Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!apple!voder!pyramid!ctnews!88opensi!andy From: andy@88opensi.UUCP (Andy Silverman) Newsgroups: comp.sys.m88k Subject: Motorola Press Release on the 88110 Message-ID: <569@88opensi.UUCP> Date: 1 Nov 90 19:36:17 GMT Organization: 88open Consortium Ltd., San Jose Lines: 96 MOTOROLA DETAILS RISC PLANS Denser parts, lower prices, upgrade paths, new markets Burlingame, Calif--October 10, 1990--In a series of related announcements, Motorola's Microprocessor Products Group today underscored its long-term committment to competing in the reduced-instruction-set computing (RISC) market. "Over the next few years, we'll be bringing to market the most powerful processors commercially available," saif Jeff Nutt, marketing manager of the 88000 family. "Motorola is committed to a sustained and agressive program to bring the 88000 to the desktop," he continued. First Look at Second Generation At the Microprocessor Forum here, Motorola described, in general terms and for the first time, the architecture of its second-generation RISC CPU, designated the 88110. Scheduled for introduction next year, and containing more than 1.4 million transistors, the 88110 will not only perform the combined functions of its software-compatible predecessors, the 88100 CPU and the 88200 cache and memory management units -- but it will perform them three to five times faster. In addition, the 88110 will feature multiple integer, floating point and graphics execution units, an 80-bit wide internal data path, improved handling of instructions sustaining more than one instruction per clock, and branch acceleration to maintain continuous execution. It will be fabricated with a 0.8-micron HCMOS process. Essentially, the 88110 will be a turbocharged, single chip version of the 88100/88200 chip set. At the 88110 introduction in 1991, Motorola will be providing a complete suite of development tools and support chips including C-compilers, assemblers and application development systems. Motorola's 88000 architects see the leap in performance expected from the 88110 as but the first phase of an evolution. The third-generation CPU, also in design, will have more execution units, a wider data path, and even greater parallelism. It will be fabricated in BiCMOS and approach speeds of 100MHz. Assuming a quadrupling of performance by each new generation, 88000 engines of the late 1990s will be single-chip microprocessors containing 100 million transistors clocked at 300MHz. Motorola's engineers see a RISC chip with a throughput exceeding 300 MIPS as a distinct possibility by the year 2000. Motorola also disclosed the development of a line of 88000-based embedded RISC processors. Named the 88300 family, these embedded RISC processors will retain software compatibility with 88000 CPUs and provide single chip solutions targeted for embedded control applications. Increasing Market Momentum Philips Data Systems (Appleforn, Holland) recently announced their intent to market 88000-based multi-user servers in Europe. Currentl there are more than sixty-seven 88000-based hardware platforms from more than 50 vendors worldwide. Smaller Prices, Bigger Markets The economies of very-large-scale integration and advances in manufacturing technology are making the 88000 available to wider market segments. Just last month, Motorola reduced the prices of the 88110 and 88200 by an average of 67% which provides 88000 products as low as $3.50 per MIP. Gains in price/performance will continue beyond the generation of the 88110, giving impetus to the use of the 88100 in the following categories of equipment: - Desktop PCs. For cost-conscious personal-computer builders, the performance of RISC is attractive, but only if it can be provided on a turnkey, under-$1000 circuit board thatcan run industry-standard operating systems, applications and networks. The latter requirement will be satisified by all 88000 family members, through compliance to the 88open Consortium's binary compatibility standard (BCS) for portability of applications now available on 88000-based systems. More than 1,500 applications are now available on 88ooo-based computer systems. Of these packages, 60 have been certified BCS-compliant with the majority expected to go through the certification process within the next six months. - Embedded Controllers. Designers of equipment with embedded CPUs look for high integration, low power consumption and low cost to give them a competitive edge. Motorola's upcoming 88300 family of embeddedRISC processors will be architecturally compatible with the 88000 family, as well as I/O compatible with the 68300 family of CISC embedded controllers. - File Servers. Speed will continue to be the basic requirement of file servers, the information distributers of network computing. Integrated or assembled in a multiprocessing scheme, parallel RISC CPUs will channel data from node to node as quickly as it can be requested. Motorola is one of the world's leading suppliers of electronic equipment, systems, components, and services for worldwide markets. Products include two-way radios, pagers, cellular telepone systems, semiconducters, defense and aerospace electronics, automotive amd industrial equipment, computers, amd data-communications and information processingand handling equipment. Motorola was a winner of the first annual Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award in 1988, inrecognition of its superior company-wide quality management process.