10th Sep 2007 07:45
ARC International (LSE:ARK), the leader in configurable multimediasubsystems and CPUs/DSPs, today extended its leadership in enablingenergy efficient system-on-chip (SoC) design by introducing "EnergyPRO" technology that enables ultra low power operation.Configurability enables creation of power efficient cores. Energy PROfurther reduces power consumption by as much as four fold. ARC's newEnergy PRO technology is supported by hardware and software solutions,and integrated with a new low power EDA flow and libraries that havebeen specifically optimized to Energy PRO. See the companion newsrelease by Cadence and ARC dated September 10, 2007 for moreinformation. £ Today ARC also announced an Early Access (EA) Program for its newEnergy PRO technology that is available to a limited number of OEM andsemiconductor companies. The EA Program enables qualified participantsto be the first to market with this new industry leading low powertechnology, which is ideal for applications such as battery-operatedmobile devices (WiFi and WiMAX technologies, and digital radios) andimplantable medical products (pace makers and hearing aides). £ "As SoC designers move to deep submicron technologies, managingpower when the device is idle is as important as when it isfunctioning. Energy PRO technology takes direct aim at solving thischallenge," said Paul Holt, vice president, product development andservices at ARC International. "Energy PRO enables the intelligentmanagement of power in an SoC to ensure that each logic or memorycomponent is only using the amount of power needed to perform itsfunction effectively at any moment in time. It includes hardware andsoftware techniques necessary to conserve energy, and allows designersto dynamically take advantage of new power saving capabilities.Applications can use the techniques by directly leveraging thesoftware APIs and code provided by ARC." £ Why Save Power? £ Today, our "always on, always connected" culture has made lowpower an essential feature for the vast array of electronic componentsthat accompany us everyday. And the functionality of these devices isincreasing as is the demand for battery power. While batterytechnology has only managed to increase by a factor of two to four inthe last 30 years, computational power of digital integrated circuitshas increased by more than four orders of magnitude. Even with newbattery technologies, such as the rechargeable lithium polymers,battery capacity is not expected to improve by more than 30 to 40percent over the next five years. In the absence of low power designtechniques, future portable products will have either unreasonablyheavy battery packs or a very short battery life. £ Leveraging Hardware to Save Power £ ARC's new Energy PRO technology provides multiple hardwaretechniques that can be exploited by the SoC designer to conserveenergy. Clock gating can be used to shut off clocks when the ARCprocessor or subsystem is idle, reducing power consumption to lessthan 10 percent of nominal power consumption. Multiple power domainsare provided that can be selectively powered-off, bringing the totalpower consumption to almost nil when the functionality is not needed.It is also possible to dynamically scale both voltage and frequencywhen only a subset of functionality is desired, reducing the powerconsumption by up to 75 percent. Designers may also choose to employthe different techniques based on the desired functionality of the SoCat any given time. £ Leveraging the New Cadence EDA Flow to Save Power £ ARC also provides a new, specially optimized reference designmethodology (RDM) in its ARChitect(TM) Processor Configurator thatcaptures the low power design intent of Energy PRO and conveys it totape-out. Created in partnership with Cadence Design Systems, Inc.,the new RDM is automatically generated in ARChitect and allows thedesigner to implement various Energy PRO features while takingadvantage of Virage Logic's Area, Speed and Power (ASAP) Logic(TM)standard cell libraries and Ultra-Low-Power standard cellarchitecture. £ Exploiting Energy PRO's Full Capability £ Energy PRO technology can be used to intelligently manage power inan SoC to ensure that each logic or memory component is only using theamount of power needed to perform its function effectively at anymoment in time. Energy PRO provides a hardware interface that the SoCdesigner can use to extend the low power techniques to other parts ofthe SoC. Thus, the SoC designer can coordinate power management acrossthe SoC to derive maximum benefit from the technology. £ Energy PRO also provides a software API that enables designers touse the power control features of the Energy PRO architecture. ThisEnergy PRO API can be incorporated into any operating system or useddirectly by an application without an OS. ARC's MetaWare(R) toolsprovide the programming support for Energy PRO. £ ARC's MQX(R) RTOS also supports Energy PRO by providing an APIthat allows designers to program Energy PRO specifically for a givenapplication. The MQX RTOS can record power management activity forapplications running on an SoC. Based on this information, the MQXRTOS APIs can be used to fine tune the Energy PRO power management andmaximize power savings. The MQX RTOS can also intelligently adjust thepower management settings based on thread requirements and workloadprofile to ensure power efficiency. £ Availability £ ARC will employ Energy PRO technology in future processor coresand multimedia subsystems targeting power sensitive applications.ARC's first Energy PRO-based processor core is available to qualifiedcustomers under the Early Access Program. For more information contactARC sales representatives or e-mail info@arc.com. £ About ARC International plc £ ARC International is the world leader in configurable mediasubsystems and CPU/DSP processors. Used by over 140 companiesworldwide, ARC's configurable solutions enable the creation of highlydifferentiated system-on-chips (SoCs) that ship in hundreds ofmillions of devices annually. ARC's patented subsystems and cores aresmaller, consume less power, and are less expensive to manufacturethan competing products. £ ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporateand research and development offices in Silicon Valley and St. Albans,UK. For more information visit www.ARC.com. ARC International islisted on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc(LSE:ARK). £ ARC and the ARC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks ofARC International. All other brands or product names contained hereinare the property of their respective owners. This press release maycontain certain "forward-looking statements" that involve risks anduncertainties, including the development, implementation, and releaseof features described herein. These are at the sole discretion of ARCInternational. Licenses from 3rd parties for certain software andessential patents may be required depending on licensee'suse/implementation. For other factors that could cause actual resultsto differ, visit the company's Website as well as the listingparticulars filed with the United Kingdom Listing Authority and theRegistrar of Companies in England and Wales. Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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