November 15, 2000

On a streak
Transmeta's Crusoe achieves string of design wins

Transmeta used this week's COMDEX/Fall exhibition in Las Vegas as the venue of choice for announcing a series of design wins for its low-power Crusoe microprocessor. The company's latest volleys provide the counterpoint to earlier pronouncements on the part of financial analysts, who had criticized last week's dramatic upsurge in the price of Transmeta shares on Wall Street.

Two weeks ago, unprecedented demand for Transmeta's IPO forced the company to boost its initial offering price to $21 a share. Last week, the company's share price soared to more than $50 at one point, temporarily pegging the company's value at more than $5 billion. The stock's temporary flight of fancy prompted financial analysts such as Hans Mosesmann, managing director of Prudential Securities, to caution investors that Transmeta's Crusoe microprocessor would have a hard time competing head-to-head with Intel. Other analysts chimed in, warning that IBM, Compaq, and Toshiba had decided not to utilize the Crusoe in their latest mobile PC offerings.

Since then, Transmeta has unleashed a string of design-win announcements that include product agreements with Gateway, America Online, Fujitsu, Via, InterVideo, and Merilus Technologies.

One key to Transmeta's recent successes is the Crusoe's unique architecture, which integrates a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) silicon engine surrounded by so-called "Code Morphing" software with the ability to translate x86 instructions for the underlying hardware engine. As the result of this unique hardware and software integration, the Crusoe processor can attain power savings over and above what hardware-only processors typically can achieve. In addition, Transmeta's LongRun power management allows the Crusoe to "learn" about any application while it runs and then use the newfound information to continuously adjust processor operating speed and voltage to match the needs of the application workload. Making adjustments hundreds of times per second, LongRun has the ability to dramatically extend battery life for battery-operated devices.

Transmeta made its biggest splash when Gateway, America Online, Broadcom, and Transmeta announced their joint participation in the debut of America Online's "Instant AOL" Internet-access service, which has been designed to play on special home Internet appliances manufactured by Gateway. First out of the box is Touch Pad: a compact touch-screen device featuring an interface designed for use in high-traffic areas of the home, such as the kitchen or family room. Next in line for release is the pocket-sized AOL Mobile Communicator. Transmeta's Crusoe will serve as the enabling processor for both of these AOL-enabling devices.

In the laptop arena, Fujitsu claims that its new FM BIBLO LOOX T notebook computer is the first mobile PC platform to provide DVD playback on the Crusoe processor. Powered by Transmeta's 533-MHz TM5600 Crusoe, the notebook claims up to 8 hours of battery life off a single charge.

Via says that it will be utilizing Crusoe in a full-function, wearable computer designed for mobile users that require hands- and eyes-free computing capabilities. Prototypes of Via's Transmeta-based wearable PC are on display at Via's Hospitality Suite in the MGM Grand in Las Vegas during COMDEX this week.

Incorporating a 700-MHz Crusoe microprocessor running Windows 2000, the lightweight body-worn PC has been designed to work with Via's indoor-readable SVGA display and new indoor/outdoor display. Via's latest wearable PC will complete testing this year, with general release set for rollout toward the end of Q1 2001.

According to Via, the benefits of wearable computers are their ability to provide wireless two-way communication in a hands- and eyes-free form in mobile environments. In addition, claims Via, the computer's body-worn design virtually eliminates the risk of damaging or losing it.

"Via's wearable PC will not only provide users with the power of a desktop in a hands- and eyes-free format, but when combined with the Crusoe processor, will also deliver the processing capability and all-day computing that mobile workers demand," says Jim Chapman, Transmeta's senior vice president of sales and marketing.

InterVideo is now providing WHQL-certified software DVD playback on a Crusoe-based platform. InterVideo's WinDVD2000 is a software-only DVD player/decoder that features software scaling to eliminate artifacts, as well as software de-interlacing for steady playback. In addition, the DVD decoder includes support for VCDs, MP3 audio file playback, and DVD region control. InterVideo says that when combined with the low-power, high-performance Crusoe processors, its software-based DVD playback is ideal for mobile devices because it eliminates the need for MPEG and Dolby Digital decoder hardware, thus reducing weight, size, and cost.

Merilus Technologies has laid claim to being the first company to make use of the Crusoe processor in an embedded application. According to Merilus, the characteristics of the processor allow the company to embed its new solid-state security devices into computer systems without worrying about potential overheating problems.

—Mark Long, News Correspondent