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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Dorsey who wrote (30125)	3/2/1998 5:08:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

The Adaptec, (Firewire)/ C-Cube/ Creative connection.................. ijumpstart.com 1394 Software and Driver Support Will Force Hardware Vendors to Look Beyond Microsoft for Expertise Hardware manufacturers planning to ship PC peripherals that take advantage of 1394 will have to bear the additional costs of building software that serves as the bridge between Windows 98 and applications designed to work with those products. Because most hardware vendors lack software expertise, demand for drivers could spawn a cottage industry. So far, Adaptec Inc. [ADPT] has taken the lead in 1394 software support. If Intel's 1394 core-logic plans spur manufacturers to ship peripherals, the need for driver know-how will increase, and is likley to create a niche market. Windows 98 will include bus-class drivers and mini ports to support particular chips (which were not included in Windows 95), but it will not include the drivers necessary to support software that works in conjunction with peripherals. Windows 98 will include mini ports to support Adaptec's 5800 chip, Texas Instrument Inc.'s [TXN] Lynx chips and silicon that conforms to the OpenHCI specification, said Devon Worrell, Microsoft 1394 and device bay technical evangelist. Silicon supporting OpenHCI is sampling now and has yet to ship. As for the drivers necessary to understand what type of media is being transported through the bus, Microsoft has made some progress. To make sure the OS recognizes 1394 peripherals, the company will make available to developers a stream-class driver model, which is part of the Windows Driver Model (WDM). But the API isn't finished, and the company is seeking input from third parties. Creative Labs Inc. [CREAF] expects to ship peripherals that take advantage of 1394 before year's end, and officials said overcoming Microsoft's driver limitation is a significant technological obstacle in their path. "The integration of the OS isn't there," said Micah Stroud, Creative's audio product marketing manager. "I would guarantee you we will have to write an OS extension." Microsoft's Worrell said the stream-class driver needs to be tested with various peripherals to ensure support, but he is optimistic. "If [manufacturers] write for the stream-class driver, they should be able to get access to whatever is coming from the device," he said. Creative and other peripheral makers will be unable to accomplish the difficult tas of guaranteeing driver support without help. Stroud said the company hasn't entered into discussions with other companies yet but he expects technologists working at Creative's E-mu Systems Inc. subsidiary to begin a dialogue with Adaptec soon. (Adaptec, 408/ 945-8600; Creative Labs, 408/428-6600; Microsoft, 425/882-8080) Creative's 1394 Plans for Audio Creative Labs officials expect the first product they ship with a 1394 connector will be Sound Blaster Live. Creative will sell it as an add-in card for users who own 1394-enabled PCs, rather than invest in putting the silicon on the card. The peripheral will plug into the 1394 slot and be used to manipulate bandwidth-intensive audio streams. Most of the discussion surrounding 1394 has been on the video side, but Creative expects to make a big play for the peripheral market in audio. Adaptec and C-Cube Microsystems Inc. [CUBE] are working on a transcoder that will convert DV into MPEG-2, and Creative may build an analogous product for audio that would handle many formats, ranging from analog to AC-3. The company is looking into manufacturing "black box" products that turn audio from traditional consumer electronics equipment into a PC-friendly format. Such a device might sit outside the PC and connect a stereo to a desktop via cables.