Analog Devices releases data on its new Sharc processor

Bangalore: Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE:ADI) has released data to the media that suggests that its latest SHARC floating-point processor delivers almost a three-fold increase in megaflops per dollar over its nearest VLIW DSP competitor.

The company says that the ADSP-21375, starting at $5, will allow engineers to utilise the precision of floating point processors in even the most cost-sensitive application areas. Offering breakthrough levels of 319 megaflops per dollar, the new SHARC is ideal for a wide variety of applications such as mass market audio/video, industrial, and medical products.

"Thanks to our newest SHARC Processor, DSP programmers will no longer need to trade off precision for price," says Jerry McGuire, general manager, convergent platforms and services group, Analog Devices Inc. "Often times, on integer machines, programmers spend as much development time ensuring the numerical accuracy of their algorithms as they do in implementation. Floating-point processing eliminates concerns of dynamic range and enables significant reduction of development time. In addition, the $5 price point reduces system eBOM costs making the ADSP-21375 SHARC floating-point precision accessible to the broadest range of today's products and tomorrow's emerging applications."