Microprocessor family.

Efficeon TM8000 microprocessors are low-power x86-compatible processors based upon a new silicon microarchitecture and a redesigned version of code morphing software. The microarchitecture is based on a 256-bit processor that can issue up to eight internal instructions per clock cycle. The processor

features a number of new interfaces integrated into the same chip as the processor. It also includes an AGP-4X graphics interface and a double data rate SDRAM at 400 Megatransfers/second memory interface with error correcting code as an option.

Transmeta Corp., Santa Clara, CA

www.transmeta.com

Microsoft previews devices based on Windows CE for Automotive 2.0.

Worldwide Computer Products News-14 January 2000-Microsoft previews devices based on Windows CE for Automotive 2.0 (C)1995-2000 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Microsoft Corp has previewed new in-car computing devices from Visteon Corp and Clarion Crop of America that use the second version of the company's automotive operating system, Microsoft Windows CE for Automotive.

The devices - Visteon's Information, Communication, Entertainment, Safety and Security System and Clarion's AutoPC model 320DV - feature larger screen support, backseat entertainment and improved speech-recognition software as well as support for Hitachi SH4 and Intel X86 processors.

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Sun announces availability of x64 servers and workstations powered by fastest AMD Opteron...

Sun Microsystems Inc. (www.sun.com) announced on April 11 the availability of Sun Fire x64 (x86, 64-bit) servers and Sun Ultra Workstations powered by the newest, highest-performing single-core AMD Opteron Model 156, 256 and 856 processors.

Spokesmen say the faster processor speeds, combined

with the inherent performance advantages of Sun's x64 servers and workstations, give customers increased processing power and a performance edge over competitive systems.

"Sun is the first vendor to take full performance advantage of all the new single-core AMD Opteron processors," said Lisa Sieker, vice president of marketing in the Network Systems Group at Sun. "Sun's partnership with AMD for more than two years has helped us to develop fast, innovative products that bring flexible computing solutions to the x64 market. The availability of Sun's x64 servers and workstations powered by the newest AMD Opteron x56 processors, including the only products on the market with the AMD Opteron Model 156 processor, emphasizes the alignment of our product roadmaps, in addition to our mutual commitment to provide the fastest and most power-efficient x64 solutions in the industry."

Double take: Reassessing x86 CPUs in embedded-system applications

Designing an embedded system based on PC-industry building blocks is like dancing with the devil. The chips and subsystems, including add-in cards, hard-disk drives, optical drives, and power supplies, are low-cost and abundant, thanks to the high-volume-manufacturing efficiencies of the PC market.
However, although you measure your design's anticipated production life span in years or even decades, the fickle fortunes and fast evolution of the PC industry drive rapid obsolescence of your raw materials. Design smartly, planning the ability to later upgrade, and you'll be able to nimbly sidestep any supply-chain potholes. Failure to plan for future substitutions and advancements, on the other hand, means you'll soon—and perhaps repeatedly—redesign.

The PC industry's rapidly spinning product treadmill will become abundantly obvious to you if you revisit 2004's two-part article series (references 1 to 3 ). Then-state-of-the-art high-end systems are now mainstream products or have even moved to bargain-basement closeout status. Some of those systems' constituent pieces, such as Rambus DRAM and RDRAM-cognizant core-logic chip sets, have disappeared from today's PC designs. And multicore x86 CPUs, which in early 2004 were placeholders on manufacturers' future product road maps, now take center stage.

The Intel Pentium M processor, which in early 2004 was only beginning to establish a beachhead in the mobile-computer market it now dominates, has today also become a popular CPU in single-board-computer designs. Its combination of high performance and low power consumption makes it a natural fit not only in laptops, but also in many embedded systems. With Core Duo (formerly known as Yonah) now in production on Intel's 65-nm process, dual-core capability is now part of the Pentium M stable. Core Duo chips for the embedded-system world are now in short supply because companies such as Apple and Dell are gobbling up as many wafers as Intel can fabricate. As a result, this hands-on project substitutes laptops for single-board computers, tweaking test conditions to as closely as possible mimic embedded-system configurations (Figure 1 and Table 1 ).

AMD's x86 market share at all-time high

Despite posting a $527 million operating loss in Q4 http://www.edn.com/article/CA6409667.html?partner=enews that lead to a plunge in its stock price, some analysts say that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) http://www.amd.com is actually at an all-time high for x86 market share.

According to market research firm Mercury Research http://www.mercuryresearch.com, AMD's Q4 worldwide overall x86 microprocessor unit market share is now at an all time high of 25.3 percent, an 8 percent increase over its Q3 share of 23.3 percent.

The firm added that AMD made 2.5 percent unit market share gains in both desktop and mobile microprocessor segments, the latter of which, the firm said, is the fastest growing segment of the market. In the multi-processor server space, which is now 13.8 percentof the overall x86 server space, AMD now holds 64.5 percent of the unit market, up from 59.6 percent in Q3, Mercury Research said.

As for AMD adversary Intel Corp. http://www.intel.com, the top-ranked chipmaker gained a mere 1.4 percent in server share in the quarter, "even after introducing new dual-core server processors in Q2 http://www.edn.com/article/CA6307530.html and multi-chip module quad-core processors in Q4 http://www.edn.com/article/CA6390916.html," the firm noted.

AMD, China Ink x86 Agreement

Aimed at allowing Chinese development of low-power and embedded computer solutions for consumer and commercial markets, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) licensed its AMD x86 microprocessor design technology to the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Peking University, during a ceremony in Beijing today.

AMD president and CEO Hector Ruiz commented on this activity, in a statement, “AMD and China share a deep mutual respect for the ability of technology to promote economic and educational opportunities. AMD’s investments of technology, facilities and resources are a sign of our commitment to provide industry-standard x86-based computing solutions to the people of China.”

The licensing of core x86 AMD Geode processor technology to Peking University via collaboration with MOST is expected to contribute to China’s development of low-power and embedded x86 processor technology in the Greater China region. MOST will facilitate discussions between AMD and Chinese companies receiving access to x86 technology licenses, with AMD to earn revenue from licensing the AMD Geode processor to commercial entities designated by Peking University and MOST.

x86 Microprocessors Challenge Semiconductor Manufacturing

For more than a decade, embedded processors have packed tens and sometimes hundreds of simple processor cores onto a single chip. By comparison, the x86 microprocessors used in mainstream PCs and servers seem distantly behind, but will be catching up quickly over the next few years. The two remaining x86 microprocessor vendors, AMD and Intel, began shipping dual-core products just over a year ago as the challenges of physics constrained their ability to continually run smaller transistors faster. Both companies now have a new mindset toward multicore designs. Intel has already announced that it will be introducing quad-core processors for server and desktop platforms in 1Q07 with the Tigerton and Kentsfield processors, respectively. Although not announced publicly, AMD will likely follow suit in the same timeframe. In addition, both companies are now looking at the same measures they scoffed at — putting tens or hundreds of cores onto a single chip. Intel calls this effort Tera-Scale Computing. This feat will not come without significant challenges in design and manufacturing.