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To: DiViT who wrote (35441)	8/24/1998 4:53:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

ATI and GI... and Broadcom.............. eet.com Posted: 3:00 p.m., EDT, 8/24/98 ATI's graphics chip heads for GI's digital set-top By Junko Yoshida TORONTO - Graphics-chip vendor ATI Technologies Inc. has become a key supplier of 3-D graphics ICs for General Instrument Corp.'s advanced two-way digital set-top box. The move marks ATI's first entry into a non-PC, consumer system market. ATI's design win reflects new rules of the game in the cable world as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows CE strategy throws set-top developers a curve. "Good price/performance" was not the only reason GI chose ATI's chip, said David Fritch, senior manager of marketing strategy at GI. "They have already had an early lead in working closely with Microsoft and developing their products for the Windows CE environment," he said. ATI's chip, which the company described as a derivative of its RAGE PRO 2D/3D video graphics accelerator, will go into the most advanced of GI's three digital set-tops, the DCT-5000+. Other silicon that goes inside that box includes QED's RM5230, a 64-bit MIPS microprocessor; a single-chip MPEG-2/Dolby Digital decoder designed by GI and Broadcom; and Multimedia Cable Networking Systems (MCNS)-compliant cable-modem front-end silicon designed by Broadcom. The DCT-5000, designed to run Windows CE or Sony's Aperios depending on cable operators' request, will ship in mid-1999, according to Fritch. Microsoft, however, has yet to complete a Windows CE API for cable set-tops. Daniel Eiref, manager of set-top-box marketing at ATI, said the company wrote its own proprietary 2-D/3-D API for set-tops to be able to demonstrate its set-top reference platform this spring. As soon as Microsoft is ready with a Windows CE API, "we think we can drop our code in them," said Eiref. For its part, Broadcom Corp. is aiming at mid-1999 delivery of a single-chip set-top solution. The master plan is to incorporate its cable modem and QAM receiver, an MPEG audio-video-transport decoder originally developed by GI, and an advanced graphics engine to be developed by a small graphics-chip team formerly known as Azuron Systems. Broadcom acquired Azuron - a spin-off of interactive-TV platform company PowerTV Inc. - last fall. Tim Lindenfelser, vice president of marketing at Broadcom, said the development plan is on track, but the single-chip solution will first go into GI's lower-end digital set-tops such as the DCT-2000 and DCT-1200. Asked if Broadcom plans to offer a graphics/ video subsystem chip for the DCT-5000, Lindenfelser declined to comment. It is unclear how the three GI boxes will look over the next few years, as cable operators' demand is in constant flux, according to Fritch of GI. "If it were three months ago, I would have said that DCT-1200 and DCT-2000 would remain as a bulk of our business," he said. "But after AT&T's decision to take over TCI, IP telephony has suddenly become a hot issue. For that implementation, you do need DCT-5000." Both DCT-1200 and DCT-2000 run GI's proprietary operating system.