Going soft
The use of software to replace most connectivity and control functions normally done in silicon results in lower cost and offers flexibility.
Stephan Thaler, Scenix

Now, a market that can be measured in billions of units a year is rapidly emerging. In this embedded-Internet market, everyday devices will be able to use the Internet for a host of functions. With connectivity available in virtually everything, communication will, in fact, be ubiquitous.

Of course, significant issues still must be addressed to fully exploit this opportunity. These issues present the most immediate barriers to the device-to-device communication that will soon represent the majority of Internet data traffic.

At the network level, the three basic network types have different requirements and are in different states of readiness for embedded Internet devices. The industrial/commercial market, for example, is already using Ethernet, CAN, RS485, and proprietary networks to link new and legacy devices, and TCP/IP is becoming a standard protocol, so it will be relatively easy to add Net-enabled node devices. Similarly, the WAN (wide-area network) market is already served by existing structures. But the ease of adding Internet-enabled devices varies from WAN to WAN, and obstacles exist in such issues as the ability to dial into and out of a device, solution scalability, and security.

The least ready, but most attractive and potentially lucrative, market is the residential/premises network. Here, uncertainty still exists over which communication standards will prevail, which network protocols are most appropriate, how security will be provided, and how "plug-and-play" will be ensured for device-to-device communication among appliances and other systems on the premises and across the Internet.

At the node level, every solution must accommodate evolving communications and Internet connectivity protocols, provide the intelligence to run an application, and include a set of peripheral functions suitable to the application. More importantly, these capabilities must be provided in a form factor and at a price point that are appropriate for the consumer market. This has limited the development of embedded Internet devices, because the market hasn't provided all-silicon solutions that can affordably be used in products aimed at cost-sensitive markets.

We believe that a single, software-configurable Embedded Internet Processor can overcome these communication barriers. With a deterministic architecture and high performance, such a chip can run real-time software modules that implement functions normally etched in silicon, including protocols, physical interfaces, peripherals, and applications. With on-chip flash program memory, such a chip would permit quick and easy reconfiguration—changing the pre-built software modules—to support new or revised standards or evolving product needs.

The use of software to replace the connectivity and control functions normally done in silicon results in a lower-cost platform and offers the flexibility that's required to deal with the needs of a rapidly changing standards environment.

Author information

Stephan Thaler is the Vice President of Marketing at Scenix .