Mountain View, Calif. - Dec. 4, 2000 - Ubicom, Inc., (formerly Scenix), a leader in providing silicon platforms and software that enable ubiquitous communication, today introduced the IP2000 family of Internet Processors. The IP2000 chips are optimized for network connectivity applications, and are ideally suited for use in the device and bridge/gateway portions of the Internet infrastructure. They can be programmed, and reprogrammed, using Ubicom’s pre-built software modules and configuration tools to create true single-chip solutions for a wide range of device-to-device and device-to-human communication applications. Performing communications and control functions in software rather than silicon, as well as running a user’s application program, the Ubicom chips offer significant advantages in reduced time to production and increased flexibility.

Within the Internet infrastructure, device, or “node,” applications are those that are commonly associated with the “embedded Internet,” such as industrial controls, home appliances, medical devices, vending machines, and remote monitoring and control systems. These devices are frequently interconnected by local-area networks (LANs), such as Ethernet and wireless systems. Bridge/gateway devices provide the functions that are required to connect the nodes, and their related LANs, to the Internet, such as protocol conversion, IP address routing, and firewall functions. The Ubicom Internet Processors will enable true single-chip device and bridge/gateway connectivity implementations at a consumer price point.

Among the software modules that will be available for programming the IP2000 Internet Processors are 10base-T Ethernet, USB, UART, I2C, SPI, and Parallel Slave physical interfaces, and a complete TCP/IP stack. Also under development is a variety of additional software that is necessary to form a complete end-to-end connectivity solution. The combination of Ubicom’s Internet Processor architecture and software modules creates a powerful, flexible platform, giving designers the power to build products for the future with the confidence of knowing that they can keep up with innovation in standards and changes in market demands.

The first member of the new Ubicom family, the IP2022, will be available in sample quantities in the first quarter of 2001. Its 100 MIPS (million instructions per second) processing power and communications-optimized feature set will provide the high-speed computation, flexible I/O control and efficient data manipulation required for software implementation of high-performance physical interfaces and networking protocols while simultaneously executing application programs. At a price of 13.30 at 10ku, the IP2022 will be the most cost-effective complete Internet connectivity solution available.

Ubicom IP2000 Family Architecture
The IP2000 Internet Processors feature an enhanced, 4-stage-pipelined Harvard architecture, on-chip serializer/deserializer units, single-cycle instruction execution and a fixed, deterministic three-cycle interrupt response time. This lets them support ipModules™, which are pre-built, real-time software modules implementing functions normally performed in hardware, as well as Internet protocol stacks.

The ipModules, which will be available from the Ubicom Web site, are programmed into a fast on-chip flash program memory to configure the Internet Processor for a particular application. This “software system-on-a-chip approach” allows rapid, inexpensive product design and, when needed, quick and easy reconfiguration to accommodate changes in market needs or industry standards.

On-chip program memory for the IP2000 consists of reprogrammable flash, with additional instruction SRAM to achieve the access times needed to support the device’s high performance level. This arrangement also provides a self-programming capability for reconfiguring the device in the field.

One of the key elements in optimizing the IP2000 family for device-to-device and device-to-human communication is the inclusion of on-chip serializer/deserializers. This hardware decodes data and lets it be translated from one format to another, allowing the Ubicom Internet Processors to be used as protocol converters in bridge and gateway applications.

The IP2000 family uses a compact RISC instruction set, with one instruction executed per clock cycle, giving it unequalled performance -- currently up to 100 MIPS -- at its price point. The instruction set includes special math instructions, as well as a SPEED instruction that allows the operating speed of the device core to be varied to minimize power consumption. An on-chip PLL (phase-locked loop) allows use of a lower-frequency external source (e.g., an inexpensive 4 MHz crystal oscillator could be used to produce a 100 MHz internal operating frequency), which also reduces power and EMI (electro-magnetic interference). Other power management features include switching the system clock frequency between the PLL, the external oscillator and an internal real-time clock, turning off the PLL and/or oscillator inputs, and changing the core clock frequency using a selectable divider.

The IP2022 Internet Processor
In the first member of the IP2000 family, the IP2022 Internet Processor, the program memory consists of a 64K-byte flash memory and 16K-byte instruction SRAM, and its data memory is a 4K-byte SRAM. Two pairs of serializer/deserializers are included, as are two powerful 16-bit timers with programmable pre-scalers, a 10-bit, 8-channel analog-to-digital converter and a comparator with hysteresis enable/disable. A Parallel Slave Port allows the IP2022 to be used as a coprocessor in such applications as network management systems in which Internet access is required.

The IP2022 operates at 2.5 V, and an on-chip charge pump eliminates the need to provide high voltages to program the flash memory.

Pre-Built Software Modules
Ubicom also announced that software modules optimized for use with the IP2000 family will be released in the first quarter of 2001. These will include ipModules and the ipStack™, which can be combined in the IP2000 on-chip memory to achieve the configuration required for an application.

The ipModules, which are software implementations of functions normally done in silicon, will include 10base-T Ethernet, USB, UART, I2C, SPI, and Parallel Slave physical interface modules. The Ubicom ipStack TCP/IP networking stack will contain the core protocols needed for Internet connectivity. Details and availability of the software modules will be announced throughout the first quarter of 2001.

Development Support
Tools for developing with and using the IP2022 Internet Processor are available from leading suppliers. For example, the complete GNU tool suite, including C compiler, assembler, linker, utilities and GNU debugger, now supports the Ubicom IP2022. Announcements by other major tool vendors will follow shortly.

Packaging, Price and Availability
Sample quantities of the IP2022 Internet Processor will be available in the first quarter of 2001. Offered in an 80-pin plastic quad flatpack (PQFP) package, pricing in quantities of 10,000 will be $13.30. The ipModules and protocol modules will be available as downloadable code files from the Ubicom Web site.

Ubicom, Inc.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Ubicom, Inc., enables ubiquitous communications. Ubicom is the leading supplier of Internet Processors and protocol stacks that will connect billions of devices to the Internet. Ubicom implements communications and control functions as pre-built software modules that run on the Internet Processors. This approach reduces time to production and system cost, while providing greater flexibility, compared to traditional design approaches.

Additional information on Ubicom and its products can be found on the Web at www.ubicom.com.

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™ ipModule and ipStack are trademarks of Ubicom, Inc.