NEW IBM CHIPS TO DRIVE INNOVATIVE, LOWER-POWER INTERNET APPLIANCES.

IBM has announced a new family of chips that are expected to help launch a wave of lower-power Internet-attached consumer electronics.

The IBM PowerPC IAP (Internet Appliance Platform) combines a microprocessor with a number of optional pervasive computing features, all onto a single "system-on-a-chip." Manufacturers of consumer products can use PowerPC IAP to add Internet capability while minimizing the number of chips under the covers to make products smaller, less costly and more power efficient.

"We're merging custom chip technology with consumer electronic products," said Scottie Ginn, vice president for pervasive technology, IBM Microelectronics. "The one-size-fits-all days of PC microprocessors are over. Unlike PCs, consumer electronics that attach to the Internet will come in all types of sizes and shapes, each demanding unique things of the chips that drive them. With PowerPC IAP, manufacturers can design a chip to fit their product, rather than limiting their product to what a standard chip will allow."

Makers of Web phones and other innovative appliances are providing consumers with new services by linking to the Internet. This requires added "computing power" in smaller and smaller packages. Consumer products have largely relied on the low cost and ready availability of standard chips. However, standard chips limit the unique functions that can be added. Custom chips can be created to provide these functions, but their long design time and added cost can be prohibitive.

IBM has introduced a unique solution. With PowerPC IAP, IBM assembles most of the chip in advance to keep costs and lead times in line with standard parts. Yet, manufacturers can still make final modifications to add unique features for a particular consumer product.

Where standard microprocessors limited innovation among PCs, the customizability of the PowerPC IAP can open the door to all types of new Internet-attached consumer electronics. In the PC environment, one proprietary operating system and one standard chip type defined how the products would look and perform. Internet appliances, however, are expected to take many forms, made possible by software like Linux and IBM WebSphere, as well as adaptable chip technology like PowerPC IAP.

PowerPC IAP is made possible through IBM's unique combination of design and manufacturing technologies. As the number one supplier of ASIC (custom, "application-specific integrated circuit") chips worldwide, IBM can combine more circuitry on a single chip than anyone. IBM also has the technologies to manufacture the smallest, densest circuits in the industry, using copper wires, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistors and improved "low-k" dielectric insulation.

And further advances are planned. As part of its roadmap for pervasive computing applications, IBM is targeting its research and development efforts at still larger reductions in power consumption to support increased battery life in mobile, wireless devices. For example, IBM is developing products that will support speech recognition and encryption at much lower power levels, allowing natural interaction and secure connectivity through a broader array of consumer products.

Customers can begin working with IBM immediately to tailor the PowerPC IAP to their product designs.