EDN -- 12.21.95 European companies develop high-speed on-chip bus

Out in Front: December 21, 1995

European companies develop high-speed on-chip bus

Five European semiconductor companies—Advanced RISC Machines, Philips Semiconductors, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, Siemens, and Temic/Matra MHS—have agreed to license a jointly developed on-chip bus protocol to other companies. The partners developed the bus, known as the Peripheral Interconnect Bus (PI Bus), within a framework of a three-year European Union Esprit Open Microprocessor Initiative (OMI) project. The bus provides a peak transfer rate of 200 Mbytes/sec; 8-, 16-, and 32-bit data access; processor independence; and demultiplexed operation. The bus is suitable for use in VLSI ICs using deep-submicron technologies and modular architectures.

Upon completion of the project, the five companies incorporated the PI Bus as OMI Standard 324.3D, and the bus is the subject of a European Patent Application, with the partners jointly owning the patent rights. Some of the partners have incorporated the bus into proprietary semiconductor products, such as 32-bit şC core architecture.

To encourage worldwide adoption of this development, the partners are offering licenses at nominal cost. These licenses allow other parties to make, use, and sell products incorporating the PI Bus, provided that licensees comply with OMI 324 PI Bus Revision 0.3D. -- by Fran Granville

Advanced RISC Machines, England. +44 1223 400449.
Philips Semiconductors, Eindhoven, Netherlands. +31 40 722091.
SGS-Thomson Microelectronics, St Genis, France. +33 5040 2640.
Siemens, Munich, Germany. +49 89 4144 8485.
Temic/Matra MHS, Paris, France. +33 1 3060 7068.