Other features
An extra advantage to Crusoe is that it features the Northbridge (Interface between CPU and memory) on the processor die. This function is usually accomplished on a separate chip - i.e. the Intel 440BX chipset. This provides two advantages:
- Simplifies motherboard design for potential Crusoe licensees - which will reduce TTM (Time to market).
- Allows more compact motherboard design, facilitating use in small IA appliances such as PDA's.
Future Developments & competitors
At the recent Comdex consumer show Transmeta promised much higher performance2 for the Crusoe 2 chip due to replaced in 2002. The chip is speculated to run at 1 GHz at introduction.
The principal competitor in the low power IA market is ARM, who have greater experience in the low power market and have greater market acceptance amongst semiconductor manufacturers.
Ironically Intel, the company Transmeta set out to beat originally, have developed a new processor named Xscale. Also designed for the low power/PDA market the chip typically uses 1.5W of power at 1GHz and only 0.5W at 600MHz while adding new SIMD instructions for mobile applications.
Even more ironic is that Xscale³ is a derivative of StrongARM, which was originally designed by ARM and DEC (now owned by Compaq, makers of Alpha series of RISC CPU's) but Intel gained the architecture in 1998 after winning a patent dispute with DEC.
References
www.transmeta.com
(datasheets and product overviews available, although obviously are a
little biased!)
1 http://arstechnica.com/cpu/1q00/crusoe/crusoe-1.html
2 http://www.zdnet.com/special/stories/comdex/0,12245,2653840,00.html
3 http://www.aceshardware.com/Spades/read_news.php?post_id=15000215