SOCs drive new product development

To dispel a potential misperception that system-on-chip designs are a long way off, the authors describe several examples of new products that derive benefits from using SOCs. These designs, like those for embedded processors , emphasize the combination of a complementary set of functions into an eco nomically viable package. SOCs are fueling new products that wouldn't have been possible-either economically or technologically-a few years ago. Gary Silcott, the author of "SOC Challenges for Wireless Handsets," describ es the features of Motorola's chip that answers the call for smaller handse ts and longer battery life by integrating the separate DSP and microcontrol ler onto one piece of silicon. I-Ie also makes some predictions about what' s next in this design area. In "Thin Clients Benefit from SOC," Janet Wilson describes how SOCs offer o riginal equipment manufacturers an economical package on which to base new products. She reports that thin-client vendors like Wyse are using this mod el to make serious inroads into corporate computing, a domain long dominate d by the desktop PC. Neil Peterson and William Peisel, the authors of "Networking the Office wit h SOCs," explain how OEMs can save time and money by buying a product that integrates several networking functions-copier, facsimile, and laser-qualit y printer-into a single chip. In "MEMS Technology Emerges," Kirk L. Kroeker presents a sampling of emergi ng commercial products that use microelectromechanical systems-semiconducto r chips that integrate mechanical elements, sensors, actuators, and electro nics on a silicon substrate. He describes some advantages of MEMS over curr ent devices that perform the same functions and explains why MEMS is sure t o be the technology of the future for many applications.