Agilent adds synthesizable ARM cores for communications, imaging ASICs

Agilent adds synthesizable ARM cores for communications, imaging ASICs
By Semiconductor Business News
November 28, 2000 (3:30 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001128S0045

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced it has licensed two synthesizable RISC cores from ARM Ltd. for integration into communications and imaging ASIC products. The ARM7TDMI-S and ARM946E-S are being delivered in software form--as "soft" vs. "hard" cores--which offers additional flexibility for ASIC designers, according to Agilent.

Agilent also said it has licensed ARM's ETM7 and ETM9 Embedded Trace Macrocell solutions for advanced system-on-chip (SoC) debug. These development systems are intended to provide Agilent with cost-efficient and timely debug capabilities for their new ASIC products based on the two new ARM cores as well as a previously licensed ARM7TDMI.

"The combination of Agilent's ASIC expertise and ARM core experience, and our extensive third-party infrastructure-- from development tools and operating systems to application software and design support--will provide OEMs with a full range of leading-edg e solutions," declared Reynette Au, vice president of corporate marketing for ARM, based in Cambridge, England.

Palo Alto-based Agilent said it was one of the first to integrate a standard processor into an ASIC over a decade ago, when the company was part of Hewlett-Packard Co. Since then, the company said it has focused intellectual property (IP) design cores and processors on high-performance ASICs for a range of applications, including ASICs for communications, imaging, and computing.