New 32-bitters go to extremes for embedded

Dave Bursky, EE Times
(04/03/2006 9:00 AM EDT)

Austin, Texas -- With 32-bit processors now the CPU of choice for more than half of all new embedded system designs, two companies have bracketed the category with their own offerings. One is an extremely low-cost 32-bit microcontroller family from Luminary Micro Inc.; the other, being readied by Atmel Corp., is a highly integrated, high-performance 32-bit pro- cessor family that marks a price/performance milestone.

More than 54 percent of new system designs will use a 32-bit processor, according to a just-released embedded market study done by CMP Media LLC's Embedded Systems Design magazine and EE Times. The increasing popularity of 32-bit processors is the result of several factors--the need for higher performance than 8- or 16-bit processors can deliver; the ease of programming a 32-bit processor using a high-level language; and lower cost, which makes them competitive with current 8- and 16-bit controllers.

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