Ranked #1 in communications processor market, Motorola unveils the new PowerQUICC III processor and wins a deal with Alcatel for another

July 22, 2002

4 Min Read

NEW ORLEANS -- SMART NETWORKS DEVELOPER FORUM -- It's official. Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) remains the undisputed market share leader in communications processors. With well over 100 million units shipped to date, Motorola's communications processor portfolio is credited with over 350 customers and greater than 5000 design wins -- with its popular PowerQUICC(TM) family of processors leading the charge. According to a report released in May 2002 by Gartner Dataquest*, Motorola ranks number one with 74.7% market share in communications processor ICs. "From the design of our original 68302, we've maintained a philosophy of delivering a proven architecture with unsurpassed integration," stated David Perkins, vice president and general manager of Motorola's Networking and Computing Systems Group. "Building on that philosophy, we've continued to develop new communications processor innovations and products -- introducing our versatile PowerQUICC family in 1996, and our powerful PowerQUICC II(TM) family in 1998. Motorola continues to make significant investments in all of its PowerQUICC product lines, and with the announcement of our new PowerQUICC III(TM) family today, we're continuing our dedication to this market and providing a strong upgrade path to our extensive customer base." In a separate release: The demand for faster, more sophisticated processing in the control and forwarding planes of networking and telecommunications equipment is driving a revolution in communications processors. Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT), the market share leader in communications processors, revealed details of its own technology revolution in its PowerQUICC III(TM) System-on- Chip (SoC) Architecture-unveiling the company's first PowerQUICC III product implementation, the MPC8560. Ideal for wired and wireless communications processing tasks, the MPC8560 PowerQUICC III delivers the PowerQUICC family's renowned integration together with performance headroom for intensive control plane processing tasks and increased forwarding plane bandwidth. Leveraging the comprehensive PowerQUICC III SoC Architecture, the MPC8560 employs a host of leading industry standards and innovative Motorola technologies-including a high-performance Book E PowerPC e500(TM) core, an enhanced Communications Processor Module (CPM), RapidIO(TM) interconnect technology, Motorola's OCeaN(TM) crossbar switch fabric, dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, and support for Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM) and PCI-X. "With the introduction of the PowerQUICC III family, Motorola closes its last remaining gap in the continuum of processors from CPE to the Optical Backbone," says Eric Mantion, Senior Analyst for In-Stat/MDR. "No other vendor can claim the breadth that is within Motorola's control and the Smart Networks Platform support structure that buoys the entire processor spectrum is truly world class. Motorola has continuously focused on making the arduous task of developing next-generation carrier equipment as painless as possible for its customers, and it shows." The MPC8560 offers significant performance increases, with core speeds of up to 1 GHz and CPM speeds of up to 333 MHz. The CPM architecture retains software compatibility with the industry- leading PowerQUICC II family while offering greater than 1.0 Gbps aggregate bandwidth-in addition to the MPC8560's dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. In a separate release: Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) and Alcatel (NYSE: ALA), the world's largest telecom infrastructure vendor, announced today that the Motorola C-5e network processor (NP) will be used in Alcatel's next generation wireless infrastructure equipment, helping to connect wireless networks to IP/ATM networks and the Public Switching Telephone Network (PSTN). This equipment, specifically referred to as the Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), will be designed to support the latest packet-based generation of mobile networks including General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) and the new 3G Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). The SGSN enables wireless customers to have high-speed access to data networks, along with more extensive Internet services. "Developing products for the wireless infrastructure poses its own set of challenges, such as keeping pace with the rapid evolution of transmission technologies and transport protocols, as well as supporting the diversity of bandwidths and transmission technologies," said Martine Lapierre, CTO of Alcatel Carrier Networking Group. "We found the level and ease of programmability of the C-5e network processor to more than meet our requirements for wireless infrastructure products. We will be able to support the protocols and interfaces our customers need today, and easily upgrade products in the future through software downloads as protocols and technologies evolve." "Alcatel has been a long-time integrator of Motorola networking silicon in its product lines. We are excited that Alcatel has expanded our relationship to use our network processors," said David Perkins, vice president and general manager of Motorola's Networking and Computing Systems Group. "With its next-generation wireless infrastructure equipment leveraging the C-5e network processor, Alcatel will continue to play a vital role in developing the mobile Internet market." Motorola Inc. Alcatel SA Gartner/Dataquest

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