Microprocessors: New architectures increase speed, and RISC processors are moving from university laboratories into commercial products
John Voelcker, Harold A. Hoeschen · IEEE Spectrum · 1986
In surveying developments in 1985, the author notes that CMOS technology now dominates the field, and architectures based on reduced-instruction-set computer (RISC) concepts are beginning to move from university laboratories into commercially available products. The existence of entire families of coprocessors-chips designed to perform special functions in close communication with the CPU-gained importance for customers selecting among a multiplicity of 32-bit options. The capabilities and potential of Intel's 80386 are discussed, and descriptions are given of the new architectures introduced in 1985.