ARC® Configurable Technology at the Heart of Three Generations of IPWireless 3G Broadband Solutions
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ELSTREE, England, March 6, 2007 - ARC International (LSE: ARK), the world leader in configurable subsystems and CPU/DSP processors, today announced that IPWireless - an ARC® customer since 2001 - has integrated ARC's configurable processors into three generations of wireless broadband products. These ARC-Based(TM) chips from IPWireless now are shipping to consumers globally in devices such as T-Mobile's dual band TD-CDMA plus quad band EDGE product that fits into most laptop computer PCMCIA slots. This announcement complements the new licensing agreements made public today by ARC International with semiconductor companies and design teams throughout Europe.
IPWireless's most recent ARC-Based 3G wireless broadband TD-CDMA device (mentioned above) incorporates an ARC 725D configurable processor which IPWireless adopted because of its small die size and best-in-class performance. The ARC 725D core enabled IPWireless's system-on-chip (SoC) design team to replace the function of two cores with one, saving valuable chip real estate and lowering overall product development cost.
"ARC's configurable processors have enabled us to create a string of innovative solutions for mobile internet access," said Roger Nichol, vice president of technology at IPWireless. "Configurability enables our chip engineers to maximize the efficiency of the ASIC by adding custom instructions, and to reduce gate count and power consumption by removing unwanted functionality."
IPWireless's ARC-Based(TM) Chip Development Strategy
For IPWireless's first family of wireless products, their challenge was to integrate a baseband processor with a microprocessor to create a single chip solution. After evaluating the options available from ARM, MIPS and ARC, an ARC core was selected because its configurable architecture enabled IPWireless's SoC design team to reduce the amount of code required by optimizing baseband processing routines, thus making the SoC smaller and more efficient. Because ARC's configurable processor can be implemented in an FPGA, IPWireless's design team also could fully emulate and test the design before moving to full silicon production, lowering overall development and production costs.
IPWireless's second generation SoC included scaling the manufacturing process to 90nm while retaining the same ARC configurable core design. Currently IPWireless is working on a completely new ARC-Based SoC design that will provide up to five times higher throughput than the existing ASICs.
About ARC International
ARC International is the world leader in configurable subsystems and CPU/DSP processors that are used by semiconductor companies worldwide to create system-on-chip (SoC) designs that provide a strategic competitive advantage. ARC's patented configurable products are smaller, consume less power, are less expensive to manufacture, and provide a higher degree of differentiation over what can be created using "fixed architecture" core alternatives.
ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate and research and development offices in California and Elstree, UK. For more information visit www.ARC.com. ARC International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE: ARK).
