November 1, 2000

Kilo mega MACS

Engineers love cryptic terminology and detailed specs, but even non-techie members of the convergence project team can appreciate that performing 4800 million MAC (multiply accumulate) operations per second makes the MSC8102 the fastest DSP ever built. Motorola's newly announced DSP actually combines four SC140 DSP cores to deliver this level of performance. The product targets convergence infrastructure applications such as voice-over-data gateways, DSL multiplexers, and 3G wireless base stations--all of which depend greatly on the MAC operation.

Motorola claims that the MSC8102 can simultaneously support eight ADSL channels or 60 voice/fax/modem channels. The benefits of such increases in channel density reach all of the way to the consumer, translating to wider DSL access and lower-cost services. Moreover, the fact that the MSC8102 is programmable means that equipment based on the DSP can be upgraded in the field to support new technologies as the trend to packet-based voice and video services accelerates.

The SC140 technology at the heart of the MSC8102 comes from the StarCore design center, a joint venture of Motorola and Lucent Technologies. For more information on StarCore see "Cool cores."

On the subscriber side of the converged network, meanwhile, DSP competitor Texas Instruments has enhanced its OMAP (Open Multimedia Application Platform) software platform. OMAP simplifies the software-development process for devices such as PDAs and cell phones that employ DSPs to handle functions like voice processing, GPS, or digital audio. Now, OMAP partners like Sony, Ericsson, and Nokia will have access to the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) from Sun Microsystems. TI is porting J2ME to OMAP, and the Java technology is catching on in many convergence markets. Application developers and service providers targeting 2.5G and 3G cellular handsets, for example, can seamlessly develop J2ME products that will run on all OMAP-based phones.

Texas Instruments also released some ADSL market information, which was surely intended as bravado, but that also points to the robustness of the broadband buildout. TI, like others, is fighting to win DSL market share with DSP-based offerings, and the company also offers the necessary ADSL analog line-driver ICs. By the end of 2000, the company claims it will have shipped 8 million such line-driver ICs this year. That level of shipments indicates that 2001 should be a banner year for DSL deployment.

—Maury Wright