Motorola Advanced MCU Division split

Electronic News, Nov 11, 1996 by Sarah Cohen

Motorola, feeling the pressures of strong growth in its microcontroller business, has split its Advanced Microcontroller (AMCU) Division into two divisions and revealed plans to eventually increase its engineering and marketing staffs.

The new 68HC11/12 Custom Microcontroller Solutions Division will focus on the 68HC11 and 68HC12 families of products, and the AMCU division will focus on the MPC500, 68300 and 68HC16 families in an effort to better service customers and cope with new products.

John Suchyta, manager of applications and technical support, said, "The AMC division was getting large and it was harder to deal with newer products. Larger customers may need all the devices in our portfolio but smaller customers may really only need one or two of our families. If a customer wanted two devices, they used to sign two design slots. Now they would sign one design slot in one division and another design slot in another division, and that way, we can hurdle more people to serve them."

Mr. Suchyta also said Motorola intends to hire more marketers and engineers for the new division, though not in the near future.

"Right now, it's a scary time to hire new people. We'll begin hiring again when the economy is not as uncertain as it is now."

The new division will be headed by GM Greg White, previously operations manager of HC11 products. Brian Wilkie will remain as head of the AMC division. Currently, the two divisions are in a transitional period in which resources and personnel are being shared.

Meanwhile, the 68HC11/12 Custom Microcontroller Solutions Division has come out with its first products introductions--the 68HC11EA9 and the 68HC11KW1, derivatives of the HC11E9 and HC11K4, respectively.

The 68HC11EA9 is targeted toward auto electronics control applications such as air conditioning, automotive window mechanisms, security and central door locking, as well as other applications in which the system is required to react to changes in speed, temperature or keypad activity. The differences between the 68HC11EA9 and the HC11E9 are the additions of a phase lock loop oscillator in the newer chip--to allow customers to use a lower frequency crystal--and a programmable clock frequency. The 68HC11EA9 is available in a 52-pin PLCC package priced at $6.79 in 10,000-unit quantities.

The 68HC11KW1, available now in a 100-pin TQFP package at $11.48 in 10,000-unit quantities, is intended for applications requiring expanded memory and numerous timer channels, and targeted toward the automotive transmission control, factory automation and industrial control markets.

The difference between the 68HC11KW1 and the HC11K4 is an external programmable memory in the former chip, versus on-board ROM in the latter. There are also two timers, two A/D converter channels, and 10-bit rather than 8-bit resolution in the 68HC11KW1.