Motorola Inc’s 68000 family may be losing market share to RISC in the workstation world at an alarming pace, but the applications-specific variants derived from the part, while much less visible represent big and growing business, making it fully worth Motorola’s while continuing to develop the family. The company’s Austin, Texas-based Microprocessor and Memory Technologies Group Monday has now moved up to the first 32-bit version of the multiprotocol communications engine derived from the 68000. Dubbed the 68360 Quad Integrated Communications Controller, the part is described as architecturally similar to its 16-bit predecessor, the 68302. The 68360 combines a 68020-based 32-bit central processing core and a RISC-based communications controller managing four high-bandwidth serial communications channels, each of which can support up to eight major communications protocols. The company sees the part being used in T1 line card controllers, PABXs, cellular base stations and industrial control networking. It has also further refined the part to create the 68EN360, described as the first communications controller to combine a processor with Ethernet and wide area network functionality on a single chip for internetworking applications such as Ethernet bridges and routers. The core of the 68360 is the new CPU32+, based on the 68020 microprocesor. The 25MHz CPU32+ is fully compatible with the CPU32, the processor integrated on other 68300 family parts, but has an external 32-bit data bus, compared with the CPU32’s 16-bit bus. A 33MHz version is planned for late 1993. A separate RISC-based processor is dedicated to the control of the 68360’s four serial communication channels and operates independently from the main CPU, transferring information, handling serial channel interrupts and performing built-in protocol processing functions, enabling the core processor to handle high-level tasks. The serial channels, which interpret and process the communication protocols, each support eight different protocol modes and a built-in time slot assigner routes data to and from any of the channels, to and from a Time Division Multiplexed Channel such as a T1 or CEPT line. The 68EN360 implements all of the media access control layer of the Ethernet IEEE 802.3 Standard on the first channel, and Motorola is also offering the MC68160 Enhanced Ethernet Serial Transceiver for a two-chip Ethernet implementation; it supports IEEE 802.3 Access Unit Interface and 10Base-T Twisted Pair Interface media connections. The part is currently being evaluated by Advanced Computer Communications Corp, Alcatel NV, Bell Northern Research Europe, L M Ericsson Telefon AB, France Telecom, Motorola itself, Philips Electronics NV and Tekelec Inc. The 68360 is available now in 240 pin-count quad flatpack for $49.90 in 10,000-up quantities. The 68EN360 will be available for sampling in September in the same package at $59.50 in 10,000-up quantities. Production shipments of the 68160 are of set for the fourth quarter; no pricing at yet.
