Zilog Debuts Web-enabling 8-bit Z80 Core

Electronic News, Sept 20, 1999 by Gale Morrison

In the huge pack of Web-enabling, sometimes referred to as embedded Web, technologies stampeding to next week's Embedded Systems Conference, Zilog Inc. plans to stand out with its new eZ80 microcontroller strategy.

The MCU segment stalwart based in Campbell, Calif. is attempting to outmaneuver Sun Microsystems, the IBM Microelectronics division, and Motorola Semiconductor with the eZ80, which Zilog is calling an "Internet engine."

"Here is an 8-bit processor that provides the TCP/IP stack and the communication mechanism between the processor and the Internet cloud," said Didier Le Lannic, senior vice president and general manager of Zilog's Communications division.

The new synthesizable core offers a small footprint--silicon and software--and cheap bill of materials for embedding a Web interface in consumer systems like transaction terminals and vending machines, said Le Lannic. First available just after the new year, customers will license the core and also pay a royalty on usage.

The OEMs for these systems have decades of experience with the Z80 and this new core Zilog has made code compatible with previous Z80 versions. Zilog proposes this as a remedy for consumer OEMs, who have thus far been evaluating more expensive microcontrollers and contemplating several megabytes of RAM to enable the Internet Protocol. These same OEMs, by their consumer nature, perhaps won't Web-enable their electronic systems until the technology is available at 8-bit prices.

The eZ80 family is designed with a TCP/IP stack, linear addressing that supports up to 16Mbytes of addressing space and DSP capabilities. Le Lannic claims Zilog is the first company to offer up to an 80MIPS processor in an 8-bit architecture and is the first company to announce a TCP/IP stack in a standard product.

Le Lannic said that long-time Z80 user Hypercom Corp., Phoenix, a point-of-sale or electronic transaction terminal maker, will migrate to the eZ80 and add Web functionality to its systems.

A typical TCP/IP implementation requires a 32-bit microprocessor and several megabytes of main memory, Le Lannic said, whereas the eZ80 can accomplish the same capability using the eZ80 microprocessor and less than 100Kbytes of main memory.

Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, Tempe, Ariz., said that the eZ80 is "a natural for next-decade Internet appliances." And in this sense of appliances, one should think household appliances like a thermostat or video cassette recorder that can be monitored and controlled remotely through a Web interface.