[opendtv] PowerPC Roadmap Turns to Consoles

PowerPC Roadmap Turns to Consoles

June 25, 2004
By  Mark Hachman

IBM Corp.'s PowerPC roadmap has narrowed in recent months.

With IBM's sale of its embedded PowerPC 4XX family in April to 
Applied Micro Circuits Corp., analysts say the company is moving away 
from developing standard products entirely, chips used as storage and 
network controllers, to concentrate on developing custom solutions 
for a few key customers.

Those core applications include Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh 
computer; IBM's own blade servers; and a variety of next-generation 
video game consoles that may eventually evolve into more 
general-purpose computing devices.

Currently, IBM's PowerPC public roadmap comprises three product 
lines: the 9XX series, used within the Macintosh and IBM's JS20 blade 
servers, currently being revamped for the mobile and server markets; 
the 7XX series, spearheaded by the PowerPC 750GX for embedded 
applications; and a pair of cores available for licensing.

The real work is behind the scenes, however, where IBM is developing 
the "Cell" processor for future entertainment consoles sold by Sony 
Corp.; the processor used by the "Xenon," Microsoft Corp.'s 
next-generation Xbox; as well as the "Revolution," Nintendo Ltd.'s 
next-generation console. IBM has already shipped more than 10 million 
PowerPCs to Nintendo for use in the current GameCube, each a 485MHz 
derivative of the G3 called the "Gekko."

During 2003, the PowerPC's penetration into non-compute applications 
such as storage and network controllers totaled just under 47 million 
units, according to Semico Research Corp. of Phoenix. The total 
includes sales from IBM as well as Freescale Semiconductor, the other 
primary developer of the PowerPC architecture. Austin, Texas-based 
Freescale will spin off from Motorola Inc. later this year as an 
independent company focused on designing and selling semiconductors.

...

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1617495,00.asp

 
 
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