Motorola Inc’s new MPC7400 PowerPC processor first saw the light of day at the launch of Apple Computer Inc’s G4 desktop systems a few weeks ago, but this week, Motorola revealed some of its other customers for the new chip. They include signal processing computer firm CSP Inc, VMEbus firms Dy 4 Systems Inc and Sky Computers Inc, image and signal processing company Mercury Computer Systems Inc, and voice video and data convergence firm TeraGlobal Communications Corp.
Motorola claims to have captured 36% of the 32-bit embedded processor market in 1998. Speaking at the company’s Horizons 99 event in Atlanta, Georgia, Daniel Artusi, VP and general manager of the Networking and Computer Systems Group, pitched the future of the PowerPC at the high-end embedded space for networking, telecommunications, computing, transportation applications. The high-performance embedded space craves raw MIPS processing and sophisticated integration of its products, he said.
Motorola is promising to release a new roadmap for the PowerPC family detailing future chip developments, integrated devices, design methodologies, manufacturing processes and an aggressive strategy for rapid reuse of these technologies. The MPC7400 uses copper technology and includes Motorola’s AltiVec vector processing technology.
