ARM and NeoMagic Expand Licensing Agreement

Combination of ARM926EJ-S Core With ARM PrimeXsys Platform to Reduce Time-to-Market of Advanced MiMagic Applications Processors For Handheld Systems

CAMBRIDGE, England and SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ARM [(LSE: ARM); (Nasdaq: ARMHY - News)], the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC processor technology, and NeoMagic Corporation (Nasdaq: NMGC - News), a pioneer of applications processors for multimedia-rich handheld systems, today announced that NeoMagic has expanded its license agreement with ARM to include the ARM926EJ-S(TM) synthesizable core and the ARM® PrimeXsys(TM) Wireless Platform.

Incorporating the ARM926EJ-S core into the PrimeXsys Wireless Platform will enable NeoMagic to accelerate the development and time-to-market of high-integration, low-power applications processors for popular handheld devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones and portable music and video players. This agreement builds on the existing relationship between the two companies and indicates NeoMagic's continued expansion and development of its MiMagic(TM) family of applications processors, which bring full system-on-chip (SoC) integration of high performance multimedia features such as graphics, video and audio to small, battery operated devices.

"NeoMagic clearly benefits from extending our license agreement beyond the previously licensed ARM720T(TM) core, and we intend to take full advantage of the evolution of the ARM9E(TM) family," said Sanjay Adkar, vice president of corporate engineering at NeoMagic. "In addition, the ARM PrimeXsys Wireless Platform improves our time-to-market for future ARM core-based devices, allowing us to focus our own engineering efforts on the innovative technologies for low-power, high-performance multimedia functionality, which NeoMagic does best," he added.

"The PrimeXsys Wireless Platform is well suited for NeoMagic because it provides the tools support and methodology to enable rapid product differentiation. With PrimeXsys technology and the ARM926EJ-S core, NeoMagic is able to extend their design capabilities, integrating their own intellectual properties onto a proven platform, lowering their development risks and decreasing time-to-market," said John Goodacre, ARM Platform Architecture manager. "The combination of ARM's industry-leading architecture with NeoMagic's array processor technology will enable a new generation of innovative SoC solutions for multimedia-rich devices."

Licensing the ARM926EJ-S core gives NeoMagic the ability to develop applications-focused devices incorporating the ARM Jazelle(TM) technology for Java acceleration. The ARM926EJ-S core combines industry-leading performance with the very low power of ARM Jazelle technology and an MMU to support virtual memory, required by many of today's leading operating systems (OS).

By licensing the PrimeXsys Wireless Platform based around the ARM926EJ-S core, NeoMagic also benefits from the pre-ported OS and application development environment that the platform provides. The ARM PrimeXsys Wireless Platform is a highly integrated, extendible platform incorporating all the hardware, software and integration tools that lower development risk by delivering pre-validated application software and a wide range of OS ports.

About NeoMagic

NeoMagic Corporation, based in Santa Clara, California, provides applications processors to enable new generations of handheld systems, offering the lowest power, smallest form-factor and best multimedia features and performance. The company has pioneered the integration of complex logic, memory and analog circuits into single-chip solutions. NeoMagic is mobilizing multimedia for the Internet age. Information on the company may be found on the World Wide Web at www.neomagic.com .

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, handheld computing, multimedia digital consumer and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available at www.arm.com .