Industry Expert Blogs

Fifteen years after its debut as a silicon strategy the SOC is finally in full bloom worldwide. In its simplest configuration it consists of a processor, memory, I/O and the RTL crafted by the customer that defines its functionality and application.

For each of the four major elements we have evolved down a different strategic path. For the processor, ARM, MIPS and a couple hangers-on have given the market an IP roadmap so potent that even the discussion of a homemade solution has become as rare as the IP was fifteen years ago.

The I/O spans a relatively broad range from the pedestrian to 17-gig SerDes, the latter constituting such a bold technical challenge that all the serious suppliers can be counted on one hand and even that group is shrinking down to our partner, Avago Technologies, and a few IDMs; it’s hard and is what it is. In other words, no SOC developer has any measurable influence over the technology. The fact that a high-performance SerDes actually does its job over a hundred lanes or more is a borderline miracle. One needs to design around it, not vice versa.