"The PowerPC initiative represents the first
credible assault on Intel's dominance in the personal computer arena. As
such, it is one of the most interesting developments in personal computer
history."
Intel & Motorola
In 1981, IBM introduced the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC), which was built
around an Intel 8088 microprocessor. Ever since, the Intel family of
microprocessors has reigned supreme with a 75% market share in the
$8-billion-a-year microprocessor market. In January 1984, Apple Computer
introduced the popular Macintosh line using Motorola's 68000 microprocessor
family. Over the years, the Macintosh has securely held its position as a
premium computer system second only to the IBM-compatible computer systems
in terms of market share.
CISC & RISC
Although the complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor
families of both Intel and Motorola continued to grow in performance at a
strong pace, the performance advantage of a fundamentally different
computer architecture called reduced instruction set computing (RISC) was
becoming more widely known. There seemed to be a chance to harness RISC in
a whole new kind of personal computer system, one that would be able to run
the application programs of all the day's popular but diverse computer
systems at competitive performance levels.
The PowerPC Initiative
There also seemed to be a chance to offer, in that new personal computer
system, superior performance and a new breed of application programs with
capabilities, such as speech recognition and teleconferencing, that could
change the way we interact with computers forever. That's why in October
1991, Apple, IBM, and Motorola joined forces to develop the new PowerPC
architecture and a family of microprocessors, which they believe are the
foundation for a new generation of personal computing.
The Microprocessors
The Apple/IBM/Motorola alliance initially announced four individual
microprocessor implementations of the PowerPC architecture:
- PowerPC 601: This was the first microprocessor to be
delivered and was first used in an IBM RS/6000 workstation. It is being
used in the first wave of Apple's new Power Macintosh family, and it will
be used in IBM's upcoming Power Personal Systems line. Motorola has also
introduced a line of personal computers which uses the PowerPC 601.
- PowerPC 603: The PowerPC microprocessor for cost-sensitive
portables and other low-power, low-cost systems, this is the least powerful
member of the PowerPC family, and it consumes the least amount of
electrical power.
- PowerPC 604: The mainstream, high-performance microprocessor
for uniprocessor or multiprocessor desktop PCs and workstations, this
offers better performance than that provided by the PowerPC 601 and will
eventually take its place.
- PowerPC 620: As the first 64-bit implementation of the
PowerPC architecture, this provides the highest performance. The PowerPC
620 is optimized for use in high-end workstations, servers, and
multiprocessor systems, which employ multiple PowerPC 620 microprocessors
(parallel processing) to achieve very high levels of performance.
The First New Machines
All four of these PowerPC chips went through their development steps in
parallel in order to bring the entire family to market more quickly than
would be possible with a more traditional serial development approach. As a
result, the first systems based on the PowerPC were available by mid-1994.
By early 1995, notebooks, desktops, servers, and development systems were
available featuring 601, 603, and 604 microprocessors from Apple, IBM,
Motorola, and Bull. Some new microprocessors were also unveiled in 1995,
including the PowerPC 602 and the PowerPC 603e.
Special-Purpose Microprocessors
IBM and Motorola also introduced special-purpose PowerPC microprocessors,
which will be embedded in consumer electronics and other specialized
devices. These microprocessors consume very little power with only moderate
sacrifices in performance. Motorola now provides components that allow
vendors to build PowerPC based systems using a single chip containing both
memory and PCI bus controllers.
New Applications
In RISC, Apple saw a way to offer a leap forward in performance without
forfeiting compatibility. At the same time, Apple could move off of a CISC
architecture. The additional performance could be fully exploited by a new
breed of Power Macintosh application programs to provide functions (such as
text-to-speech, speech recognition, multimedia, and telephony) that
heretofore had required specialized and expensive hardware options.
Apple's Power Macintosh Line
These are the things that led Apple to place the biggest PowerPC bet of all
the principal companies involved. Apple has abandoned the Motorola 68000
family and publicly committed its entire product line and thus its very
future to the PowerPC architecture. In March 1994, Apple introduced its
first wave of PowerPC-based Macs, called the Power Macintosh family. This
consisted of three Power Macintosh models built around the PowerPC 601
microprocessor and the same mechanical design as some earlier 68000-based
Macs. Apple then followed up with three PowerPC-based servers in April, put
PowerPC 601 microprocessors in five models of the Performa line in October,
and then refreshed the original Power Macintosh line in January 1995. Apple
shipped over 600,000 Power Macintosh systems in the first six months and
expects to ship over a million PowerPC-based systems within the first 12
months.
IBM's Power Personal Systems
IBM was the first to introduce a computer that used a PowerPC
microprocessor (in the RISC System/6000 Model 250) and intends to use the
PowerPC family of microprocessors throughout its many product lines. IBM's
most focused initiative is in its Power Personal Systems Division. Here,
IBM is developing a new line of personal computers that will aggressively
compete directly with the incumbent Intel-based personal computers. Other
major pushes are moving the AS/400 and RS/6000 families onto the PowerPC
bandwagon. At the high end of IBM's "palmtops to teraFLOPS" strategy, the
Power architecture is being used in the POWER Parallel Systems family. As
the PowerPC technology matures, PowerPC microprocessors will likely be used
in many of IBM's large-scale systems.
Multiple Operating System Choices
Unlike Apple, IBM has not bet its entire personal computer business on the
PowerPC microprocessors. IBM's Personal Computer Company fully intends to
keep developing personal computers based on the Intel microprocessors.
However, the Power Personal Systems Division is planning to announce a new
line of PowerPC-based personal computers with several different operating
system choices that can run off-the-shelf OS/2, DOS/Windows, Apple
Macintosh, and AIX application programs among others.
Transition Computing
The strategy is to provide 80486SX (25 Mhz) levels of performance for
existing off-the-shelf OS/2 and DOS/Windows applications, Quadra 700
performance levels for existing off-the-shelf Macintosh applications, and
native performance levels for existing AIX application programs. This
compatibility will help attract DOS/Windows, Macintosh, and RS/6000 users
to the new Power Personal Systems and buy the time necessary for more
native PowerPC applications to become available. These native PowerPC
applications, which will offer extreme improvements in performance, can be
harnessed to less expensively implement such features as voice recognition,
pen input, and multimedia thus fundamentally changing the way we use
computers.
The PowerPC Reference Platform
IBM's Power Personal Systems will be guided by the PowerPC Reference
Platform system design specification developed with the help of Motorola
and published by the Power Personal Systems Division. IBM has published the
PowerPC Reference Platform specification as a guide to encourage other
computer manufacturers to design PowerPC-based clones, which will help
embed PowerPC systems as the new industry standard. Apple, originally not
conforming to the PowerPC Reference Platform, has recently announced its
intention to make future Power Macintosh computers conform to the IBM-
endorsed Common Reference Platform, which is a superset of the original
PowerPC Reference Platform specification.
The New Standard in Personal Computing
Both IBM and Motorola bring a wealth of chip design tools, advanced
fabrication processes, chip manufacturing experience, and marketing muscle
to the PowerPC alliance. IBM and Motorola are working to make PowerPC the
new standard in personal computing and the architecture on which the
convergence of computing, telecommunications, and entertainment will ride.
Because high-volume production is the only way to make PowerPC
microprocessors cost-competitive with Intel's microprocessors, Motorola is
helping to build strategic partnerships with computer manufacturing groups
that will likely lead to high-volume applications for the PowerPC chips.
Telecommunications & Entertainment
In the area of entertainment, IBM and Motorola want to see chips based on
the PowerPC architecture used in things like interactive cable television
an enormous upcoming consumer market. In the area of telecommunications,
for example, Motorola is working with European companies to embed PowerPC
chips in public branch exchanges (PBXs) and other switches used in
telephone systems. By promoting the PowerPC architecture in these key
areas, IBM and Motorola hope to position the PowerPC architecture as the
natural choice for the designers of future computing "appliances" that will
continue to more fully merge the functions today performed by telephones,
entertainment systems, and computers.
The Impact on Information Systems
What does all this mean to the corporate information system executive? The
PowerPC brings a new dimension to the realm of corporate computing. The
PowerPC, supported by the world's leading computer manufacturers, offers
the corporate user an opportunity to purchase personal systems with
substantially higher performance from a variety of vendors. As the PowerPC
becomes more predominant in the mid-size and high-end systems, we will
begin to see compatible software running on everything from the palmtops to
the massively parallel systems. The initial investments of Apple, IBM, and
Motorola will pay dividends in reduced software costs and higher
productivity for the end user.
Published by Maximum Press