Arkle Res Regulatory News (ARK)

11 Mar 2008 07:02

Arc International PLC11 March 2008 Media Contact: Jonah McLeodARC International+1 408 437 3477Jonah.Mcleod@arc.com New ARC(R) Energy PROTM Core Family Slashes Power Consumption By Up to 75% End-to-End Advanced Energy Saving Techniques Lengthen Battery Life for Mass Market Portable Applications SAN JOSE, Calif., and ST. ALBANS, England, March 11, 2008 - ARC International(LSE: ARK) today introduced a new family of licensable, 32-bit configurablecores that will further extend its leadership in low power processing. The ARC(R) Energy PROTM core family leverages the company's recently announced, ultralow power Energy PRO technology to set new standards for low power consumptionby reducing power usage by up to 75 percent. The Energy PRO family is aimed atthe portable and embedded microcontroller markets where lower power consumptionis a critical design issue especially in multi-core designs. A new release ofARC's MQX(R) operating system is included with the new Energy PRO cores,providing additional ability to reduce system-on-chip (SoC) power consumptionthrough monitoring and controlling the SoC's power by parts other than the coreitself. ARC's new Energy PRO cores use a holistic approach to power reduction thatcombines sophisticated hardware and software techniques with a tool chain andlibraries. New innovations include architectural clock gating and dynamicvoltage and frequency scaling to reduce power usage, which are under the controlof a dedicated Power Management Unit. Power control also can be extended toother functional blocks within the SoC to significantly reduce total chip power. By combining the most appropriate energy saving strategies on a per-block andper-subsystem level, SoC designers can define multiple power management modes toensure that the device uses the minimum possible power while still providing therequired performance on a real time basis - even to the extent of shutting thecore down when no threads are running. "Holistic, end-to-end solutions will help customers meet challenging low powerdesign requirements imposed by portable consumer devices," explained BillJackson, ARC's vice president of marketing. "For the first time advancedpower-saving techniques are available to SoC designers that address powerconsumption at each stage of creating CPUs and SoCs." The ARC(R) Energy PRO Core Family Each member of the new Energy PRO core family is configured to address aspecific application area. The ARC Energy PRO 20 is an ultra low power,cacheless CPU/DSP core that is designed for embedded applications including hardreal-time controllers, dedicated function blocks and medical devices. Closelycoupled, single cycle memories provide the fast computation and deterministicresponse required in hard real-time applications. The ARC Energy PRO 30 is anultra low power CPU/DSP core designed to function as a complete processorsolution for applications such as portable and mobile appliances, wirelessconnectivity management and RTOS-based systems. Both cores can take advantage of ARC's optional advanced modules including ARCXY Advanced DSP, ARC FPX single and dual floating point extensions, and SmaRTreal time trace. Energy PRO cores are fully configurable by licensees usingARChitect(R), ARC's processor configurator tool. ARChitect producessynthesizable RTL which is compatible with all major industry standard EDAflows. A fully integrated Reference Design Methodology (RDM), based on the Common PowerFormat (CPF), has been developed with Cadence Design Systems. It leverages theCadence(R) Low-Power Solution to reduce power consumption and provides a drop-insolution that improves productivity and reduces time to market. Virage Logic'sArea, Speed and Power (ASAPTM) Logic Low-Power Standard Cell libraries are usedin order to demonstrate advanced power savings features such as isolation cellsand level shifters. MQX(R)-EP RTOS MQX-EP has been specially designed to complement ARC's new Energy PRO corefamily. This new RTOS provides developers with an easy-to-use softwareinterface for system-wide power management, monitoring and profiling, thusenabling Energy PRO's power saving features to be fully exploited and optimizedfor deeply embedded, real-time applications. The combination of ARC's MQX-EPsoftware and Energy PRO processors create a holistic solution. MQX-EP provides an advanced level of software integration with Energy PROtechnology, and the resulting power reductions are enabled by the MQX softwaretechnology and the MetaWare(R) development tools. This combination ofpre-verified hardware, software and development tools equips ARC customers witha complete end-to-end solution. Availability The new ARC Energy PRO cores and the MQX-EP RTOS are now available forlicensing. For more information, contact ARC sales representatives or e-mailinfo@arc.com. # # # About ARC International plcARC International is the world leader in multimedia subsystems and configurableCPU/DSP processors. Used by over 140 companies worldwide, ARC's configurablesolutions enable the creation of highly differentiated system-on-chips (SoCs)that ship in hundreds of millions of devices annually. ARC's patentedsubsystems and cores are smaller, consume less power, and are less expensive tomanufacture than competing products. ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate and research anddevelopment offices in San Jose and Lake Tahoe, Calif., St. Albans, England, andSt. Petersburg, Russia. For more information visit www.ARC.com. ARCInternational is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc(LSE: ARK). ARC and the ARC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARCInternational. All other brands or product names contained herein are theproperty of their respective owners. This press release may contain certain"forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, including thedevelopment, implementation, and release of features described herein. These areat the sole discretion of ARC International. Licenses from 3rd parties forcertain software and essential patents may be required depending on licensee'suse/implementation. For other factors that could cause actual results to differ,visit the company's Website as well as the listing particulars filed with theUnited Kingdom Listing Authority and the Registrar of Companies in England andWales. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange