansion I/O interfaces to customize the CPCI-710 to a unique application. Cyclone offers a range of PMC modules, including UltraSCSI, Ultra 2 (LVD) SCSI, ATM OC-3 and OC-12, Dual 100 Mbit Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and custom modules. The CPCI-710 offers three software options to facilitate system integration: VxWorks, IxWorks, and Cyclone's Breeze Development Environment. Cyclone has provided task debug, development, and function calls in its standard firmware. The Breeze Development Environment, available on Cyclone's CPCI-710, provides an automatic boot user application feature, reducing the amount of hardware level programming involved with the system service calls. The CPCI-710, with 128 MB SDRAM, will begin shipping to customers on June 1, 2001 and will be available starting at $877. Cyclone Microsystems is a designer and manufacturer of intelligent I/O controllers for CompactPCI, the PCI bus, and the VMEbus. Since 1986, Cyclone has focused on delivering I/O products for embedded and real-time systems. Cyclone products are designed into diverse applications, including AIN, telecom, video networking, data switching, industrial control, medical imaging, and entertainment systems.

To: lkj who wrote (9710)	5/25/2001 12:21:34 PM
From: Allen Benn	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10309

Lineo is hardly a disinterested party to the issue of protecting IP when deploying Linux. Admittedly, neither is Microsoft or WIND, although WIND had every intention of working deeply with Linux until they hit a legal brick wall. In an open Q&A forum at WIND’s Analyst Day conference, I asked Marla Stark, WIND’s IP lawyer, straight out if there is a potential legal problem for companies working with Linux. Her answer was “yes”. She thinks most companies that work with Linux just aren’t aware of the potential legal tangles that lurk within the GPL framework. Nevertheless, she claims they are very real and may be dangerous to companys’ IP. Let’s understand something. I believe the potential problem with IP only arises when you start to tweak the Linux source, thereby joining your IP at the hip with Linux. If all you do is execute isolated applications sitting on top of Linux, I don’t think there would be a problem. This means servers and desktops for the most part should be able to run Linux without GPL posing any problem for the applications running on top. It is when you embed Linux and start to intertwine your IP with Linux that GPL becomes a virus that can follow the connected path to put a claim on your IP. For example, the problem might arise if you used Linux to develop a network storage appliance with an integral proprietary caching algorithm. Whether or not you or Lineo believe GPL is something to be concerned about, the issue cannot for long escape legal scrutiny within companies. IP legal opinion is absolute within most companies, a relection of IP often being the most important company asset. If Marla’s and Microsoft legal team’s reading of GPL gives any indication of what many other lawyers will conclude, then the issue is real, irrespective of what Lineo wants us to believe. Assuming the issue is real, WIND’s purchase of BSD Unix provides a ready means for companies to finesse the problem. Even Lineo says, ‘We wholeheartedly agree with Microsoft that no company "at the end of the day would throw all of its intellectual property into the open-source category." To do so would be a completely broken, unprofitable business model that could not survive over the long term. Exactly, where does Lineo draw the line between GPL and IP, and why in the world would any company knowingly test such a fuzzy line unnecessarily? When awakened to the issue, I would expect most company lawyers to insist on the BSD Unix replacement just on the outside chance of a problem developing with IP. Allen