Industry sources claim that Motorola Inc is close to announcing a deal with Edge Computer Inc, Scottsdale, Arizona, in a bid to encourage customers to remain faithful to its 68000 product line. Edge produces 32-bit CMOS VLSI processors that use the Motorola 68000 instruction set, but have a three to five times performance advantage over the top-end Motorola 68030. And although Motorola has moved to fill this gap with its RISC processor, the 88000, it is still early days yet, and Motorola has not yet revealed its strategy and software tools for aiding the switch from the 68000 family. Olivetti has already turned to Edge for the top-end of its LSX range, and an unnamed Japanese company is now understood to have decided on Edge technology, while we hear that another major deal in Europe is also cooking. Watch this space.
