ST preaches new 'Gospl' (Generalized Open Source Programmable Logic) for programmable logic

K.C. Krishnadas
(11/05/2004 7:52 AM EST)

  BANGALORE, India — STMicroelectronics is embarking on a campaign to promote its Generalized Open Source Programmable Logic (Gospl) platform, aiming to make it the Linux of the programmable logic world.

Gospl backers gathered here this week. Senior executives from the top semiconductor, EDA and electronics companies along with university researchers attended the meetings, according to Rahul Sud, group vice president and general manager at STMicrolectronics (Geneva). The New Dehli meeting was sponsored by ST, Cadence Design Systems and the Indian Institute of Technology.

Gospl was also the subject of a panel discussion during a technology conference here also addressed by Sud.

Gospl is owned by ST, and with its deep pockets and global reach, the chip maker has been seeking an "embedded array" type process. It says Gospl fits the bill.

"It has great promise, and can be an important technology in future, but not yet. Lots of things [need] to be addressed," one expert said.

ST had little to say about its Gospl meetings, which were by invitation only. Some observers viewed the launch as nothing more than a product pitch, while others saw it as a much-needed attempt at reconfigurability. Still others said the meetings may have been intended to seek guidance from the developer community.

Sud, founder of Lattice Semiconductor Corp., set up ST's flash memory division in the early 1990s. His latest initiative is the creation of ST's new FPGA division.

According to the Gospl Web site, "Gospl embodies a reconfigurable software platform" and and is positioned as "the hardware software Linux of the semiconductor world."One of the few Gospl users here, Uma Mahesh, director of silicon engineering at Insilica India, said it is a needed attempt in reconfigurability that holds promise. But, he added, success depends on how the details worked out. "While Gospl holds decent promise, it is still a work in progress," Mahesh said.