System on a Chip dead? Hogwash

I couldn't help but reply to the "conflagrational" System on a chip? Duck à l'orange, more like article. With the utmost respect, may I cheerfully reply... "HOGWASH!"! ;-)

If you want to see what SOC really can do, please pry your gaze away from Intel's narrow worldview and check out the Broadcom BCM-1250. Named as one of the two Embedded Processors of the Year for 2002 by the editors of the Microprocessor Report, this chip combines onto a single die:

- Two 1-GHz 64-bit MIPS Microprocessor cores
- Dual 64-bit DDR400 Memory controllers with ECC
- Full SouthBridge functionality, including timers, interrupts, great DMA, etc.
- Dual SM-Bus serial management ports
- Dual 50 Mbps serial I/O ports
- Direct FLASH ROM interface
- PCMCIA Controller
- 66 MHz, 32-bit PCI
- 12.8 Gbps Hypertransport link
- THREE Gigabit Ethernet links!

Astonishingly, the whole mix draws just 10 watts! Designed by the co-architect of Digital's Alpha and StrongARM (Dan Dobberpuhl), the BCM-1250 is the perfect example of what is possible with an SOC.

Designed for the next-generation of high-speed routers, this chip even offers 16 GFLOPS computer performance - roughly equivalent to an Itanium!

As the CTO of AgileTV, a company that is transforming interactive entertainment with this chip, I couldn't disagree with your assertion more! Mediocrity is utterly rampant in the PC industry (having spent 15 years there, I certainly know), but true innovation is not yet dead - some folks are still out to redefine the nature of what is possible. If you know what you're doing, SOC is as dramatic a shift as was the PC from the minicomputer.

You'll see soon enough. SOC will change the world!

Warmest Wishes!
Mark J. Foster
CTO/SVP Engineering & Operations
AgileTV Corporation
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Building 202
Menlo Park, CA, USA, 94025

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