EEMBC Marks 10th Anniversary of Its Founding

    EL DORADO HILLS, Calif., July 11 /PRNewswire/ -- A decade after its
 founding, and despite the challenges of its mission to establish
 industry-standard benchmarks for the diverse world of embedded processors,
 the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) is enjoying a
 period of thriving growth and increasing technical sophistication as it
 celebrates its 10th anniversary.
     EEMBC began as a "hands-on" project conducted by Markus Levy at EDN
 Magazine in early 1996 and held its founding meeting in Boston in 1997. Its
 charter members included Analog Devices, ARM, Hitachi (now Renesas), IBM,
 LSI Logic, MIPS, Motorola (now Freescale), NEC, Philips (now NXP), QED (now
 PMC Sierra), SGS Thomson (now ST Micro), Siemens (now Infineon), Sun, Texas
 Instruments, and Toshiba.
     Today, EEMBC counts 70 processor, tool, and system vendors among its
 commercial members and licensees. Additionally, the consortium contributes
 to fundamental research in the embedded processor field by licensing its
 software to qualified college and university faculty members at a
 substantial discount.
     "When Markus first presented us with the EEMBC idea, we all agreed that
 benchmarking embedded microprocessors according to objective criteria was a
 worthy endeavor," said Ahmad Zandi, currently CTO and VP of engineering at
 Solidware Technologies, who attended EEMBC's founding meeting in 1997 as a
 representative of Sun Microsystems. "To see how far EEMBC has come in its
 first 10 years is a testimony to the vision of Markus Levy and the
 perseverance of EEMBC's members."
     The first certified EEMBC(R) benchmark scores were published in April
 2000. To date, the consortium has published more than 350 score reports and
 is now working on the second- and third-generation versions of its
 application-focused benchmark software.
     "We recognized long ago the need for what EEMBC is doing, while
 realizing that it might take many years for the organization to attain a
 solid foothold as an industry standard," said Geoff Lees, general manager
 of the Microcontroller product line at NXP Semiconductors, a member of
 EEMBC since July 1997. "It is gratifying to have reached the point where we
 can use the EEMBC benchmarks in a way that clearly benefits our customers
 and the entire industry, and to be an active participant in the development
 of new EEMBC benchmarks that will support more complex processor
 architectures."
     Lees was among the speakers at a recent EEMBC Board of Directors
 meeting during which long-time participants in the consortium offered their
 perspectives on the consortium's accomplishments and contributions to the
 embedded industry. Additional presenters included Alan Anderson of Analog
 Devices, Sergei Larin of Freescale Semiconductor, John Hogan of MIPS, Roger
 Shepherd of STMicroelectronics, and William Bryant of Sun Microsystems.
     "EEMBC has evolved for us from just another benchmark suite to a
 prerequisite for virtually every new product introduction campaign," said
 Larin, a senior applications engineer at Freescale and chair of EEMBC's
 Consumer Subcommittee. "EEMBC maintains its relevance by offering realistic
 and practical tests, by allowing optimization to be performed in a
 controlled environment, and by insisting on certification as a condition of
 publishing scores. This is why EEMBC enjoys support from so many major
 industry players."
     "In 1997, most processors were general-purpose microcontrollers or
 microprocessors," said EEMBC President Markus Levy. "Today, the industry
 has shifted to SoCs and other types of application-specific devices. This
 means that EEMBC must test more than just the processor core, and our
 purview must expand to testing memory architectures and integrated
 peripherals. We are working towards a more system-level approach with new
 multicore, automotive, office automation, and storage benchmarks. I am
 confident that EEMBC will continue to support the embedded industry well
 with standards that point the way to improvements from which all of us can
 benefit."
     About EEMBC
     EEMBC, the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium, develops and
 certifies real-world benchmarks and benchmark scores to help designers
 select the right embedded processors for their systems. Every processor
 submitted for EEMBC benchmarking is tested for parameters representing
 different workloads and capabilities in communications, networking,
 consumer, office automation, automotive/industrial, embedded Java, and
 network storage-related applications. With members including leading
 semiconductor, intellectual property, and compiler companies, EEMBC
 establishes benchmark standards and provides certified benchmarking results
 through the EEMBC Technology Center.
     EEMBC's members include Adaptec, Altera, AMD, Analog Devices, ARC
 International, ARM, Artifex Software, Broadcom, Cavium Networks, CEVA, Code
 Sourcery, esmertec, Freescale Semiconductor, Fujitsu Microelectronics,
 Green Hills Software, IAR Systems AB, IBM, Imagination Technologies, Improv
 Systems, Infineon Technologies, Intel, LSI Logic, Marvell Semiconductor,
 Matsushita Electric Industrial, Mentor Graphics, Microchip Technology, MIPS
 Technologies, National Instruments, NEC Electronics, Netcleus Systems,
 Nokia, NXP Semiconductors, Oki Electric Industry Co, PA Semi, Qualcomm,
 Realtek Semiconductor, Red Hat, Renesas Technology, Sony Computer
 Entertainment, STMicroelectronics, Sun Microsystems, Tensilica, Texas
 Instruments, Toshiba, VIA Technologies, and Wind River Systems.
     EEMBC is a registered trademark of the Embedded Microprocessor
 Benchmark Consortium. All other trademarks appearing herein are the
 property of their respective owners.
 
 

SOURCE EEMBC