ARM aims ARM7100 at Personal Electronics; High Integration Microcontroller for Mobile Comms, PDAs

Business Wire, Dec 4, 1995

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 1995--Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM) revealed today its plans for a high integration microcontroller, the ARM7100, for PDAs, mobile communications and office automation.

The ARM7100 contains all the functionality system designers need in a low-cost, low-power consumption, yet powerful, single chip solution.

The ARM7100 is built around the ARM710 microprocessor and integrates all the complex peripherals that make other solutions expensive. Peripherals include: a LCD driver, direct DRAM interface, PLL clock multiplier, serial ports, Infra-Red IrDA SIR protocol support, timers, codec interface and Real Time Clock.

Taking a lesson from the world of extremely low cost, low power 4-bit microcontrollers, the ARM7100 can be clocked from a 32KHz watch crystal for an extremely low power standby mode. For high speed operation an internal PLL clock multiplier allows an inexpensive 3.7MHz crystal to generate the 18.4MHz internal clock. External clock circuitry tends to be very power hungry and since power consumption increases with clock speed, these methods further reduce the ARM7100's low power consumption.

The ARM7100 will form the hardware base of an open architecture serving personal electronics. Device drivers, operating systems, communication support, desktop interface and application software to accompany the ARM7100 are all under development. Volume OEM manufacturers interested in ARM7100 based development are invited to contact ARM directly for more information.

Robin Saxby, CEO and Managing Director of ARM, noted: "Design engineers already thought ARM offered the best solutions for high performance personal electronics like PDAs and digital mobile phones. With the ARM7100, we integrated the most critical components into one low-cost device, which is really helping designers speed product development time and extend battery life."

Cirrus Logic is the first ARM semiconductor partner to make the ARM7100. Samples are being delivered to key customers now and fully supported volume product will be available in the summer of 1996. Though price and availability will be announced at that time, the ARM7100 will form the basis of very cost effective personal electronic solutions.

Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. (ARM)

ARM designs, licenses and markets high-performance, low-cost, low-power consumption 32-bit RISC processors, peripherals and development tools for embedded control, consumer multimedia, DSP and portable applications. ARM also provides consulting and training.

ARM licenses its technology to semiconductor partner companies, who focus on manufacturing, applications and marketing. The unparalleled breadth of the partnership's expertise ensures that ARM-based solutions are available to meet almost every customer's processor needs.

Partners with ARM products in production are: GEC Plessey Semiconductors, Sharp Corporation, Texas Instruments and VLSI Technology. Partners with ARM products in development are: Asahi Kasei Microsystems, Cirrus Logic, Digital Semiconductor, ES2, LG Semicon, NEC, Samsung and Symbios Logic. Together they make ARM the world volume RISC standard.

To learn more about Advanced RISC Machines and its semiconductor partners, you can now access ARM through the World Wide Web at http://www.arm.com -0-

Note to Editors: ARM and ARM Powered logo are trademarks of Advanced RISC Machines Ltd.

CONTACT: Cain Communications (ARM Editor Contact)

Mark Alden, 408/291-2580

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ARM Inc., Los Gatos (Reader Contact)

Tim O'Donnell, 408/399-8853

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Cirrus Logic Inc., Fremont (Reader Contact)

Ashis Khan, 510/226-2373