AUSTIN, Texas-Motorola Inc. introduced a feature-rich, high-performance integrated microprocessor for high-end communications equipment, including cellular base stations.
The MPC8260 PowerQUICC II Communications Microprocessor combines a high-speed PowerPC core, a communications engine processing up to 710 megabits of data per second and a circuit board’s worth of system-interface and control functions on a single chip. Its system integration potentially could reduce a system’s component count by at least six chips, slash a system’s component cost by as much as 70 percent and dramatically shorten customers’ time-to-market, said Motorola.
Increased competition in the market has put pressure on vendors to get newer and smaller base stations into the market faster, said Cam Witt, program manager, networking & communications operation with Motorola’s Networking & Computing Systems Group in Austin, Texas.
The MPC8260 PowerQUICC II microprocessor is the first member of Motorola’s MPC8000 series, an extension to Motorola’s MPC8000 series of integrated PowerPC processors. Motorola said the new PowerQUICC II family offers performance for the latest high-bandwidth internetworking and telecommunications systems.
The second member of the PowerQUICC II family, slated for introduction in 1999, will add an on-chip PCI bridge to the MPC8260’s feature set. Motorola plans to spin off several more PowerQUICC II derivatives to target other high-volume, high-performance communications applications.
