To: Joseph Pareti who wrote (61375 ) 7/29/1998 9:06:00 AM From: greenspirit Respond to of 186894
Joseph and thread, Article...StrongARM will extend Intel's segmentation strategy... July 29, 1998 InfoWorld Electric : Intel plans to expand its segmentation strategy beyond PCs with the StrongARM microprocessor architecture acquired from Digital. "The StrongARM architecture is a complementary extension to our existing microprocessor product lines," said Ron Smith, vice president and general manager at Intel's Computing Enhancement Group. Intel will focus the StrongARM product line into markets that require low power and high performance. Key segments include PC companions, smart mobile telephones, and mobile point-of-sale devices, as well as digital TV set-top products and Web-enabled desktop screen phones. The StrongARM product line will also target embedded control segments such as soft modem banks, high-performance storage and RAID, adapter cards, and switches and routers. "We are accelerating the development of products based on the first generation StrongARM architecture [SA-1]," Smith said. "In addition, the design team for the second generation of the StrongARM architecture is up and running." "Intel has revealed that it has formed a second design group for StrongARM CPU cores in Chandler [Ariz.]," said Jim Turley, senior analyst at MicroDesign Resources, in Sunnyvale, Calif., in his embedded processor newsletter. "We believe the new group is developing a second-generation 'SA-2' core that will be used in future integrated processors, which may appear sometime in 2000. "The two existing StrongARM chips are still built on the Hudson [Mass.] fab belonging to Digital, a situation we expect to persist for the lifetime of these parts," Turley said. "Digital's designers were notorious for fine-tuning their circuits [Alpha and StrongARM among them] for the characteristics of their process technology, making it difficult for Intel to shift these chips to another fab. Future StrongARM parts, whether from the new Chandler center or from the primary design center in Massachusetts, will likely be targeted for Intel fab processes, at which time the Hudson fab may be either retired or refitted. "If the new SA chips appear in 2000, they may debut in 0.18-micron technology, making them among the most advanced embedded processors at that time," Turley projected. "As with the original StrongARM, the combination of architecture, clever circuit design, and advanced fab processes could make the new StrongARM chips potent competitors for low-power systems. "Until Intel reveals more of its plans, however, potential customers will have to speculate -- and wait," Turley said. ______________________________________________________________________ Michael