EEMBC Journal - Summer 2002 NEWS FROM EMBEDDED MICROPROCESSOR BENCHMARK CONSORTIUM www.eembc.org In this issue 1. 24 New Benchmark Scores for Five Motorola Processors 2. EEMBC Publishes Benchmark Scores for Toshiba's TMPR4927 MIPS-Based 64-Bit RISC Processor 3. FROM THE LAB: Our Summer of Hard Work Pays Off for EEMBC 4. New Telecom Benchmark Scores For Improv Systems' Jazz DSP(tm) 5. A Foundation of TCK Compliance for EEMBC's Java Benchmarks 6. Registered Users At www.eembc.org Near 10 K Mark _________________ 1. 24 New Benchmark Scores for Five Motorola Processors In the largest single benchmark score publishing event by one member since its founding five years ago, EEMBC posted 24 score reports for five Motorola processors on July 22, bringing to more than 150 the number of score reports available for free on the EEMBC web site. The Motorola devices tested and certified by the EEMBC Certification Labs (ECL) include the MPC755, MPC603e, MPC8245, and MPC7400. All four processors were tested against EEMBC's telecomm, networking, consumer, industrial/automotive, and office automation benchmark suites, with out-of-the-box scores offering designers an unprecedented opportunity to compare PowerPC device performance in specific applications according to objective, real-world criteria. Additionally, Motorola's MPC7455 was tested against EEMBC's telecomm and networking benchmark suites, providing both out-of-the-box and optimized benchmark scores and demonstrating the single-instruction-multiple-data (SIMD) capabilities of Motorola's AltiVec(tm) architecture. To generate these benchmark scores, Motorola used a variety of compilers including Green Hills Software, Metaware, Metrowerks, and Wind River Diab. "Motorola is making an enormous contribution to the embedded industry by making benchmark scores available that will allow designers to compare the performance of such a wide range of PowerPC devices and compilers," said Markus Levy, EEMBC president. "The ability to evaluate device performance according to objective criteria is becoming increasingly important for design decisions in our industry. As one of the industry's largest manufacturers of embedded microprocessors, it is gratifying to see the leadership role taken by Motorola in making this a standard way of doing business by allowing us to make its scores public on the EEMBC web site and by including EEMBC scores in its product documentation and collateral." "EEMBC benchmark scores are useful in Motorola's embedded microprocessor marketing activities," said Glenn Beck, director of marketing for Motorola's Computing Platforms Division. "EEMBC provides market-specific code that we can use to measure and showcase the performance of our microprocessors in applications like high-end routers and wireless base stations. We applied the C language AltiVec(tm) programming model to the telecommunications and networking benchmarks in accordance with EEMBC rules for optimizing results. Then, any PowerPC ISA compiler can achieve a 3-4X speed-up with AltiVec-a benefit that our customers are seeing in real world applications." Direct links to the detailed score reports for the Motorola processors are available now on the home page of the EEMBC web site (www.eembc.org). _________________ 2. EEMBC Publishes Benchmark Scores for Toshiba's TMPR4927 MIPS-Based 64-Bit RISC Processor Toshiba has launched a third round of EEMBC benchmark score publications with postings for the TMPR4927, a 64-bit, MIPS-based RISC processor aimed at networking, printer, and other general-purpose applications. Tested against EEMBC's networking, consumer, office automation, and telecomm benchmark suites, the TMPR4927 achieved out-of-the-box consolidated scores of 3.8 Netmarks(tm), 14.2 Consumermarks(tm), 165 OAmarks(tm), and 2.9 Telemarks(tm). "The EEMBC benchmark scores give customers confidence that the highly integrated TMPR4927 processor will meet and exceed performance requirements of their end product," said Farhad Mafie, vice president of TAEC's ASSP Business Unit. "Based on the Netmark consolidated score, the 200 MHz TMPR4927 achieved outstanding performance per MHz in the networking category compared to similar 32/64-bit processors that underwent the same rigorous testing. As a result, customers can benefit from faster packet transfers and even lower system costs," Farhad added. The TMPR4927 scores combine the architecture's efficient capabilities with that of the Green Hills compiler. "Green Hills Software is very pleased to have helped Toshiba achieve the outstanding EEMBC scores with our C compiler. By working together, Toshiba and Green Hills have optimized code generation that will benefit Toshiba's customers building products based on the TMPR4927," said Robert Redfield, director of Partner Programs, Green Hills Software, Inc. TMPR4927 Out-of-the-Box Consumer http://www.eembc.org/benchmark/score/ScoreReportWin.asp?BenchmarkSeq=313 Networking http://www.eembc.org/benchmark/score/ScoreReportWin.asp?BenchmarkSeq=311 Office Automation http://www.eembc.org/benchmark/score/ScoreReportWin.asp?BenchmarkSeq=310 Telecomm http://www.eembc.org/benchmark/score/ScoreReportWin.asp?BenchmarkSeq=314 _________________ 3. FROM THE LAB: Our Summer of Hard Work Pays Off for EEMBC The semiconductor and software industries may be hurting (for now), but judging by the increased interest in certifications, EEMBC 1.1, and participation, you can only conclude that companies are ready to get down to business and really compete for customers' design-ins. Have you seen how many companies have published scores recently? In the last EEMBC Journal we talked about EEMBC Version 1.1 and how much better it is than EEMBC 1.0. We'd like to strongly encourage people to begin moving to EEMBC 1.1, because it's time. As per the EEMBC Board of Director's vote in Las Vegas, starting in October 2002 we will no longer certify EEMBC 1.0. But worry not - moving to this code base will make your lives easier, more fruitful, and probably cure the common cold. Or at least your headaches associated with 1.0! We're proud to say that we are nearly finished with this work, which will be ready by the time of the EEMBC Monterey, California meeting. Undergoing final testing by our crack team of volunteer TechTAG participants, EEMBC 1.1 Beta 2B will become EEMBC 1.1. ECL could not have completed this work without the input, testing, and debugging work of the following people/companies, and I wanted to recognize them individually. Each EEMBC member benefits when people like these TechTAG members get in and really contribute - but I suspect that if you ask them if they benefited as well, you'd find that participating has given them a head start, given them new technical knowledge, and allowed them to interact with both ECL and their fellow EEMBC members on a rewarding group effort. So, with that in mind, here are the Heroes of Version 1.1: * Chuck Corley (Motorola) - Without Chuck's help, EEMBC 1.1 would not be as multiple-toolchain friendly as it is. Chuck's testing found juicy bugs, too - bugs that often needed pest control applied. * Patrick Webster (ARM) - Patrick didn't show up at TechTAG meetings - he preferred to just test each version as hard as he could, and found some interesting anomalies that were squashed like the aliens they were. * Ron Olson (IBM) - Ron never missed a TechTAG, and the laconic Beamer from RTP tested every single release/drop, and found bugs worth finding. * David Lamar (NEC) - 8/16 Bit Microcontroller Benchmark Contributions. Lest we forget, the 8/16 Bit Microcontroller Benchmark Suite was the first release of Version 2, and the Test Harness Lite basic concepts he approved in that suite have been carried over into 1.1 (and in the rest of 2.0). * Rick Foos (ECL)- EEMBC's code base has grown to be too much for me to handle alone, and I appointed ECL Director of Engineering, Rick Foos, in charge of 1.1. His patience, dedication to bug-fixing, and tireless long hours, has been an inspiration. His nickname should be "Raid" to represent the enormous number of bugs he has squashed, not to mention the key insights he has provided into the cleanup of 1.0. * Sergei Larin (BOPS, ECL) - While working for BOPS, Sergei never failed to build, test, debug, and find bugs in all EEMBC code. ECL decided to hire Sergei to work on Version 2 as a contractor (for his second term as an ECL Staff Associate), and his contributions in testing to 1.1 were invaluable. But lest we forget, these TechTAG members also provided help, input, testing, and guidance (in no particular order): Stig Linander (MIPS), Hamish Fallside (Xilinx), Rob Whitton (Siroyan), Lawrence Spracklen (Sun Microsystems), Craig Gleason (HP), Allan Tajii (Hitachi), Wilco Dijkstra (ARM), Elena Stohr (ARM), Shay Gal-on (Improv Systems), Amanuel Belay (Motorola), Tom Karzes (Equator), Michele Christie (Green Hills), Winnie Cheng (Xilinx), Chris Dorman (ARM), Dan Temple (MIPS), Toru Bajii (SuperH). We welcome all EEMBC members to come and join TechTAG, the technical community of EEMBC. It's easy - just send an email to: alan@ebenchmarks.com and we'll point you in the right direction. Oh, one more thing: a new EEMBC Operations Guide, depending on when you read this, will be, or already is, available in the Members Section of the EEMBC website. This is 'must-read EEMBC" and would make a dandy wedding present or graduation gift for that special someone. Alan R. Weiss yr. ob. srv. ECL-EEMBC Certification Laboratories _________________ 4. New Telecom Benchmark Scores For Improv Systems' Jazz DSP(tm) Improv Systems, Inc. announced that it has approved publication of certified benchmark scores for the Jazz DSP(tm) processor. In a 250-MHz simulation environment, the Jazz 2020 achieved a score of 0.03193 Telemarks(tm) per MHz, the highest recorded out-of-the-box score to date for any processor tested against EEMBC's Telecom benchmark suite. The EEMBC Certification Laboratories (ECL) provided independent verification by using Improv's cycle-accurate simulator. "Improv's out of the box, standard C scores were impressive," said Alan R. Weiss, ECL chairman and CTO. "Because Improv's software tools are easy to use and performed flawlessly, the certification was very straightforward. If anyone doubts configurable, scalable processors, they need only go to the EEMBC Web site for hard data that proves their worth and shows how the gap is closing between hard-wired and programmable processors." With the publication of the Jazz DSP scores, visitors to the EEMBC Web site can now make direct comparisons between nine processors tested in simulation environments against EEMBC's Telecom benchmark suite, including the Infineon Carmel, the Motorola MPC7455, the TI C62, the LSI402ZX, the ARM1020E, the Tensilica Xtensa T1030, and the ARCtangent-A4. "Today's processors for embedded systems must be fast, efficient and effective in specific application areas," said Oz Levia, chief technical officer at Improv Systems. "EEMBC recognizes the importance of having an application focus which is why they use real parameters and application-focused test suites in their benchmarks. As a result, EEMBC and ECL play a key role in providing customers with valuable, relevant, and unbiased data on processors for embedded applications." Jazz DSP(tm) Scores based on simulation Telecomm http://www.eembc.org/benchmark/score/ScoreReportWin.asp?BenchmarkSeq=316&Cer tificationType=OPT _________________ 5. A Foundation of TCK Compliance for EEMBC's Java Benchmarks EEMBC has announced that devices tested against the Consortium's Java(tm) benchmark suite, planned for introduction later this year, will comply with the Sun Microsystems Java Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) to qualify for certification and publication of EEMBC(r) benchmark scores. The Java Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) is a suite of tests, tools, and documentation that provides a standard way of testing an implementation to ensure that it complies with Sun's Java specification. A vendor's implementation of the specification is considered Java-compatible only if it passes the TCK fully and completely. "The TCK requirement will help ensure that EEMBC Java benchmark scores enable apples-to-apples comparisons between various embedded Java devices and implementations," said Markus Levy, EEMBC president. "As with our other application-focused suites, we're working to ensure that our Java benchmark suite provides all vendors with a level playing field in which the performance of their products can be measured according to objective, verifiable standards." EEMBC's forthcoming Java benchmark suite will measure the performance of Java virtual machines (JVMs), just-in-time Java compilers, Java accelerators and coprocessors, other Java execution mechanisms, and the interaction of all of the above with a host operating system in an embedded application. Sub-suites will target specific Java applications such as cell phones, PDAs, smart cards, and set-top boxes. "Today anyone can license Sun's TCK to verify compatibility, as evidenced by the hundreds of Java licensees worldwide, including competitors of Sun Microsystems," said Ken Tallman at Sun. "By making Sun's TCK its Java compatibility test, EEMBC is helping to avoid confusion in the marketplace and to ensure that vendors who have already licensed Java and passed the TCK will not be unfairly disadvantaged." _________________ 6. Registered Users At www.eembc.org Near 10 K Mark Demonstrating the growing popularity of EEMBC, the number of visitors to the EEMBC web site continued to grow in the first six months of 2002. Registered users, who have asked to receive regular updates from the Consortium on its activities, now number 8,505. The number of benchmark score reports being viewed by web site visitors has jumped as well. Last year, score reports saw an average of 1,664 views per month. For the first six months of this year, that number has nearly doubled to 2,980 views per month. A new home page feature that allows users to obtain the latest scores with a single click has been in place since May, and is intended to make score reports more accessible than ever before. _________________ If you do not wish to receive e-mail from EEMBC, you can un-subscribe by accessing the following link: http://www.eembc.org/asp/unsubscribe.asp. EEMBC sends no more than one e-mail per month to registered users at www.eembc.org. Continuing your subscription ensures you'll be notified when new scores and other important announcements are available.