East Fishkill, NY — (press release excerpt) — IBM today announced it is working with MontaVista Software, Inc. to make its Hard Hat Linux operating system available for IBM's PowerPC based single-chip set-top box (STB) controller. Combining high-performance PowerPC-based STB controllers with Linux-based open standards software, IBM is providing electronics manufacturers with the ability to develop new… classes of home gateway products such as television set-top boxes, that will serve as an interactive medium between content and service
providers and consumers.

IBM's STB034xx chip family includes an MPEG-2 audio/video decoder, a memory interface subsystem and a range of peripheral interfaces all on a single piece of silicon. Based on the PowerPC processor, it features high-speed operation at 162 MHz, with a 16-KB instruction cache and an 8-KB data cache, providing the performance necessary for a range of new services.

IBM also disclosed plans to make available, in the second half of 2001, its third-generation integrated controller for digital set top boxes. The next-generation STB Integrated controller is being designed to extend performance from today's STB03xxx 225 DMIPS up to 350 DMIPS, utilizing the embedded Power PC 405 processor running at speeds up to 252 MHz. This extra on-chip power is intended to enable advanced features such as personal video recording, internet gaming, interactive TV, web browsing, and secure on-line transactions.

Plans for the third generation architecture includes support for an external processor interface, a new advanced 2D graphics subsystem, simultaneous dual-stream recording to HDD with single stream playback, and other peripheral interfaces. This statement of intent underscores IBM's commitment to interactive and digital TV, and IBM's plans to address the requirements of both service providers and STB manufacturers.

IBM is currently shipping engineering samples to customers with general sample availability intended for June.

 
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