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New TI Chip Blitzes Internet at Speed of 1.6 Billion Instructions Per SecondSuper-Fast DSP Reflects Strategic DirectionDALLAS (Feb. 3, 1997) -- A new digital signal processor chip introduced today by Texas Instruments may provide a long-awaited solution to the Internet bottleneck. The chip, which operates at the ultra-fast speed of 1.6 billion instructions per second, can power a rapidly emerging high-speed method to connect to the Internet. For example, a file that currently takes 10 minutes to download will take less than five seconds. "Texas Instruments' new technology will enable us to continue leading the revolution in Internet access," said Dale Walsh, vice president of Advanced Development, U.S. Robotics. "With this chip, not only will more users be able to log on to the Internet, but they will also be able to download files 120 times faster than today. The World Wide Web will no longer be the World Wide Wait." Digital signal processors, called DSPs, are powerful, specialized semiconductors that are ideal for very fast, math-intensive computing. They are used in a variety of consumer electronics such as cellular phones, pagers, hard disk drives, modems, digital satellite systems and audio/video equipment. The new TI chip, the TMS320C6201, has the speed and power to support the explosive growth of data communications, especially the use of the Internet. Estimates are that the number of Internet users is nearly doubling annually; it will grow from about 35 million worldwide today to 160 million in 2000. There is a critical need for technology to handle this glut of new on-line users and TI's DSP will be the platform for that new technology. Today's introduction of the new DSP reflects TI's focus on digital signal processing solutions as the cornerstone in the company's strategic direction. The chip architecture, combined with a host of readily available software tools and ease-of-programming features, is expected to further drive the explosive growth of new DSP applications. TI expects the new chip -- and its future derivatives -- to provide the sustainable differentiation to enhance its market leadership in DSP technology. In addition to speed, this new TI DSP chip will enable solutions that allow callers to use one phone line for regular voice telephone calls and data calls at the same time, eliminating the need for a separate modem line. For example, while one family member is using the home computer to send and receive data on the Internet, the same person or other family members can still make and receive voice phone calls on the same line. "We believe that DSP technology, like this TI chip, will have a profound effect on the way we communicate, both at work and at home," said Joseph Grenier, vice president of the market research firm Dataquest. "The impact of DSP technology and what we call the coming DSP revolution, can be likened to what the Pentium® did to desktop computing." This chip also will enable the widespread use of wireless e-mail. Busy executives will be able to send messages over their PC from the back of a taxi. Unplugged data transmissions like this have been impossible up to now due to the large size and cost of cellular base stations. Base stations relay calls -- voice and data -- from a local network without having a physical connection to the network. One of the costs of today's cellular providers is the purchase or rental of space for today's large (10-foot x 10-foot) base stations across the network. In addition to cost, it is often difficult to find locations for these large base stations in the areas where they are needed most. Using the new TI DSP, those base stations can be shrunk to the size of a shoe box, reducing costs and making them easier to place in high-usage locations while improving transmission quality. This improved transmission quality will allow wireless networking to become a reality as computers will be able to send and receive data to a local network without having a physical connection to the network. "This new DSP chip gives the industry the tools to fully develop the promise of a networked society," said John Scarisbrick, senior vice president of Texas Instruments Semiconductor Group and worldwide manager of Application Specific Products. "The communications infrastructure will be able to grow to meet the increasing demands on it."
Texas Instruments holds 45 percent of the worldwide DSP market
share and is the world's leader in DSP solutions, a market projected
to reach more than $12 billion by the year 2000.
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