Cradle Delivers Best Price/Performance for Digital Convergence with Immediate Availability of Two New Products.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2003 Company's ECE ECE Electrical and Computer Engineering ECE Economic Commission for Europe ECE Ecole Centrale d'Electronique (France) ECE Educational Credential Evaluators Inc ECE East Central Europe ECE Endothelin Converting Enzyme 3400 and MPE MPE abbr. Master of Public Education 3400 Engines Provide 28 GMAC GMAC General Motors Acceptance Corporation GMAC Graduate Management Admission Council GMAC Give Me A Call GMAC Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee GMAC Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (Singapore) GMAC Give Me A Chance Video, Voice and Image Processing image processing Set of computational techniques for analyzing, enhancing, compressing, and reconstructing images. Its main components are importing, in which an image is captured through scanning or digital photography; analysis and manipulation of the image, accomplished Performance Cradle Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices implemented on semiconductor chips. It achieves an advantage by outsourcing the fabrication of the devices to a specialized semiconductor manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry or "fab. delivering the highest performance and most flexible solutions for digital convergence, announces today the immediate availability of its new ECE 3400 and MPE 3400 enhanced communications and media processing engines. These latest additions to Cradle's digital convergence portfolio provide OEMs with a multiprocessor-based, programmable System-on-a-Chip (SOC) solution that simplifies system design, lowers costs, and accelerates time to market by shifting all system functions into software. The ECE 3400 and MPE 3400 establish a new price/performance point for digital convergence applications such as video communications or image processing, by delivering 28 GMACs (Giga-MAC operations per second) of DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive performance for under $50 in volume quantities. Prior to Cradle's announcement, the highest performance DSPs available delivered up to 6 GMACs. GMAC is the industry benchmark most often used to compare digital signal processing See DSP. Digital Signal Processing - (DSP) Computer manipulation of analog signals (commonly sound or image) which have been converted to digital form (sampled). performance. The increase in GMACs enables OEMs to consolidate many complex system functions onto a single Cradle chip. And, for a price under $50 in volume quantities, the ECE 3400 and MPE 3400 also offer OEMs a potentially significant bill of material cost reduction. Both the ECE 3400 and MPE 3400 integrate multiple RISCs and FPGA-like programmable I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output capability onto the silicon, adding a unique level of system flexibility because the same hardware can be used to implement an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and product line differentiated by software. "The ability to deliver an order of magnitude A change in quantity or volume as measured by the decimal point. For example, from tens to hundreds is one order of magnitude. Tens to thousands is two orders of magnitude; tens to millions is three orders of magnitude, etc. better price/performance than the best technologies is extraordinary," says Gordon Bell former engineering head at Digital Equipment Corporation and currently a Microsoft Researcher. "The break-through, however, is the use of a well understood and well behaved programming model for a multiprocessing architecture. High-level software is the development paradigm here, not custom logic controlled by software running on a proprietary processor core. In the past, unique chip and software architectures that were hard to program made it impossible for system designers to implement solutions with an all-software approach. Cradle's solution has changed that. Putting the customization in a program means: a single part to learn and inventory, no expensive customization, and the preservation of both the applications developed and the associated engineer training." The ECE 3400 and MPE 3400 significantly improve system design efficiency by shifting all functions into software through an architecture called Software Scalable System-on-a-Chip, which utilizes multiple DSPs, RISCs and FPGA-like programmable I/O, to deliver unmatched performance at cost-effective levels. Systems based on Cradle products are built rapidly, and can be continuously "tuned" throughout the design process by using a software development approach, rather than sustaining lengthy "feature freezes" and overall delays due to chip fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. , and verify phases required in a logic design approach. Cradle's high integration also simplifies the overall system architecture because all real-time packet processing can occur on a single chip, eliminating the design complexities of multi-chip solutions typically required to achieve similar functionality. "Cradle's products give OEMs the opportunity to restore a true "top down" approach to designing their systems. By reducing supply chain management issues through high integration, and expediting product line expansion through an all-software development approach, Cradle's announcement has potentially broad industry implications with regards to how OEMs will organize, plan, and execute their product line development strategies in the future," says Paul Zorfass, Senior System Analyst for IDC/FTI. The ECE 3400 is targeted for video communications applications such as bi-directional H.264 and G.729 video conferencing, video over IP phones, security monitoring and surveillance applications, and advanced set-top boxes. The ECE 3400 consolidates all video, voice, and IP processing onto a single chip. The MPE 3400 is targeted for image-processing applications such as laser- based multifunction printers, color copiers, and JPEG JPEG in full Joint Photographic Experts Group Standard computer file format for storing graphic images in a compressed form for general use. JPEG images are compressed using a mathematical algorithm. acceleration. Entire image processing pipelines can be implemented on a single chip. MPE 3400s can also be cascaded seamlessly to scale performance linearly in order to meet varying page-per-minute and image resolution requirements for an entire product line. Cradle also offers a royalty free software IP catalog of the more common functions found in digital convergence systems, and mature standards-based PC development tools, including a PCI (1) (Payment Card Industry) See PCI DSS. (2) (Peripheral Component Interconnect) The most widely used I/O bus (peripheral bus). development board for the ECE 3400 and MPE 3400. OEMs can rapidly link system functions together and focus their development on product differentiation Product Differentiation A source of competitive advantage that depends on producing some item that is regarded to have unique and valuable characteristics. . More information about Cradle's products can be found at www.cradle.com. About Cradle Cradle is a fabless semiconductor company providing the highest performance, most flexible multiprocessor-based, System-on-a-Chip (SOC) solutions for digital convergence, the integration of secure video, voice and images. Based on its Software Scalable System-on-a-Chip (3SOC(TM)), the first architecture designed specifically for digital convergence, Cradle products shift all system functions and interfaces into software, creating Soft-Silicon(TM) systems. Cradle's Enhanced Communications Engines (ECE(TM)) target the network-centric Internet digital convergence markets while its Media Processing Engines (MPE(TM)) target media-centric digital convergence markets. These highly scalable engines contain multiple RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. and DSP processors and a unique programmable I/O subsystem enabling all external interfaces to also remain in software. Cradle's development systems, standards-based software tools, and catalog of intellectual property software functions and interfaces provide OEMs with all the building blocks necessary to rapidly and cost-effectively complete their digital convergence solutions and deliver products with compelling value. Cradle's corporate headquarters are located in Mountain View, California For the census-designated place, see Mountain View, Contra Costa County, California. For other places called "Mountain View", see . Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains. . For more information about the company call 650-210-3600 or visit www.cradle.com |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion