A few years back, I was engaged to participate in the implementation of a new (ATMEL) ARM7 in a communication device.

The ARM7 in question was being developed by a French team hired by/otherwise-belonging-to ATMEL, and they made all sorts of claims about their chip's SDRAM interface, internal boot FLASH, multiple internal (TI) DSP's, etc. One by one, it became clear that their plans were falling apart. By the time we bought their (VERY costly) evaluation board, we found that, not only didn't their "boot" flash not work, but their SDRAM channel didn't work either, nor did several other features, which, thank God, I've managed to forget by now. Ultimately, after much probing via email and begging the local FAE to intercede on my behalf, did we learn that the part was probably a non-starter because they couldn't get it working.

Throughout the entire time I had to beg for information, thanks to the French team's unwillingness to provide accurate information, and often was fed mis-information just so I wouldn't give up on the ATMEL part.

Today, none of my clients use ATMEL devices of any sort. I don't recommend them no matter how much less costly the ATMEL parts are, because I don't wish to be associated with a company that does business in that way, or its products. If they ever do choose an ATMEL device, I won't be responsible.

RE