Rise unveils first x86-compatible processor, inks deal with Acer

Rise unveils first x86-compatible processor, inks deal with Acer
By Semiconductor Business News
September 25, 2000 (4:14 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000925S0049

SAN JOSE -- Rise Technology Co. here today unveiled its first product--an x86-compatible, system-on-a-chip processor family designed for use in set-top boxes, Internet appliances, and related platforms.

At the same time, Rise and Taiwan's Acer Laboratories Inc. (ALI) announced a multimedia platform solution for set-top boxes that combines Rise's x86-compatible chip and ALI's Aladdin V chip set.

The announcement represents somewhat of a coming out party for Rise. The San Jose-based company made headlines several years ago, when it decided to compete in the mainstream x86-compatible processor market.

But recently, Rise decided to change its strategy by developing x86-compatible, system-on-a-chip products for emerging applications like set-top boxes, among other platforms. Last year, the company demonstrated a pair of x86-based chips for standalone PCs, but it has re-positioned and added new features to the products.

Rise's new product, called the iDragon SCX501, consists of a x86-compatible core, SDRAM interface, graphics subsystem, video input port, TV output encoder, video pipeline, and core logic for PCI, ISA, and IDE interfaces.

The video pipeline performs functions such as interpolative horizontal/vertical filtering, color space conversion, and video window scaling, as well as chroma/color keying for the picture-in-picture function.

"Rise's iDragon processor utilizes smart on-chip power management that enables fanless Internet [set-top boxes]," said David Lin, chief executive of Rise. "Its three- scalar multimedia architecture boosts the performance factor for multimedia applications. The combination of full x86 compatibility, low power consumption, and superior multimedia performance makes the iDragon mP6 processor the best solution in the Internet [set-top box] market."

Rise has teamed up with ALI to announced a multimedia platform solution for set-top boxes. "In the post-PC era, or so-called IA Era, the rapidly emerging x86-based IA products are essentially consumer products that require low power consumption and the ability to provide high-quality multimedia performance," said Chin Wu, president of Taipei-based ALI.

Prices of the iDragon products were not disclosed.