[opendtv] PowerPC Roadmap Turns to Consoles
- From: Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipient: ;
- Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2004 09:34:36 -0400
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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