ARM Continues To Drive Performance Of Highly Reliable Applications With New Breed Of ARM11 Cores

ARM1156T2-S core and ARM1156T2F-S core address the requirements of fast, reliable and energy efficient applications for next generation devices

CAMBRIDGE, UK, - Oct. 13, 2003 – ARM [(LSE: ARM); (Nasdaq: ARMHY)], the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC microprocessors solutions, today announced at the Microprocessor Forum in San Jose, Calif., two new microprocessors from the ARM11™ family, the ARM1156T2-S™ core and the ARM1156T2F-S™ core. These new CPUs are based on the ARMv6 instruction set architecture and are targeted at a wide range of deeply embedded storage, automotive networking and imaging applications such as high-performance disk drives, digital still cameras, engine management units and cable modems.

The new cores extend the range of the ARM11 family of cores to provide new levels of CPU performance and throughput while adding specific functionality to help solve the design challenges of next-generation devices. Features added to the architecture include fault tolerant memory capabilities that are vital in the development of safety critical applications such as automotive safety critical systems.

The ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores will be the first CPUs released that integrate ARM Thumb-2 core technology extensions, enabling Partners to further reduce memory system related costs. Thumb-2 core technology is a blended 16-bit and 32-bit instruction set architecture for low power, high performance and small footprint code, this delivers software solutions that are 26 percent smaller than existing ARM solutions and 25 percent faster than existing Thumb solutions. The ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores also conform to the new AMBA™ 3.0 AXI bus specification for high-performance systems requiring high data throughput.

"In an increasingly competitive environment, system developers strive to balance the conflicting requirements for high-performance embedded systems with the need to maintain low costs while extending battery life," said Richard Phelan, embedded cores manager at ARM. "With a new operating frequency of up to 550MHz worst case figure for high performance foundry process in 0.13u process, Thumb-2 instruction set efficiency and the data throughput capabilities of the AMBA 3.0 AXI system bus, the ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores equip Partners with the Intellectual Property (IP) necessary to address the high-performance requirements for a wide range of emerging embedded control applications."

The increased capabilities of the ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores provide an easy path for existing ARM946E-S™ and ARM966E-S™ core-based designs requiring extended capabilities and higher performance. The ARM1156T2F-S core includes a vector floating-point unit to accelerate the complex calculations necessary in automotive and imaging applications.

Both the ARM1156T2-S and the ARM1156T2F-S cores include the ARM-Synopsys RTL to GDSII Reference Methodology within the standard deliverables. The reference methodology significantly streamlines the process used by ARM Partners to port synthesizable ARM microprocessor cores to their chosen technologies, by potentially reducing the time required to harden and model the core.

Availability and Tool Support
The ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores are compatible with the ARM CoreSight™ enhanced debug and trace solution, also announced today at the Microprocessor Forum (see press release…CoreSight Debug and Trace Technology Available for Complete System-on-Chip Designs… Oct. 13, 2003). The ARM CoreSight solution builds on the company's Embedded Trace Macrocell™ technology (ETM) and provides developers with benefits such as higher compression of trace information, system bus monitoring and trace units and on-chip trace buffer technology. The ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores are also supported by the ARM RealView® Developer Suite software.

The ARM1156T2-S and ARM1156T2F-S cores will be released to ARM Partners in Q2 2004.

About ARM
ARM (LSE: ARM; Nasdaq: ARMHY) 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 http://www.arm.com/.

ARM and RealView are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. ARM946E-S, ARM966E-S, ARM11, ARM1156T2-S, ARM1156T2F-S, Embedded Trace Macrocell, AMBA and CoreSight are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc (LSE: ARM and Nasdaq: ARMHY); its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; and ARM Belgium N.V.

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