Re: [oc] Xscale, etc. and IP

[Holger Baxmann <hbaxmann@mac.com>]

Am Donnerstag, 10.04.03, um 11:41 Uhr (Europe/Budapest) schrieb  
Jayaprakash Balachandran:

> Hi,
>
>  These days, increasingly I keep hearing the name
> Xscale CPU. Why is it getting so much attention?

1. Marketing
2. Marketing
3. Marketing

SCNR ;-)

bax


> Iam curious to know if their IP architecture makes the
> difference or their physical design?
>
> Thanks and regards,
> Jayaprakash.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>  --- Joachim_Strömbergson
> <Joachim.Strombergson@InformAsic.com> wrote: > Aloha!
>>
>> kinysh asdf wrote:
>>> Hi Joachim:
>>>
>>> Alchemy is AMD.
>>> But AMD is formed long before StrongARM?
>>> Or at least I know AMD a long time ago before I
>> even know ARM
>>
>> Ok, here is the fast time-line (AFAIK):
>>
>> (1) Digital got a license from ARM to develop their
>> own version of ARM as a
>> stand alone MCU (not integrated SoC. This became the
>> StrongARM. - A more
>> pipelined (thereby stronger) version of ARM, but
>> with a extremely good
>> physical VLSI implementation which resulted in the
>> best MIPS/W performance on
>> the market.
>>
>> (2) Somewhere around 1998, Intel bought the Hudson
>> fab from Digital. Included
>> with this deal (somehow) was the StrongARM design.
>> In other words, Intel ended
>> up owning the design and manufacturing rights of the
>> StrongARM.
>>
>> (3) The design team doing the wonders in (1) didn't
>> want to be Intel (shich
>> might have something to do with Intel not knowing
>> what to do with StrongARM).
>> The team left and split into two teams.
>>
>> (4) The two teams formed one startup each: SiByte
>> and Alchemy. Alchemy was
>> also for a short while associated with
>> Inventra/Mento Graphics.
>>
>> (5) SiByte and Alchemy independently got the rights
>> from MIPS to develop their
>> own MCUs based on the MIPS core. Both companies
>> stated that they would produce
>> MIPS-based MCUs with thge best MIPS/W on the market.
>> Si Byte focusing on
>> higher performance, networking apps and Alchemy on
>> higher integration/SoC
>> style apps.
>>
>> (6) On Embedded Processor Forum 2000, almost exactly
>> 15 months after (3), both
>> SiByte and Alchemy presented their respective
>> designs. Great stuff, tens of
>> thousands of clock domains and all kinds of cool
>> VLSI items.
>>
>> (7) Broadcom acquires SiByte and is now doing very
>> fine NPUs for Broadcom,
>> see:
>>
> http://www.broadcom.com/cgi-bin/pr/prps.cgi?id=PR001218
>>
>> (8) AMD acquires Alchemy which is now doing very
>> fins PDA/embedded MCUs for
>> AMD, see:
>>
> http://www.e-insite.net/electronicnews/ 
> index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA195184
>>
>> Before and during this time AMD itself have
>> developed their own x86 based
>> CPUs. When Compaq bought Digital, a large group of
>> Alpha designers left and
>> went to AMD and has been a good reason for the
>> success of the Athlon CPUs.
>> Some people also went to Intel and HP to work on
>> IA64.
>>
>> AFAIK, when Intel bought the Alpha rights from
>> Compaq about a year ago, some
>> more of what was left of the Alpha team jumped ship
>> to AMD too, and have been
>> involved in the Hammer/Opteron development.
>>
>> Also note that Intel basically didn't touch the
>> StrongARM design for years and
>> it was made in old (0.35u I think) technology and
>> yet continued to beat the
>> competitors in MIPS/W. Finally, Intel did respin and
>> started development again
>> and what we now have are the very good Xscale MCUs.
>>
>>
>> That's my 1 Euro version on the StrongARM/Xscale
>> story. I'm sure I will get
>> tons of emails correcting this timeline. Bring 'em
>> on!
>>
>> -- 
>> Med vänlig hälsning, Yours
>>
>> Joachim Strömbergson - Alltid i harmonisk svängning.
>> VP, Research & Development
>>
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> Balachandran Jayaprakash
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