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Analog Devices Announces Portfolio of Blackfin Processors for Portable, Automotive and Networked Entertainment Applications

Posted on: Monday, 9 February 2004, 06:00 CST

Analog Devices, Inc. Maria Vetrano, 781-461-3711 dsps_pr@analog.com

Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI):

--750 MHz performance extends Blackfin to high-definition video formats.

--Dual-core, symmetric multiprocessors deliver simultaneous video encode and decode at one-third the price, 3X the power efficiency of closest competitors.

Addressing the most rapidly growing markets in consumer electronics with a new portfolio of Blackfin(R) Processors, Analog Devices, Inc. (NYSE: ADI) today announced aggressive plans to pursue the semiconductor market for digital entertainment applications in which scalability, portability and connectivity are important factors. To support this aim, the company shared its extensive roadmap of chips based on the Blackfin microarchitecture -- which combines the robust audio and video processing capabilities of digital signal processors (DSPs) and media processors with the programmability of RISC microcontrollers. ADI also announced first quarter availability of two new Blackfin Processors, the dual-core ADSP-BF561, which supports standard- and high-definition video, and the 750 MHz ADSP-BF533, targeting a broad range of applications such as digital cameras, portable media players, networked media adapters, data/media gateways, Internet Protocol (IP) set-top boxes, 2.5G and 3G wireless handsets, and automotive infotainment and safety systems.

"Blackfin signals the dawn of a new day, when software, not hardware, enables the rapid introduction of media-rich, networked entertainment devices," said John Croteau, general manager, Media Platforms and Services Group, Analog Devices, Inc. "With consumer and automotive electronics manufacturers challenged to bring a broad offering of products to market as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible, they increasingly look to programmable devices that enable innovation and support changing market requirements, while handling the rigorous demands inherent in audio and video processing. Our programmable Blackfin Processors are able to meet their toughest performance, power and integration requirements, fostering their ability to deliver new product generations to market quickly -- a big advantage over more expensive and time-consuming ASIC solutions."

According to a recent Forward Concepts study(1), the market for embedded DSP products is $10.4 billion and growing vigorously. ADI's Blackfin Processors are aimed squarely at this market.

The two Blackfin Processors currently sampling include the ADSP- BF561, a dual-core 750 MHz processor architected as a symmetric multi-processing (SMP) system. The SMP architecture offers customers maximum performance and flexibility in the integration and partitioning of signal processing and/or control functions. The single-core ADSP-BF533 is also now being offered at 750 MHz, allowing programmers to use an extremely low-power, small form- factor processor for new types of portable applications.

On the Blackfin Roadmap

ADI introduced eight new members of the Blackfin Processor family, for several target markets:

For media applications:

--A dual-core product with integrated 10/100 Ethernet MAC, PCI and host port, targeting networked, consumer-centric applications such as IP set-top boxes and media adapters.

--Two new products that integrate USB 2.0 OTG (On-The-Go) and LCD controllers, targeting portable, consumer media applications such as digital cameras, PDAs and portable media players. These products also integrate ATAPI interfaces for media storage such as digital cameras, portable media players and media servers.

For wireless handset applications:

--A new processor with analog baseband and RF interfaces for 2.5G and 3G wireless applications such as media-rich handsets, smart phones and PDAs.

For automotive and industrial applications:

--Two new products that integrate CAN controllers for automotive infotainment/telematics systems and automotive safety systems, such as driver assistance applications.

--Two new products that integrate 10/100 Ethernet MAC to the Blackfin family with cost-sensitive networked applications.

Hundreds of products are already shipping with Blackfin Processors, including the AuthenTec fingerprint matching subsystem - - a low-cost fingerprint biometrics application for the consumer electronics market, and Roku SoundBridge -- a network music player that lets consumers play digital music that is stored on a computer on any stereo system in the home. Blackfin Processors have also been designed into a variety of set-top boxes, portable audio and video player/recorders, data media gateways, media nodes and digital video cameras. The eight new roadmap products offer higher levels of system integration based on these same single- and dual-core architectures.

In addition, Microsoft selected the Blackfin Processor to decode Microsoft(R) Windows Media(R) Video 9 formats in their recently announced Windows(R) Media Center Extender:

"Blackfin provides an effective and inexpensive way to add high- quality Windows Media Audio and Video to our Media Center Edition Extender set-top products," said Tom Laemmel, Windows eHome Product Manager, Microsoft Corp. "This lets us continue to delight our Media Center Edition customers by providing the best entertainment experience possible on their PC or throughout the home."

About ADI's Blackfin Processor

The Blackfin Processor is the first in a new breed of embedded processors designed specifically to meet the computational demands and power constraints of today's embedded audio, video and communications applications. Based on the Micro Signal Architecture (MSA) jointly developed with Intel Corporation, ADI's Blackfin Processor family combines a 32-bit RISC-like instruction set with 16- bit dual multiply accumulate (MAC) signal processing functionality and ease-of-use attributes found in general-purpose microcontrollers. Dynamic Power Management enables breakthrough power consumption by allowing the simultaneous adjustment of operating frequency and voltage under application control.

Because they are code-compatible, all Blackfin Processors provide portability of design. In addition, Blackfin Processors are fully supported by ADI's integrated software development tool chain, the VisualDSP++(R) Integrated Development Environment (IDE), and by Green Hills' MULTI(R) IDE tool suite. Blackfin Processors are priced in the $5-$40 per-unit range in 10,000 unit quantities. For more information on Blackfin, please visit: www.analog.com/blackfin.

Pricing and Availability

Samples are now available for the 750 MHz ADSP-BF533 and the ADSP- BF561 in 500/600/750 MHz versions with production scheduled for Q2'04. Per-unit pricing for the ADSP-BF533 is $31.95 at 750 MHz and $15.95 at 600 MHz in 10K unit quantities. Per-unit pricing for the ADSP-BF561 is $22.95 at 600 MHz and $39.95 at 750 MHz in 10K unit quantities. Typical power consumption for the ADSP-BF561 at 600 MHz is .5 W.

Analyst Quotes about Blackfin

"ADI's architects take advantage of the nature of multimedia workloads, allowing them to be shared in multiprocessor configurations. The new Blackfin family incorporating two 750 MHz DSP/MCU cores communicating with each other and supported by on- chip memory structures, will offer significantly higher performance and flexibility," said Max Baron, principal analyst, In-Stat/MDR. "Add to it Blackfin's capability of running system software and its control of voltage-frequency for power management, and you're also looking at a pretty hard-to-beat configuration in portable electronics."

"ADI's Blackfin has several virtues in addition to DSP: its RISC capabilities -- which rival that of ARM and Xscale -- combined with its ability to handle video, speech processing and high-performance audio -- make it a logical choice for a broad range of portable devices," said Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts. "In addition, the beauty of ADI's new dual-core Blackfin is that designers can use one core as an application processor and the other for baseband processing, for example, using a single microarchitecture and one set of development tools to program the device."

"One of Blackfin's slickest features is the ability to add high- end media support, such as MPEG-4 or Microsoft Windows Media Video 9 Professional, without making any hardware changes," stated Jim Turley, Principal, Silicon Insider. "Designers can add new product features or enhancements just through software, without increasing chip cost or size."

Customer and Partner Quotes about Blackfin

"Designing fingerprint biometrics products for the consumer electronics market requires a processor that can deliver the performance needed for speedy fingerprint matches at a cost that makes sense for consumer pocketbooks," said Steve Mansfield, vice president of marketing, AuthenTec Inc. "The Blackfin Processors give us precisely this difficult combination of capabilities. With ADI's expansion of its Blackfin portfolio, AuthenTec will be even better able to offer the range of fingerprint biometric solutions needed by the PC, wireless, PDA, access control and automotive markets."

"Through our collaboration with Analog Devices, we are able to offer seamless integration between our widely-adopted MULTI Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and ADI's Blackfin Processor," stated Dan O'Dowd, CEO and founder, Green Hills Software, Inc. "This allows the thousands of developers who are already familiar with Green Hills Software's industry-leading development and debugging environment to use an intuitive interface to program Blackfin-based devices."

"By combining two identical Blackfin cores on a single low-power IC, ADI has created a unique architecture that is well-suited to consumer multimedia applications. Emuzed, a leader in multimedia application development, is currently supporting all the Blackfin architectures with a wide variety of multimedia software, targeting the most aggressive consumer and communications products," said Rajesh Rajagopalan, Chief Technology Officer, Emuzed.

"The combination of Blackfin and Express Logic's ThreadX RTOS provides a small-footprint, high-performance, royalty-free and easy- to-use platform for developing cost-effective high-volume consumer multi-media applications. Our full product portfolio, including NetX, PegX, FileX and uITRON, are all supported on the entire family of Blackfin devices," stated John Carbone, vice president of marketing, Express Logic.

About Analog Devices, Inc.

Analog Devices is a leading manufacturer of precision high- performance integrated circuits used in analog and digital signal processing applications. The company is headquartered in Norwood, Massachusetts and employs approximately 8,400 people worldwide. It has manufacturing facilities in Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Ireland, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. Analog Devices' stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the company is included in the S&P 500 Index.

Blackfin and VisualDSP++ are registered trademarks of Analog Devices, Inc. All other trademarks included herein are the property of their respective owners.

(1) "DSP Strategies: The Embedded Chip Imperative," 2004 by Forward Concepts; $10.4 billion market estimate is for 2003.

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