PortalPlayer Licenses ARM Technology for Digital Audio Applications

Powerful 32-bit ARM7TDMI Core Enables Price/Performance Leadership In Chips for Consumer Entertainment Systems

CAMBRIDGE, England and SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ARM [(LSE: ARM); (Nasdaq: ARMHY - News)], the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions, and PortalPlayer, Inc., the industry's only supplier of digital audio platforms for consumer electronics, today announced that PortalPlayer has licensed the ARM7TDMI® core for implementation in digital audio encode and playback devices. ARM® core- based products from PortalPlayer(TM) are used by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original device manufacturers (ODMs) to develop complete digital audio product families, from player-only portable devices to digital audio-enabled encoding and playback systems for the pocket, home and car.

PortalPlayer's complete platform solutions include a highly integrated System-on-Chip (SoC) controller, firmware, digital media manager application software and reference designs to speed system integration. PortalPlayer's SuperIntegration(TM) SoC controllers, based on the ARM7TDMI processor core, provide a programmable and upgradeable solution for digital audio playback and recording applications with the performance headroom needed to accommodate the evolving requirements of the digital audio entertainment market. Coupled with PortalPlayer's extensive firmware library, system designers can enable the set of audio encoders, decoders, digital rights management and audio effects processing features that exactly fit their target application. This flexibility and extensibility gives consumer product OEMs a significant time- to-market advantage.

"PortalPlayer established its leadership in digital audio platforms using ARM core-based designs manufactured for us by strategic partners," said John Mallard, president and chief executive officer of PortalPlayer. "With the addition of the ARM7TDMI core to our Customer Owned Tool (COT) flow, PortalPlayer is able to aggressively manage the timeframe and costs for new chip development. As a result, we will continue to bring new high- performance, high-integration platform solutions to the growing market for consumer digital audio devices sooner than our competition."

"As a leader in this arena, PortalPlayer makes full use of the integration, performance and low-cost benefits of the ARM7TDMI core to deliver SoC products that meet the exacting demands of current and next-generation digital audio devices," said Dr. Tom Cronk, director, Wireless, ARM. "This agreement underscores the suitability of ARM technology for the growing consumer electronics space, a market where low power with high performance is a must."

The ARM7TDMI core, a 32-bit embedded RISC processor, is optimized to provide the best combination of performance, power and area characteristics. The ARM7TDMI core enables system designers to build embedded devices that meet the small size, low power and high performance requirements of applications such as wireless handsets and personal audio accessories.

About ARM

ARM is the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions. The company licenses its high-performance, low- cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals and System-on-Chip (SoC) designs to leading international electronics companies. ARM also provides comprehensive support required in developing a complete system. ARM's microprocessor cores are rapidly becoming a volume RISC standard in such markets as portable communications, hand-held computing, multimedia digital consumer and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available on http://www.arm.com .

About PortalPlayer, Inc.

PortalPlayer, Inc. supplies consumer electronics manufacturers with complete platform solutions for open and secure delivery and management of digital media via the Internet. The company develops and markets advanced systems for digital audio recording and playback using MP3 and other popular digital compression technologies. Founded in May 1999, PortalPlayer is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with major offices in Seattle, Washington; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Hyderabad, India. The company has grown to more than 200 employees worldwide and has received three rounds of venture capital funding. Top tier investors include J.P. Morgan Partners, CIBC World Markets Corp., LSI Logic Corp., Techfund and Vulcan Ventures, Inc.