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IBM ANNOUNCES NEW EMBEDDED PART, SKETCHES OUT HIGH & LOW-END FUTURE

(April 21st 1995) Stand by for the first PowerPC part that costs less
than $10. Late this year, IBM will launch an embedded chip aimed at
lowly devices such as inkjets. In the meantime, IBM this week
announced its second embedded PowerPC part - the PPC 403GB, a
cut-down version of its existing PPC 403GA part. The company also
released pricing information for the first time: each 33MHz 403GA
costs $53 in quantities of 1,000; the 25MHz version is $49.

The new, 28MHz 403GB undercuts both of these at $45, and is designed,
the company says, for printers, digital scanners, set-top boxes, X
terminals and the like. The processor is apparently the result of an
as-yet-unnamed customer for the 403GA which decided that the chip was
too complex, and hence expensive, for its requirements. To make a GB,
take a GA and strip out its in-built serial port, halve the number of
DMA controllers to two and change the packaging.

The core of the chip remains exactly the same, and IBM says we should
expect further parts based on the 403 core this summer. However the
company is working on variants of the core and the company plans to
unveil a new '401' core at the end of the year. The 401 will be even
lower powered, aimed at the inkjet market. Chips based around this
core will sell for under $10, says Tami Spaulding, marketing
engineer with IBM's embedded processor division. She adds that the
company intends to follow the 401 with a more powerful '405' family.
This will have processing capabilities in excess of the 403 - closer,
in fact, to the recently announced PowerPC 602.

 

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