ARM lends hand to inSilicon, LinkUp and Triscend

ARM lends hand to inSilicon, LinkUp and Triscend
By Michael Santarini, EE Times
September 11, 2000 (10:38 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000911S0010

InSilicon Corp. (San Jose, Calif.) has licensed the ARM MicroPack and PrimeCell Peripherals from ARM Ltd. (Cambridge, England) and will offer them in combination with its communications cores to silicon manufacturers and system developers worldwide. In addition, ARM has announced that LinkUp Systems Corp. (San Jose) and Triscend Corp. (Mountain View, Calif.) have also taken licenses.

The PrimeCell Peripherals are Amba-bus-compliant cores developed by ARM for system-on-chip (SoC) integration. The ARM MicroPack design kit allows SoC designers to integrate the PrimeCell Peripherals with additional third-party intellectual property (IP) into Amba-bus-based platforms. "This agreement will enable inSilicon to offer solutions using ARM's industry-leading system-on-chip infrastructure and peripherals together with inSilicon communications technology IP," said Robert Nalesnik, vice president of marketing for inSilicon. "The embedded market is evolving fr om reuse of single IP cores to complete system solutions with highly integrated functionality and optimized performance."

According to the companies, over the past year customers have increasingly used the combination of inSilicon cores with ARM-powered designs. The companies said the agreement not only extends an existing relationship but also broadens the availability of the Amba-based IP.

The Amba specification is an open bus standard that serves as a framework for system-on-chip designs. Since the specification is processor- and technology-independent, it is said to enhance the reusability of peripheral and system macrocells across a range of IC products.

In addition to announcing the inSilicon deal, ARM revealed that LinkUp Systems has joined the ARM Partnership and licensed the ARM720T CPU core. LinkUp will embed that core in next-generation systems-on-chip targeted at the Internet and mobile markets, the companies said.

The companies said the agreement will expand Link Up's product portfolio, enabling it to provide a range of customers with a complete processor-plus-peripherals solution on a single chip. Those on-chip peripherals are said to include liquid-crystal display and memory control, Universal Serial Bus and Bluetooth connectivity, and access to industry-standard storage options.

LinkUp Systems offers reference designs for such Internet appliances as pocket PCs, set-top boxes, Web phones and Web pads. The company said it will use the newly licensed ARM720T microprocessor core in system-on-chip devices employing 0.18-micron process technology. The devices' 1.8-V operating voltage and their power conservation features suit them for mobile use.

The systems-on-chip will target next-generation smart cell phones based on such packet-based air interface standards as GPRS and Edge, as well as Wireless Application Protocol-enabled phones.

Triscend, meanwhile has licensed the ARM7TDMI-S synthesizable RISC microprocessor core from ARM. According to t he companies, Triscend already uses an ARM7TDMI processor core from Sharp for its A7 family of configurable system-on-chip devices. But Triscend hopes that by using the synthesizable version of the ARM microprocessor core, it can incorporate a synthesis-driven design flow to accelerate the adoption of leading process geometries for next-generation ARM-powered configurable SoC products.

Triscend's configurable system-on-chip is a single-chip combination of an industry-standard microprocessor, embedded programmable logic, memory and dedicated system bus. The company said its solution has been proven in the 8-bit E5 configurable SoC family, which has been shipping for more than a year.

For further information, visit www.arm.com, www.insilicon.com, www.linkupsys.com and www.triscend.com.