ARM Introduces New License Model For Big.Little Technology to Enable Wider Adoption

April 17, 2013 -- ARM has announced a new licensing model to enable broader access to big.LITTLE™ processing technology for ARM partners. By using multiple processors that are developed for different energy and performance budgets, big.LITTLE provides optimum performance and maximum efficiency. Under the terms of a single use design license (SUDL), ARM partners can license the individual components required to enable the development of a big.LITTLE system, including the ARM Cortex®-A15 and Cortex-A7 processors; the CoreLink™ Cache Coherent Interconnect (CCI-400); the Generic Interrupt Controller (GIC-400) and the AMBA® Domain Bridge (ADB-400), all as a single package.

ARM partners licensing the package can also license the Mali™-T600 GPU to provide industry-leading graphics performance to the platform, or ARM POP™ Technology for core-hardening acceleration to aid efficient implementation of their design.  

The Cortex-A15 processor is the highest performance processor available from ARM. The Cortex-A7 processor is ARM’s most energy-efficient applications processor. These two processors are combined together in the big.LITTLE technology to give users optimal performance for all kinds of simultaneous applications and tasks. The CCI-400 is the industry-leading, silicon-proven, cache-coherent interconnect for big.LITTLE systems. It has been designed and tested with other CoreLink components, such as the Network Interrupt Controller (NIC-400) and the Dynamic Memory Controller (DMC-400), which share the same end-to-end Quality of Service protocol.  

WHY

Due to the successful adoption of big.LITTLE processing by 17 partners to date, including Samsung, Renesas, CSR, Fujitsu and MediaTek, ARM has now created this new license model to enable enhanced access to the key big.LITTLE components from one package. This single-use design license will help ARM partners to develop a single big.LITTLE system, with the option to take a perpetual implementation license in the future.  

The big.LITTLE components are available under this new licensing model from today.  

About ARM

ARM designs the technology that is at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. Find out more about ARM by following these links:  

• www.thinkbiglittle.com   
• ARM website: http://www.arm.com
• ARM Connected Community®: http://www.arm.com/community
• ARM Blogs: http://blogs.arm.com