ARM Digital Audio and Video Software Now Available for Symbian Platform

SYMBIAN DEVELOPER EXPO, LONDON, UK - Nov. 6, 2000 -- ARM [(LSE:ARM); (Nasdaq:ARMHY)], the industry's leading provider of 16/32-bit embedded RISC processor solutions, today announced that it has digital audio and video CODEC (Coder-Decoder) software technology which now supports the Symbian platform for wireless information devices.

ARM has ported four existing digital audio and video CODEC solutions to the Symbian Platform: the ARM MP3 Audio Decoder, the ARM MPEG-AAC Audio Decoder, the ARM MPEG-4 Video Decoder software and the ARM MPEG-4 Video Encoder software. The company selected the Symbian technology as the first operating system for specific support from the CODECs because of Symbian's mission to develop a global standard in operating systems within the wireless industry.

"Symbian is a growing force in wireless and is supported by many key OEMs such as Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Panasonic," said Dave Walsh, director of Software IP for ARM. "ARM's decision to pre-port these popular CODEC solutions to the Symbian platform and understand the associated system integration, will assist with the time-to-market issues being faced by the growing number of developers using both ARM and Symbian technology. ARM's software technology enables extremely power efficient and easy-to-integrate audio and video solutions, which in turn is enabling a new generation of wireless platforms for 2.5G and 3G audio and video applications."

ARM's MPEG4 video decode technology is currently integrated into the products of two of its technology partners: GEO Interactive Media and PacketVideo Corporation. Geo Interactive Media is also a licensee of the ARM MPEG4 encode, MP3 audio decode and MPEG-AAC audio decode software technology for integration into their solutions. These companies incorporate the software in their ARM Powered[tm] wireless information solutions, providing their customers with product functionality including digital audio playback, digital video playback and digital video messaging.

The ARM CODECs are designed to run on a host ARM CPU, providing an optimal solution for mobile computing and allowing increased product functionality by supporting multiple standards without additional processing hardware.

The CODECs which support the Symbian platform are available now, from ARM and its partners. For more information on the ARM CODECs, visit the ARM website at www.arm.com.

About ARM
ARM, a leading intellectual property (IP) provider, licenses high-performance, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals, and system-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 the volume RISC standard in such markets as portable communications, hand-held computing, multimedia and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.