ARM Announces Processor Licensing Agreement With PMC-Sierra For Cortex and MultiCore Processors

–ARM today announced that PMC-Sierra, Inc., a leading provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductors, has licensed the high-performance ARM® Cortex™-A8 processor and ARM11™ MPCore™ multicore processor for a broad range of designs, including devices for Passive Optical Networks (PON) and ASIC devices.

The licensing agreement expands PMC-Sierra’s portfolio of highly integrated ARM Powered® SoC solutions. The popular ARM Cortex-A8 processor is one of the highest performing, most power-efficient processors developed by ARM, with the ability to scale in speed from 600 MHz to more than 1GHz. The ARM11 MPCore multicore processor provides a scalable solution that can be configured to contain between one and four processors, delivering over 3000 Dhrystone MIPS of aggregate performance. With an enhanced memory system capable of over 6GB (Gigabytes) per second throughput, the ARM11 MPCore multicore processor also provides software portability across single-CPU and multi-CPU designs.

“PMC-Sierra is committed to providing our customers with breakthrough performance, scalability and flexibility, while minimizing overall power consumption and cost,” said Ken Wagner, PMC-Sierra’s director of Design Services. “The ARM Cortex-A8 and ARM11 MPCore processors provide the robust performance, power efficiency and throughput necessary to handle extremely high data rates for Enterprise and Passive Optical Networking applications.”

PMC-Sierra provides flexible, high-performance SoCs for Passive Optical Networks, with millions of devices based on the PMC-Sierra GigaPASS™ FTTH architecture in use today. Worldwide interest in Fiber-to-the-Home broadband technologies is growing, as telecommunications service providers look to deliver extremely fast Internet access – thousands of times faster than DSL and cable – simultaneously with high-definition IPTV and VoIP services.

“In both the enterprise and the home, the growth of digital content is putting significant pressure on network providers, as well as equipment manufacturers, to provide faster, higher-quality network performance,” said Graham Budd, executive vice president and general manager, Processor Division, ARM. “Our multiprocessing solutions, including the ARM11 MPCore and the recently announced Cortex-A9 MPCore multicore processors, have been designed specifically with these performance requirements in mind. By leveraging the ARM11 MPCore multicore processor and the Cortex-A8 processor as the foundation for new high-performance SoC designs, PMC-Sierra is helping to transform the types of services that service providers and enterprises will be able to offer.”

About PMC-Sierra
PMC-Sierra™ is a leading provider of broadband communications and storage semiconductors for metro, access, fiber to the home, wireless infrastructure, storage, laser printers, and fiber access gateway equipment. PMC-Sierra offers worldwide technical and sales support, including a network of offices throughout North America, Europe, Israel and Asia. The company is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the PMCS symbol. For more information, visit www.pmc-sierra.com.

About ARM
ARM designs the technology that lies 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 16/32-bit RISC microprocessors, data engines, graphics processors, digital libraries, embedded memories, peripherals, software and development tools, as well as analog functions and high-speed connectivity products. Combined with the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.