Patriot (OTC: PTSC) has an eclectic product mix including antenna technologies, scientific radar sensors, ISDN modems, and a microprocessor which has perked our interest. The company is approx. 7 years old and has been working on the microprocessor design for many years. Patriot acquired the processor when it purchased Nanotronics in 1994. The processor has a long history beginning with Chuck Moore's attempt to create a processor for the stack-oriented Forth language. Patriot has grown from 10 to 40 employees mainly due to the acquisition of MetaComp.

The PSC processor family combines the best features of a RISC processor and a zero-operand stack architecture. Forth, Postscript and Java, most recently with much fanfare, all map very closely to the stack oriented processor. If you don't know what a stack architecture is, try HP's RPN (reverse polish notation) calculators. Patriot has been heavily promoting its processor as the ideal Java engine, since Java is a stack-oriented language, and expects to have a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) port in early Q1. The PSC-1000 is fabricated on National's 0.8u technology. The PSC-1005, a 0.5u technology shrink that clocks at 90-100Mhz and operates at 3.3V or 5V will be introduced in Q1 using TSMC's foundry. The processor doesn't have a FPU, but does have floating-point support instructions. The processor also has a programmable DRAM controller interface and a concurrent I/O processor, highly useful for real-time industrial applications. Besides Java machines, the architecture is well suited for embedded industrial applications, motion control, laser printers, set top boxes, smart card readers, magnetic card readers and wireless communications. The I/O processor enables the PSC to perform real time I/O, such as motion control, while the main processor is concurrently executing code, such as postscript. The processor has been designed into the WebBook, a handheld web browser.

Patriot also makes an ISDN modem, Cybershark, which will be folded into MetaComp, acquired by Patriot in November. MetaComp makes and markets telecommunications boards and subsystems to Motorola, HP, GE Spacenet and AT&T. Cybershark is an PC compatible, ISA card that use 2 B channels to run at up to 128Kbps. Future versions of the Cybershark will integrate the PSC processor to enhance the performance and lower the cost.

On the surface Patriot appears to be a strange company. Ground penetrating radar technology? ShBoom processors? What's it all about? The company recently hired Michael Carenzo as President and Derek Best as VP of Sales and Mktg., and will be making a concerted effort to change its image. The corny processor name, ShBoom, will be dropped for the more professional "PSC" family. The antenna technologies and scientific radar sensors will probably be sold off. The ISDN modems will be rolled into MetaComp. Besides selling ICs, Patriot is actively trying to license its technology, similar to ARM's strategy. One current licensee will be introducing a single-chip set-top box IC that uses the PSC core. Patriot will also market this product.

Patriot has signed two reps., Premier in Santa Clara, CA and Compunetics of Troy, MI. The company is eager to sign reps. worldwide to focus on major market opportunities. Introducing new processors is a formidable challenge, especially for a small company with limited resources. However, the PSC family will appeal to customers that can benefit from a stack-oriented architecture and Patriot appears to be making the right moves to enhance its market acceptance.

Jim Lunney- CEO, President