The Global Embedded Processor Debug Interface Standard Consortium (originally code-named, the Nexus Project) today announced that it has become a program of the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO). The group, which is changing its name to the 5001™ Forum, will continue its efforts to advance the development, dissemination, and implementation of the Global Embedded Processor Debug Interface Standard.

The name change reflects the submission of Version 1.0 of the standard to the IEEE-ISTO for publication, distribution, and future management as IEEE-ISTO 5001™ -1999, The 5001™ Forum Standard for a Global Embedded Processor Debug Interface. The standard will be available, for free download from the IEEE-ISTO web site, in early October 1999. IEEE-ISTO 5001-1999 will be distributed as the first industry standard of the IEEE-ISTO.

"The IEEE-ISTO presented our group with a unique forum that provides an open environment with support services that allows the GEPDIS Consortium to continue innovative developments, marketing, validation, and implementation initiatives for the embedded control market," said Ron Stence, Transportation Systems Group, Systems Engineering, Motorola, Inc. "Motorola along with the other consortium members support this transition to the IEEE-ISTO as a major milestone in this effort. The move to the IEEE-ISTO helps to insure an open implementation of the standard that the consortium members have been working towards for 18 months. Motorola will continue to work within the new organization to solve one of the industries most challenging problems in the embedded controller market. We support the evolution of the group, and recently issued a press release indicating that the Global Embedded Processor Debug Interface Standard will be adopted and incorporated into Motorola's architectures, as well as the Semiconductor Reuse Standards (SRS) V2.0, scheduled for release in 4Q99."

"We welcome the 5001™ Forum as a program of the IEEE-ISTO. The IEEE-ISTO will manage the administrative details of the organization, to enable the membership to focus on the technical, rather than administrative, issues at hand," said Andrew Salem, IEEE-ISTO president and CEO. "Additionally, the IEEE-ISTO will play a key role in the rollout and administration of the future 5001™ validation program."

The industry group was formed in April 1998 to define and develop a much-needed embedded processor debug interface standard for embedded control applications. As advances in semiconductor and system design continue, embedded applications are using higher-performance embedded processors. Efficient use of these embedded processors requires software and hardware development tools that can easily access critical processor functionality.

However, the lack of a unifying standard among the various embedded processors on the market has impeded this accessibility, preventing tool vendors from creating standard tools with consistent functionality across a broad range of processors. This, in turn, has become a gating factor for chipmakers, tool providers and developers. Ultimately customers are forced to pursue costly custom solutions to meet their tool needs.

The 5001™ Forum Standard for a Global Embedded Processor Debug Interface is an emerging open industry standard that provides a general-purpose interface for the software development and debug of embedded processors. Standardization on this interface benefits customers' reuse of their 5001™ compliant development tools on compliant processor architectures from member companies. The 5001™ Forum is currently defining methods and a process by which 5001™ compliance can be validated to further support the global implementation goals of the organization.

Although the initial focus of the effort was initially based on the stringent requirements of the automotive powertrain applications, the goal is to develop a general purpose standard, encompassing all industries that will benefit from this standard interface, such as data communications and computer peripherals, wireless systems and other embedded control applications.

5001™ Forum Members

The 5001™ Forum is open to all interested companies. Current members of the 5001™ Forum represent all aspects of the technologies required for embedded control applications: embedded processor suppliers, independent tools providers, semiconductor and hardware development tools, and software tools (emulators, compilers, simulators, debuggers, RTOS's, etc.). Member companies of the 5001™ Forum include the original founding members, ETAS Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Hitachi Semiconductor (America) Inc., Infineon Technologies, and Motorola Inc. Additional members include: Applied Dynamics International, Applied Microsystems Corporation, Ashling Microsystems Ltd., Diab-SDS, Digital Logic Instruments, Green Hills Software, Inc., Macgraigor Systems L.L.C., Metrowerks Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Nohau Corporation, Noral Micrologics, Tektronix, Inc., and Yokogawa Digital Computer Corp.

Additional companies have participated in the activities of the forum, and are currently in the process of joining as 5001™ Forum members.

Embedded Systems Conference

The 5001™ Forum, and many of its member companies will be participating in the upcoming Embedded System Conference from September 26-30, 1999 in San Jose, CA. A tutorial titled "The New Development Interface Paradigm" will be presented on Thursday, September 30th by Sam Lee, Kevin Hall, both of Hewlett-Packard Company, and Ron Stence of Motorola, Inc.

About the IEEE-ISTO

The IEEE-ISTO is a not-for-profit corporation offering industry groups an innovative and flexible operational forum and support services. The IEEE-ISTO provides a forum not only to develop standards, but also to facilitate activities that support the implementation of standards in the marketplace. The organization is affiliated with the IEEE (http://www.ieee.org/) and the IEEE Standards Association (http://standards.ieee.org/).

For additional information regarding the IEEE-ISTO and the 5001™ Forum visit http://www.ieee-isto.org, or contact Peter Lefkin, IEEE-ISTO secretary treasurer and CFO, at 732-981-3434, or ieee-isto@ieee.org.