Creative Zii Platform Unveiled

Posted by thetonyweapon in Launch on Jan 8th, 2009 | Comments

chipEverything you did know about Creative has changed. Creative began with CEO Sim Wong Hoo developing an add on memory board for the Apple II. Welcome to the new generation of Creative Technology. Creative now is beginning their push into the processing market. They today unveiled the ZMS-05, a new supercomputing processor that is designed to work with a multitude of devices. It technically is a system on a chip. The ZMS-05 supports web browsing, HD playback, 3D graphics, touchscreen, and much more. 3DLabs finally became a fully integrated subsidiary of the company, changing its name to ZiiLabs and will begin drawing resources from Creative’s Personal Digital Entertainment division, the largest at the company. ZiiLabs is the brand that Creative will market the new Zii chip under. Click the read link for more in-depth information, including a excellent video.

The new chip is being built in collaboration with ARM (CPU core), Microsoft (Windows Media), and Opera (Internet). With support from these big names, device potential is extremely vast. GrandEye, a company promoting their 360° security camera, has been announced as a launch partner. Future partners include motherboard maker MSI, Astak, Perception Digital, and SiDa Electronics (HK). It’s also highly likely that Creative will no longer use competing processors from SigmaTel and Texas Instruments on its upcoming ZEN players.

This promotional video is an excellent explanation of what exactly the chip can do.

Here is a picture of the chip layout.details

Sites of Interest:

Press Release:

Creative Launches the Zii Platform and Ushers in the Era of StemCell Computing

Creative Forms ZiiLABS and Ushers in the Era of StemCell Computing Where Nano-Sized Super Computing Will Be Available in Our Daily Lives through Flexible, Tiny, Powerful and Scalable SoC

CES, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A. – Jan. 8, 2009 — Creative Technology Ltd. today announced the formation of ZiiLABS™ (a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative), with the combination of 3DLABS — which has a 25-year history as a leading innovator in programmable graphics, media and applications processing — and resources drawn from the largest product group in Creative, the Personal Digital Entertainment group.

The formation of ZiiLABS, the launch of the new ZiiLABS ZMS-05 SoC (System-On-Chip) and the new Zii™ Platform today usher in the new era of StemCell Computing™. The new ZiiLABS ZMS-05 SoC (System-On-Chip) will be unveiled and demonstrated from January 8-11 at the Consumer Electronics Show, South Hall booth #30651.

“We have invested a billion dollars and 10,000 man years of R&D effort over the last 25 years in platform solutions,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative Technology Ltd. “The combination of the technology from 3DLABS and the product development prowess of our Personal Digital Entertainment group delivers a complete, powerful and energy efficient platform with a very rapid time-to-market for our partners – the Zii Platform.”

“We now look to shaping the future of computing with the introduction of the integrated ZMS-05 media-rich processor, and ushering in the new era of StemCell Computing where we will bring the incredible benefits of nano-sized super computing right into our daily lives,” said Hock Leow, president of ZiiLABS.”

This StemCell approach has benefits in terms of:

  • Flexibility — Utilizing a breakthrough technology comprising of programmable Processing Elements (PEs) which are basically Software Defined Silicon
  • Scalability — 10Gigaflops to Petaflops (1015 floating point operation per second)
  • Energy Efficiency — Huge processing power of the ZMS-05 SoC enables it to perform more in less time, equating to low power consumption
  • Complete Solution — Ready-for-Market Zii Platform Solutions

Unlimited Flexibility

Stem cells are the basic building blocks of life, possessing the unique ability to develop into the specialized cells and tissues required by organisms to function effectively. Inspired by this concept, the ZMS architecture uses an array of media-optimized Processing Elements (PE) as its stem cells that can instantly develop into any of the specialized acceleration functions required of today’s media rich devices and offering advantages in terms of flexibility, performance and features when compared to the fixed function silicon blocks traditionally used in SoC designs.

Incredible Scalability

The scalability of the ZMS architecture is highlighted in the first Teraflop Accelerator with the footprint of an A4-sized sheet of paper, consuming less power than a desktop PC. By utilizing the virtually unlimited chaining capability of the ZMS chips, a state-of-the- art ‘hypercomputer’ with many Petaflops of processing power can be realized, which can be 100 times smaller, 100 times greener and 100 times lower cost than conventional super computers.

High Energy Efficiency

Due to the compute density of each Processing Element, the ZMS-05 SoC is able to do an immense amount of media processing in far less time — and with far less energy — than taken by standard processors; which translates into longer battery life. Intelligent power control means the speed and power consumption of the processor can be matched to the task in hand and unused features can be turned off completely, put in deep stand-by and reactivated instantly after weeks of shut down, helping to lengthen battery life even further.

Complete Zii Platform Solutions

The ZMS-05 processor combines the media processing array, dual ARM cores and a rich set of integrated peripheral controllers with hardware platforms and advanced SDK and middleware. This will enable Software Developers, OEMs, ODMs and System Integrators to create unlimited possibilities and develop a broad range of highly innovative products.

ZiiLABS Launch Partners

With the excitement about the ZiiLABS platform now public and the ZMS-05 in production, the Company is pleased to be working with many OEM partners worldwide announcing products based on ZMS including: MicroStar International, Perception digital, F&S Electronic, MediaNet, ASTAK, PowerLinux and Grandeye.

For more information, please visit www.Zii.com

About ZiiLABS

ZiiLABS is a worldwide leader in media-rich application processors, hardware platforms and advanced middleware. Its products enable OEMs, ODMs and system integrators to deliver industry-leading devices across a broad range of consumer electronics and embedded markets. Originally founded in 1994 as 3DLABS, the company re-branded and joined with the Personal Digital Entertainment group of Creative Labs to form ZiiLABS in January 2009. ZiiLABS with over 800 R&D engineers today has invested US$1 billion and 10,000 man years in media processing solutions and has offices in the UK, China, USA and Singapore.

For more information please contact:

Tim Lewis
ZiiLABS
+44 (0)1784 476 651
tim.lewis@ziilabs.com

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  • ericore
    ericore:

    They haven't answered their own question yet, "Everything you know is about to change"

    Why, you say.
    Because the answer to that question and to whether the product would be revolutionary depends only only on the following:

    1. It must be able to find itself in everyday computing devices; desktops, laptops. It must be scalable lol your device isn't scalable if it
    can't find its way into everyday computing, and if it cannot it is not stem cell computing as you Creative say it is. They have not
    provided any information on whether it will make its way to notebooks or desktops.

    2. It must be cheap. No price announcement.

    3. It must be faster than a conventional CPU and or GPU if it is indeed superior or better than the former as Creative claims it is.

    In fact, IBM's cell processor is very competitive with the Zii. Like IBM's cell, it is not suited for everyday computing thus despite creative's claims it is most likely not a true scalable processor as Creative claims it to be. Further it has a far inferior manufactoring process than Intel's fabs which doesn't say much about a OMG revolutionary product. Fools, don't hype a product than disappoint.

    That's the negativity. On the other hand, despite that it is most likely not revolutionary for everyday computing it is probably revolutionary for everyday portable devices not including laptops but possibly including the Iphone and devices of the like. Mostly, in terms of power savings. You can expect devices to run much longer, even in digital cameras for instance, which is revolutionary in and of itself. But it doesn't change the world. It doesn't change everything. And as for there supercomputing claims, well IBM could do the same with there cell processors; nothing new there. Don't overstate yourself again creative, do not disappoint me and the consumer.

    dboobis:

    1. Whether or not this finds its way into laptops/desktops rather depends on software manufacturers. If Microsoft were to incorporate the supposed scalability of this architecture into a future Windows version, then no doubt the world would be changed - instead of having to code for a variety of chipsets and core speeds, programmers would only have to code for one, and the middleware would scale performance according to the hardware setup. Instead of seeing "Reccomended : Core2Duo 2.33ghz" etc on games or software, it would say "Reccomended : 2 x Zii architecture". Imagine being able to use the exact same software on your phone, laptop, desktop, PMP, TV, fridge, you name it. In addition, if motherboard manufacturers really get on board with this, then consumers would be able to buy a comp that is truly able to adapt to their needs. I could go into how utilising this SoC in consoles would revolutionise the gaming market, but I think I've made my point.

    2. Not really worth complaining about, no price is no price.

    3. Infinitely scalable to me says that in some form it will be faster and more powerful than a conventional setup. For all we know, Creative might not actually be fabricating the chipsets themselves, rather licensing the technology out to Intel or AMD. Imagine if the next generation of Intel chips are built around this architecture - no more dual core/quad core/i7 nonsense, if you need more than one core, buy it and slot it in.

    Finally, don't even begin to say that the Cell is a competitor to this. A multicore processor is in no way comparable to a fully scalable system-on-a-chip. The only way to get scalability out of Cell processors is to daisy-chain them, which introduces bottlenecks in the connections. From what I can tell, this system allows for direct connection between processing units, thus eliminating the bottleneck.

    ericore:

    It's as I suspected, a disappointment:
    http://www.engadget.com/2009/0...

    This fellow( dboobis ) taunts otherwise.

    But as the above post indicates the Zii is for Commericial applications not everyday users like me & you. Further, the Zii is for Media purposes only and does not scale up to everyday computing. dboobis might of said, well its not the chip that's the problem is the lack of software to accompany the chip; assuming this is the case, it is still as of now not a revolutionary product because of that.

    The Zii is like the Cell chip in that they are video processing chips like those found in graphics processors and not designed for everyday computing even though the Zii can potentially reconfigure itself for the task; the PE are fundamentally designed for video processing unlike what some of the videos at Zii.com say.

    The only thing that's revolutionary is that creative can pair up as many of these processors with next to no bottleneck, but how does that matter if this product is for commercial users only and does not revolutionize everyday day computing on our laptops and desktops? It doesn't.
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