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MIPS set on cracking 3.5G/4G handset market The battle over IP processor cores in 3.5G and 4G handsets has only begun—at least in the minds of MIPS Technologies executives. They may be facing steep odds, especially in light of the fact that not a single MIPS core has yet appeared in a mobile handset available on the market. But the world's second largest IP processor company is deadly serious, and the company may be on its way to opening a few doors. MIPS's first step is to Barcelona, attending the Mobile World Congress for the first time, where the company intends to challenge the industry's prevailing pre-conception that ARM is for mobile handsets, and MIPS is confined to digital consumer devices. "We hope to demonstrate to the industry [operators, chip suppliers and mobile handset manufacturers included] what's possible with MIPS, which has already deeply penetrated the 3.5G and 4G mobile infrastructure," said Art Swift, vice president of marketing at MIPS. The company hopes to extend its processor IPs to both baseband and multimedia co-processor chips inside future mobile handsets. The key word here is "future." MIPS' Swift, noting that 4G protocols are more similar to Wi-Fi than 3G, explained that MIPS is potentially at an opportune moment to change the game, "by leveraging MIPS' proven Wi-Fi expertise directly for 4G." When Swift talked to EE Times last fall about the company's ambitions in the cell phone market, details were sketchy and many industry observers remained skeptical. MIPS in baseband processors But the company now believes it has a good case for MIPS in 3.5G and 4G handsets, especially now that key software stacks and IPs necessary for 3.5G and 4G phones are becoming widely available for those in MIPS' ecosystem or "Team MIPS" in the parlance of MIPS' new CEO Sandeep Vij. First, MIPS, working together with Intrinsyc Software International, is porting Intrinsyc's 3.5G telephony software stacks to the MIPS architecture. Swift said the two companies are demonstrating 3.5G voice calls with audio and video playback on a MIPS-based Android platform at the Mobile World Congress. Second, MIPS is announcing a partnership with SySDSoft to enable LTE on the MIPS architecture. By working with SySDSoft, now a new member of the MIPS Alliance Program, to develop an optimized MIPS32 LTE protocol stack, MIPS hopes to give MIPS licensees an opportunity to leverage the LTE stack "across the entire range of MIPS processor cores." Initial results of the SySDSoft collaborations will be shared in Barcelona, promised Swift. Clearly, some MIPS licensees are already rolling out WiMAX chipsets and LTE handset and base station designs. Wintegra, Cavium and Altair are among those MIPS licensees already using MIPS cores in their 4G products. MIPS' partnering with SySDSoft, however, is expected to accelerate time to market and a broader acceptance of MIPS in WiMAX and LTE products among MIPS licensees. Several MIPS-based WiMAX and LET demonstrations are planned at Mobile World Congress, according to Swift, who refrained from specifying vendors' names. Third, MIPS announced that Beceem, a leading 4G Mobile WiMAX chip vendor, has just licensed MIPS32 4KEc synthesizable processer core for next-generation wireless networking products. Overall, Swift insisted that MIPS enjoys clear advantages for use in 4G baseband processing. Such 4G requirements as "efficient protocol stack and library execution," for example, fit well with MIPS' capabilities. MIPS can provide "high performance instruction set architecture" and "proven ecosystem of optimized ported software," according to Swift. When 4G demands real time, deterministic execution, MIPS can offer "low interrupt latency and fast context switching using shadow registers," he added. Obviously, 4G demands high data throughput in order to achieve maximum download speeds. That's not a problem for MIPS, according to Swift. He cited: MIPS' high dhrystone MIPS per MHz compute engine and high efficient cache-based architecture. Entering app processors MIPS is equally bullish about the use of its cores in applications processing. MIPS and Mavrix Technology, a China SoC vendor and one of MIPS' lead customers, are working to develop a mobile SoC design running Android in cellphones, personal media players and mobile Internet devices. The SoC is not just a standalone apps processor but is also capable of running the Android operating system, according to MIPS. Mavrix is said to be already working with Chinese OEMs and ODMs for design wins for such a SoC. Swift believes MIPS' processor core is a natural for applications processing in Android-based products. He noted such MIPS' capabilities as "low power and uncompromising performance/power advantage," and "high performance floating point unit," as ideal in meeting stringent requirements that include the need for processing "multiple uploads/downloads simultaneously at lowest power," and "real time, high speed multimedia." In the end, the key for OEMs in deciding whether to use MIPS in their mobile handsets may not lie in technical differences between MIPS and ARM, but rather which has a better and stronger ecosystem. Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat, once noted that both architectures—MIPS and ARM—offer synthesizable cores adaptable to cellphones, smart phones, and many other mobile applications. "They are both viable building blocks for a SoC, which is the final processor solution for all these applications," he said. He said: "Often the [OEMs'] decision may come down to other factors, such as the IP that is available, software compatibility, access to the architecture (if required), licensing agreements, and others." Although MIPS still has a lot more heavy lifting to do, it appears to have begun moving in the right direction as it seeks fortune in the mobile world. - Junko Yoshida EE Times |
