ARM Sets Performance Standard With Two New ARM11 Cores

CAMBRIDGE, England, Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ARM [(LSE: ARM; Nasdaq: ARMHY)], the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessor solutions, today introduced two new microprocessors, the ARM1136J-S(TM) core and the ARM1136JF-S(TM) core at the Microprocessor Forum, San Jose, Calif. These two new CPU products are the first microprocessor core implementations of the ARM11(TM) microarchitecture, which was announced at the Embedded Processor Forum in San Jose in April 2002. (See press release ... ARM Announces Next-Generation ARM11 Microarchitecture ... Apr. 29, 2002). Both products are based on the ARMv6 instruction set architecture. ARM also launched the ARM11 PrimeXsys(TM) Platform today, which is powered by these new cores (see separate press release ... ARM Launches New ARM11 PrimeXsys Platform ... Oct. 14, 2002).

The ARM1136J-S core and the ARM1136JF-S core are targeted at a wide range of consumer, wireless and networking applications such as set-top boxes, digital cameras, 2.5 and 3G mobile phones, voice-over-IP (VoIP) infrastructure equipment, broadband modems, residential gateways, WLAN access points and security devices. The ARM11 microarchitecture features a high-performance pipeline and high-bandwidth memory system which, when combined with clock gating throughout, results in an extremely compact and power-efficient microprocessor core. With a typical operating frequency of over 533MHz in 0.13u process, these two new cores are the only licensable microprocessor intellectual property (IP) to deliver performance of over 600 Dhrystone MIPs (un-optimized) at under 200mW.

At the heart of the new high-performance cores is an eight-stage pipeline with two-cycle cache access to enable high frequency implementation. Both cores feature a flexible, high-performance memory system with configurable instruction and data cache, plus high-speed local memory (TCM) with dedicated DMA to augment the processing of real-time data. Four high-speed 64-bit system on-chip interconnects ensure ample bandwidth for data and instructions.

The Memory Management Unit (MMU) supports leading operating systems such as Microsoft, SymbianOS, WindRiver and Linux and includes physically tagged caches -- which reduce OS context switch times, and improve processor utilization by eliminating forced cache flushing by the OS.

The ARMv6 architecture contributes SIMD instructions to accelerate multimedia performance, such as MPEG4 encoding in software, by a factor of two over the ARMv5 architecture.

The new cores also feature improved real-time response with a low- interrupt-latency mode, vectored interrupt support and 3x times faster interrupt entry using new stack and mode-change instructions. Low-power operation is ensured by extensive clock-gating throughout the design and two low-power modes to support system-level power management.

"Performance features coupled with the traditional ARM® core strengths of low power consumption, small die size and tight code density are critical factors in many embedded applications -- particularly in portable devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras and wireless LAN NICs," said David Cormie, CPU product manager, ARM. "The ARM1136 cores deliver very high effective performance within a compact physical and power envelope to meet the evolving demands of these applications and the requirements of our Partners."

The new 'F' extension added to the ARM1136JF-S core signifies the inclusion of a floating-point coprocessor function that, in addition to consumer and wireless applications, also makes the core highly suitable for automotive applications. Floating-point coprocessors are ideal for embedded control applications such as power train and vehicle dynamics systems, and are also a key requirement for many 3D graphics applications. Both cores include the ARM Jazelle(TM) extensions for enhanced Java(TM) acceleration and the ARM "E" extensions for DSP acceleration. The ARM1136J-S core and the ARM1136JF-S core are delivered in a synthesizable format and are designed to work seamlessly with commercially available libraries and RAM compilers, which helps to speed up integration of the cores into system-on-chip (SoC) devices. The ARM1136J-S core and the ARM1136JF-S core deliver over 400 MHz worst-case for 160mW in a 1V, 0.13 micron process.

The ARM1136J-S core and the ARM1136JF-S core are supported by the ARM RealView(TM) development solution consisting of RealView Compilation Tools, the RealView Debugger tool, the Multi-ICE® tool, RealView ICE(TM) products and RealViewTrace(TM) products.

About RealView Tools

RealView tools by ARM provide designers with the best solution for creating and analyzing systems based on ARM technology. ARM RealView tools are designed and used by the same creators of the ARM architecture and, therefore, enable the highest level of pre-silicon evaluation and development and the broadest range of support for future architecture families and derivatives. ARM RealView tools are fully integrated and provide a complete solution to any design or SoC integration challenge, giving the developer higher confidence in first silicon and a faster time-to-market.

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 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 at www.arm.com .