National Semiconductor joins NC rush

Electronic News, Nov 11, 1996 by Cynthia Bournellis

National Semiconductor is joining the network computer (NC) frenzy with this week's announcement of its new Web browser and thin client reference design.

The rollout comes on the heels of Oracle's announcement last week, at the Oracle Open World show in San Francisco, to support Pentium-based NCs. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison showed a prototype of an NC based on a 133MHz Pentium microprocessor.

Code-named Odin, the new reference design is based on National's NS486SXF embedded processor, the first chip in National's NS486 series released last year. After long talks and "encouragement" from Oracle, said Mark Roberts, a senior engineering manager in National's hardware applications integrated processor unit, National has came up with an enhanced specification to the original NC Reference Profile originally developed by Oracle and supported by a number of technology companies, including Sun, Apple Computer, Netscape Communications and IBM.

Along with National's integrated 486-based processor and AT/Lantic Ethernet chip, the Odin design includes Trident's TVG9470 graphics controller for SVGA monitor and NTSC TV output, Rockwell's single-chip audio system for CD-quality sound and RCV336 ACF 28.8 kbps modem for POTS (plain old telephone system) dial-up connection.

It contains 12.5 MIPS versus 24 MIPS used in ARM processors. Odin also incorporates features needed for Web browsers or networked thin clients including Internet phone support, support for embedded Java applets, and Java Virtual Machine support for JavaOS and other real-time operating systems.

National had many reasons for entering the NC market. First, there was customer demand. "The NS486 was optimized with Web-enabled office automation equipment in mind," explained Jeff Baer, program manager in National's integrated processor group. "When the NC phenomenon took off, we found that our customers were building Odin-type systems without realizing it. They told us it (NS486 evaluation board) was the best device they'd seen for these types of applications." Second, there was cost. Keep in mind, the foremost feature of the NC is its famous $500 price; however, that pricepoint remains to be seen. Last week, a number of announcements were made for NCs starting at about $700. Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy proudly launched the company's Sparc-based JavaStation NC. Wyse Technology also released its new Winterm 4000SE NC based on StrongARM. In addition, Intel and Microsoft talked about their new NetPC "thin client" initiative.

National believes it will have no trouble helping OEMs compete on price. The company said it can offer OEMs a $200 bill of materials cost. Initially, National will build demo Odin boards for OEMs. The NS486SXF chip will be sold to OEMs for $25 in quantities of 10,000.

Third, there's software. Innovations in the PC area have resulted in a large software base, said Mr. Baer. "One benefit of x86 is Ethernet. Graphics drivers, for instance, are tricky code to develop, and once they are solid, software developers don't want to change them." Many ARM proponents don't agree with National's software theory. Said Tim O'Donnell, president of Advanced RISC Machines, "I will agree that there are more people who write software for PC applications...(and in the PC realm) x86 is significant. But in the NC world, it is very different, because people write in Java and HTML, and there are open standards, so software developers won't be tied to a single architecture."

With x86 beginning to encroach on ARM's territory, one question that comes to the minds of many observers is whether or not x86 can provide the same cost and performance as RISC chips. National's Mr. Roberts said 12.5 MIPs is adequate enough and will be able to deliver plenty of performance at a low cost.

The x86 onslaught has others wondering where Oracle's allegiance lies. "It is interesting, because Oracle has been in tight with ARM," said Joe Gillach, COO of Diba, Inc. "If they say 'here's another chip maker,' then it's a big deal." Oracle officials did not return our phone calls. However, their sudden support of CISC architecture should be of no surprise; the NC Reference Profile is processor independent.

"Oracle has said for a long time that there will be an Intel architecture for their NCs, so you will start seeing the latest Pentium processors in these new devices, especially those devices that access the Internet," said an Intel spokesperson.

NCs will be built on a number of different processors. So whether its a $500 or $1,000 system, it will be up to customers to decide which one is right for their business needs.

So, rather than ponder over which or whose processor will support the next NC, perhaps the more important issue to mull over is whether or not the industry is moving away from the $500 terminal and back to the desktop computer model.