Ambric

Ambric, Inc., is a fabless semiconductor company founded in 2003 and based in Beaverton, Oregon. Ambric produces Massively Parallel Processor Array (MPPA) chips, for high-performance embedded systems and hardware acceleration of desktop computer and server applications.

Applications

Ambric's MPPA devices are used for broadcast-quality high-definition video compression, transcoding and analysis, image recognition, medical imaging, network processing, software defined radio and other compute-intensive streaming media applications, which otherwise would use FPGA, DSP and/or ASIC chips. The company claims advantages include higher performance and energy efficiency, scalability, higher productivity due to software programming rather than hardware design, and off-the-shelf availability.

Related

Other MPPAs include picoChip and IntellaSys, and the ASAP research chip. Related multicore devices include Aspex, Cavium, ClearSpeed, SPI, Tilera and others. The more established processor companies Texas Instruments and Freescale are also starting to do multicore products, but at present with a lower number of processors (typically 3-8).

Recognition

Microprocessor Report gave a 2006 MPR Analysts’ Choice Award for Innovation to Ambric "for the design concept and architecture of its massively parallel processor, the Am2045". [Microprocessor Report Announces First Group of Winners for the Eighth Annual MPR Analysts’ Choice Awards, February 20, 2007, [http://www.instat.com/press/07/mpr_awards.asp] ]

References

Further reading

* Tom Halfhill, "Ambric's New Parallel Processor", Microprocessor Report, October 10, 2006.
* Tom Halfhill, "MPR Innovation Award: Ambric", Microprocessor Report, February 20, 2007.

External links

* [http://www.ambric.com Corporate website]