Toshiba adds ARM processor core to speed Java execution in mobile devices

Toshiba adds ARM processor core to speed Java execution in mobile devices
By Semiconductor Business News
January 30, 2002 (7:47 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020130S0008

TOKYO -- Toshiba Corp. today announced it has expanded the licensing of RISC design cores from U.K.-based ARM Ltd. with the addition of the ARM926EJ-S processor, which has been optimized for wireless applications such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

The licensed RISC core contains ARM's Jazelle technology, which accelerates Java execution by up to eight times compared to mobile systems using software-only execution of programs, according to ARM. The processor core is also capable of running other platform operation systems, such as Linux, Palm OS, Windows CE, and Symbian OS in mobile applications, said the Cambridge, England-based company.

Terms of the RISC licensing agreement were not released. Toshiba has been an ARM licensee since 1999.

"Mobile products are evolving to embrace such functions as image transmission that requires de facto standard Java technology-based middleware," noted Shigeru Komatsu, genera l manager of the Telecom and Network Division at Toshiba Semiconductor Co. in Japan. "This license will allow us to easily offer a Java technology-based SoC solution to our customers."