Press Release
*****For immediate use October 16th, 2002
NEC Unveils A New Class of System LSI Solutions,
the Dynamically Reconfigurable Processor LSI Architecture, at Microprocessor Forum
- Company Details New Architecture Paradigm to Meet Changing System Needs -
MICROPROCESSOR FORUM 2002, SAN JOSE, Calif., October 16, 2002 - NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) and its wholly owned subsidiary in the United States, NEC Electronics Inc., today unveiled a new architecture for dynamically reconfigurable processor LSI solutions at the annual Microprocessor Forum. During its presentation, NEC revealed the company has successfully developed a prototype LSI solution that can be configured instantaneously to meet the dynamically changing requirements of system designs. The new class of system LSI solutions, with easily customizable specifications, is designed to address the shorter commercial life of today's systems and the time-to-market pressures faced by system designers. The new architecture, to be offered in dynamically reconfigurable processor-based application specific standard products (ASSPs) as well as intellectual property (IP) cores, is designed to support the packet processing operations of network devices, such as high-end switches and routers. The dynamically reconfigurable processor LSI devices are also designed for use in applications requiring image and signal processing.
"The ability to quickly reconfigure today's systems has depended largely on in-system software reprogramming and the use of FPGAs," said Tetsuo Yoshino, general manager, ULSI Development Division, NEC Corporation. "As an approach, software reprogramming is limited and often requires an additional boost in hardware performance. With FPGAs, a need for greater processing power will require either a larger scale device or multiple FPGAs to share the workload. To address these problems, NEC conducted considerable research and committed substantial development resources to produce the dynamically reconfigurable processor architecture. The result is a new class of system LSI devices that allows for scalability with both software and hardware and will be ideal for time-to-market-driven development."
The prototype dynamically reconfigurable processor-1 chip was developed using NEC's leading-edge 0.15-micron CMOS fabrication process and accommodates 16 dynamically reconfigurable data planes, each composed of an array of 512 parallel processing elements (PEs) and 2.2-megabytes (MB) of internal data storage memory. The new architecture integrates a finite-state-machine-based (FSM) sequencer to control the dynamic datapath reconfiguration. NEC's dynamically reconfigurable processor architecture can be reconfigured by dynamically altering the program of these PEs and by reprogramming the wiring resources, or interconnections, between them without halting the operation of the LSI device. Delivering software-like scalability, the NEC technology can realize virtually unlimited datapath configurations within a single chip.
During the dynamically reconfigurable processor architecture technology session at Microprocessor Forum, NEC provided details on the new Linux(R)-based design tool that automatically generates the optimum circuit layout from application information described in C language. Part of the tool suite is a new compiler and software flow to implement dynamically reconfigurable processor architecture-based designs. Based on an in-house, high-level synthesis tool called Cyber, the compiler generates FSM and associated datapath planes from C-level source code. A mapper maps Verilog register transfer levels (RTLs) for each datapath plane to individual PEs and memory devices. Finally, a new place and route tool physically locates the PEs and memory devices to mutually connect them.
Dynamically Reconfigurable Processor Hardware Development Platform
The dynamically reconfigurable processor-1 development chip as unveiled was fabricated on an 8-layer aluminum (Al) process, runs at up to 133 megahertz (MHz) and integrates approximately 22 million transistors within a 696-pin TBGA package. The development chip supports a variety of externally available interfaces, such as PCI(TM) and synchronous DRAM, CAM and SRAM memory interfaces, enabling a wide range of system applications. Products and IP cores based on the new architecture are expected to be announced during 2003.
During the Forum session, an evaluation board that can be used to evaluate actual system applications was also described. The evaluation board consists of the dynamically reconfigurable processor-1 evaluation chip and PCI and HyperTransport(TM) interfaces. The evaluation board and its design tool allow designers to realize system LSI devices with an ideal blend of flexible software and high-performance hardware processing features.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.1) is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. Ranked as one of the world's top patent-producing companies, NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, through its three market-focused, in-house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC Networks and NEC Electron Devices. NEC Corporation employs more than 140,000 people worldwide and had net sales of approximately $39 billion in the fiscal year ended March 2002. For additional information, visit the NEC home page at http://www.nec.com/.
About NEC Electronics Inc.
NEC Electronics Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is one of the leading developers, manufacturers and suppliers of semiconductor products in the United States. Committed to meeting customers' cost, performance and time-to-market requirements, the company offers solutions ranging from standard products to system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, as well as customized products for next-generation designs. NEC Electronics also offers customers the benefits of a local manufacturing facility in Roseville, California, and the global manufacturing capabilities of its parent company, NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY). For more information about products offered by NEC Electronics Inc., visit the NEC Electronics website at http://www.necel.com.
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NEC Electronics Inc. is either a registered trademark or trademark of NEC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. PCI Express is a trademark of the PCI-SIG. HyperTransport is a trademark of HyperTransport Consortium. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other registered trademarks or trademarks are property of their respective owners.
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