Computing in transition
Nick Tredennick · 2007
Since shortly after its introduction, the microprocessor has dominated the design of electronic systems. The success of the microprocessor, sustained by the march of Moore's law, stalled innovation in logic design for more than 30 years because programming became a substitute for hardware design. This was possible because the design goal of the personal computer and other microprocessor-based systems, representing the majority of the semiconductor market, was cost-performance. The advent of the value PC and the burgeoning of mobile devices have conspired to change the design goal to cost-performance per watt. Traditional microprocessor-based design cannot meet the challenge of the new design goal, so computing is in transition. A host of multiprocessor configurations and a host of reconfigurable systems vie for control of the next generation of computing applications. Computing is in transition, but the outcome is unpredictable.