Short Cuts: Roaming Around the Mobile Computing Industry

DEC Employs StrongARM Tactics

There’s little question—RISC is no longer seen as very risky. And RISC pioneers, such as Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) are taking this embracing attitude all the way to the bank. In the case of ARM, the latest conquest is none other than Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), an early convert to RISC processing with its highly-respected Alpha line of processors.

DEC and ARM announced the licensing of the ARM RISC architecture to Digital Semiconductor, a DEC business, which plans to develop a family of 32-bit RISC microprocessors called StrongARM. Digital foresees a range of applications for these processors including PDAs, interactive and set-top TV devices, and multimedia imaging products.

The StrongARM family will offer a combination of high-performance and low-power, while maintaining full software compatibility with ARM’s 6, 7, and 8 series of processors. DEC feels that StrongARM will complement its Alpha line by enabling new applications where low-power consumption is critical.

As you’ll recall, Apple uses the ARM 610 processor in its Newton MessagePad PDA and, according to Shane Robison, vice president and general manager of Apple’s Personal Interactive Electronics Division, the “Newton engineering team has been working closely with Digital Semiconductor and ARM in defining the first StrongARM microprocessor.”

The first StrongARM product is under development at Digital Semiconductor’s research centers in Palo Alto, California, Austin, Texas; and at ARM’s headquarters in Cambridge, U.K. For more information, please contact Patricia McGloin of Digital Semiconductor at (508) 568-5102, (508) 568-6447 (fax), or [email protected].

SunDisk Shatters Flash Capacities

Flash storage technology offers a lot of advantages. Not only does it generally consume only a small percentage of the power required by 1.8″ and 2.5″ rotating drives, it can also typically be used in a more rugged environment. However, until recently, flash disk cards have often had to take a secondary position to rotating media because of the amount of data that could be stored on the device.

SunDisk Corporation has introduced a new 175 MB flash storage card that changes the balance of this equation. By boosting the top data capacity more than four times from the current 40 MB, SunDisk is positioning the technology as a viable alternative for applications that require a large amount of data or work within a bloated environment.

SunDisk has packaged the new 175 MB card in the PCMCIA Type III form factor, with a thickness of 10.5 mm. The card, which is also available in 80 and 110 MB capacities, meets the ATA industry standard and are 100 percent compatible with SunDisk’s current Type II storage cards.

SunDisk estimates that the flash disk cards have a MTBF (mean time between failure) rate of 500,000 hours, providing over 100 years of reliable operation under normal usage. The cards also feature an operating shock rating of 1000 Gs, which is equivalent to a drop of 8 feet.

Sample units of the 175 MB flash storage card are available immediately, with volume production expected to begin in April. For more information, please contact Nelson Chan of SunDisk Corp. at (408) 562-3456.

Time In Hand Replaces Slips

For professionals that bill by the hour, but literally charge by the minute, lost or incomplete time slips mean money. In the case of short tasks, such as a quick phone call, professionals sometime elect to either absorb the loss themselves, or bill the customer a flat rate for such services. Either way, someone loses.

Intelligent Designs, Inc., an Orlando, Florida-based software company, figures that this is an area where PDAs can serve a useful and cost-effective role. Time In Hand, a new product for Newton-compatible PDAs, enables professionals to use an on-screen timer to determine the time spent on a task and then record the event automatically.

While time tracking software is quite popular on desktop computers, the mobile nature of the Newton may make the application better suited for professionals that are not only away from the office, but also away from their desk for any period of time. After collecting any number of billings, the user can download the data to a desktop computer or connect the PDA directly to a printer where a client’s bill is printed in a form that is ready to mail.

Time In Hand enables a person to attach notes to individual time slips, generate several report formats, and have multiple time slips active at any one time. Time In Hand for Newton PDAs will be available in the first quarter of 1995, while the Windows, MS-DOS, and Macintosh versions are available immediately.

For more information, please contact Hap Aziz of Intelligent Designs, Inc., at (407) 894-1031, (407) 894-2384 (fax).

PenWare Enthusiastic About Envoy

When people talk about the horizontal market for personal digital assistants, what they effectively mean today is a market aimed at mobile professionals. Aside from word processing, one of the chief applications employed by this audience is the trusty spreadsheet.

Palo Alto, California-based PenWare has an old hand at the mobile market, having created the PenCell spreadsheet optimized for stylus input years ago, initially for use with Windows for Pen Computing. Since then, PenWare has ported a version of PenCell to the Sharp Wizard 9000 series handhelds and, most recently, to devices employing General Magic’s innovative Magic Cap operating system.

PenCell features direct in-cell input and editing using a stylus, while maintaining compatibility with Excel and Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets on the desktop. The user interface also includes features that better suit the mobile and ad-hoc nature in which the program is likely to be used.

PenCell for Magic Cap is already shipping commercially, having been bundled into the ROM of each Sony Magic Link communicator. In February, PenWare announced that PenCell will now be directly available to users of Motorola’s Envoy.

As you’ll recall, the Motorola Envoy is a wireless communicator also employing the Magic Cap system. PenCell for the Envoy, which comes on a standard floppy disk, is available immediately and carries a list price of $199, excluding shipping and taxes.

In addition to PenCell, PenWare has been active in creating Envoy’s communication software for use with the ARDIS PersonalMessaging system. PersonalMessaging is a two-way interactive, wireless messaging service that is available nationwide in the United States.

For more information, please contact Faruq Ahmad of PenWare at (415) 858-4920, (415) 858-4929 (fax).

Motorola Offers FlashDisk

Through the efforts of several vendors, PCMCIA-based cards are now an established standard for memory and storage expansion in a range of mobile computing and communicating devices. Motorola voiced its support for the standard by announcing the availability of its own line of FlashDisk flash memory cards.

The FlashDisk is the product of an OEM agreement between Motorola’s Dynamic Memory Products Division and SunDisk Corp., the largest supplier of flash-ATA mass storage cards in the world. The FlashDisk is based on SunDisk’s proprietary flash technology, coupled with microcontrollers supplied by Motorola.

Taken together, the FlashDisk offers a set of advantages over rotating media or other forms of PCMCIA-based storage by drawing very little power from the host device, while not requiring a separate battery in the card to preserve its contents. The FlashDisk is available in capacities ranging from 1.8 to 40 MB, with double capacity possible using data compression software.

The integrated controller in the FlashDisk is also 100 percent compatible with any operating system that supports IDE disk drives. The FlashDisk is priced at $190 for the 1.8 MB version, all the way up to $1,395 for the 40 MB card. For more information, please contact Dynamic Memory Products Marketing at (512) 933-6700.