Motorola Alliance With TTTech Strengthens Auto Tech Portfolio
15 July 1998
Motorola Alliance With TTTech Strengthens Automotive Technology Portfolio
MUNICH, Germany--July 15, 1998--Motorola, the world's leading supplier of silicon chips to the automotive industry, is forming a technology alliance with TTTech of Austria which will speed the development of advanced automotive electronics applications in areas such as braking and steering.
TTTech (Time-Triggered Technology) Computertechnik GmbH was formed following pioneering work at the Vienna University of Technology on a new industrial electronics communications protocol, TTP/C. A number of the world's vehicle manufacturers are looking to incorporate this type of protocol into future designs because of its particularly high levels of fault tolerance.
Although final terms remain to be negotiated, TTTech and Motorola intend that Motorola will design and manufacture microcontrollers with TTP/C modules for automotive systems and will nominate TTTech as a preferred development tools supplier.
The timely release of these tools will give vehicle manufacturers the opportunity to design-in features using the protocol, including the development of operating systems, in advance of production of the microcontrollers themselves. TTTech intends to validate this and future TTP/C modules for compatibility with the TTP/C conformance test suite.
"This agreement will give vehicle manufacturers the `green light' they've been waiting for to build-in advanced features for the cars of the next decade such as electromechanical steering and braking using the new protocol," said Karl-Thomas Neumann of Motorola's Transportation Systems Group. "This will open a world of opportunities for our DigitalDNA technology to bring more life to systems of the future."
Hermann Kopetz, member of the executive board of TTTech and inventor of the TTP/C technology commented: "We're delighted to be working to incorporate the TTP/C protocol into embedded solutions within Motorola's world-leading microcontroller program.
"The great advantage of Time Triggered Technology is that it allows manufacturers to design and build fault-tolerant real-time systems with minimal effort. This technology alliance will result in high-quality systems with shortened time-to-market and reduced development and maintenance efforts."
"This is another great example of Motorola partnering with the leading company in a particular field to provide the best solutions for our customers," added Bill Matthews, Motorola's European Operations Manager for Transportation and Safety Chassis Systems.
"Using Motorola's leading cores, such as M-CORE, chips with the TTP/C protocol will enable car manufacturers to design-in new features with confidence that the silicon will be available to support them."
As the world's No. 1 producer of embedded processors, Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector offers multiple DigitalDNA solutions that enable its customers in the transportation, consumer, networking and computing, and wireless communications markets to create new business opportunities. Motorola's semiconductor sales were $8.0 billion in 1997.
In the global marketplace, Motorola is also one of the leading providers of wireless communications, advanced electronic systems, components and services. Major equipment businesses include cellular telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics and computers. Corporate sales in 1997 were $29.8 billion.
TTTech is the first company offering products for the development of dependable embedded real-time systems based on the new paradigm of Time-Triggered Technology. TTTech's hardware products -- including a first prototype TTP/C controller chip -- enable customers to build TTP-based experimental systems easily. TTP software tools assist the engineer during the whole TTP/C development process.
Starting from automotive applications, e.g., X-by-wire, TTTech's product range supports all applications where dependable real-time performance is an issue, such as aerospace, industrial control, robotics, medical electronics and many more.
TTP/C is a distributed real-time fault-tolerant protocol for computer systems. It has been specifically designed for embedded control and dependable systems. This innovative communication protocol allows the design, construction and maintenance of complex systems with faster turn-around times at lower cost. For dependable systems, such as automotive X-by-wire systems, TTP/C is even an enabling technology.
Further information can be obtained from the respective Web pages http://www.motorola.com and http://www.tttech.com.
NOTE: Motorola, DigitalDNA, M-CORE are registered trademarks of Motorola Inc. TTP/C is a registered trademark of FTS Ges.m.b.H.