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ARM Collaborates with Ericsson on Bluetooth

ARM and Ericsson offer industry's first licensable "silicon proven" Bluetooth core
 

CAMBRIDGE, UK and STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sept. 28, 1999 -- ARM [(LSE:ARM); (NASDAQ:ARMHY)] and Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERICY) today announced the companies are collaborating on Bluetooth™ technology to facilitate the rapid development and early deployment of Bluetooth-compliant products. Building on Ericsson's industry-leading advancements in Bluetooth technology, the two companies are introducing the industry's first family of ARM Powered® Ericsson Bluetooth cores and firmware which will be available for licensing by OEMs and silicon vendors.

The new Bluetooth solutions will be optimized for a range of power/performance requirements, enabling advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs for a variety of digital consumer applications. ARM and Ericsson will conduct joint product development activities, enabling ARM to capitalize on Ericsson's industry-leading Bluetooth technology, and Ericsson to benefit from ARM's proven history of re-useable IP development. This collaboration will ensure the family of Bluetooth-compliant solutions is fully re-usable by OEMs and silicon vendors, accelerating the incorporation of the cores into SoC devices and reducing time-to-market for products such as smartphones, televisions, digital cameras, PDAs, printers and PCs.

"We have designed and implemented several ARM7TDMI™ core-based controllers which have been successfully incorporated into a variety of products including Ericsson mobile phones," said Örjan Johansson, director and general manager of Ericsson's Bluetooth Product Unit. "It is now key to the success of Bluetooth that we enable silicon vendors and as many OEMs as possible to develop and produce compliant products. ARM's acceptance as a de facto embedded processor standard will help us to offer value to a wide market through a new generation of Bluetooth-enabled consumer electronics devices."

"This agreement builds upon the strengths of both companies, combining ARM's expertise in re-usable designs with Ericsson's proven technology to enable rapid deployment of Bluetooth solutions in consumer markets," said Pete Magowan, vice president of Europe, ARM. "ARM works in partnership with a variety of OEM and silicon partners who will help drive acceptance of the ARM architecture as the 'platform of choice' in Bluetooth-based mobile communications, portable computing, networking and embedded applications."

ARM and Ericsson will also co-develop complete software support, providing full compatibility to leading EDA tools through prototyping, interoperability testing and system-level verification. Prototype silicon of the initial Ericsson Bluetooth core is available now. All products will be available for licensing from the Ericsson Bluetooth Product Unit. Delivery support, training and maintenance will be provided by ARM.

About Bluetooth™

The Bluetooth technology is set to revolutionize the personal connectivity market by providing freedom from wired connections. It is a specification for a small form-factor, low-cost radio solution providing links between mobile computers, mobile phones and other portable handheld devices and connectivity to the Internet. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), consisting of leaders in the telecommunications and computing industries, is driving development of the technology and bringing it to market. The group includes founding members Ericsson, IBM, Intel, Nokia and Toshiba, and more than 1000 other companies.

About Ericsson

Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, with communications solutions that combine telecom and datacoms technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers network operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers - the world over. Additional information about Ericsson and Bluetooth is available on the World Wide Web at: http://bluetooth.ericsson.se

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, multi-media digital consumer and embedded solutions. ARM serves its growing partnership base from offices in Cambridge and Maidenhead, UK; Los Gatos, California; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; Northborough, MA, USA; Paris, France; Munich, Germany; Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, Korea. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.

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Bluetooth is a registered trademark by Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.  ARM, ARM Powered, Thumb and StrongARM are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. ARM7 is a trademark of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc (LSE: ARM and NASDAQ: ARMHY); its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM, INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.
 

Editorial Contacts: Julie Seymour, ARM +1 408 579 2234 julie.seymour@arm.com	Peter Bodor, Ericsson +46 8 404 2423, +46 70 328 2423 peter.bodor@ecs.ericsson.se
Investor Relations Contacts: Angela Au, ARM +44 (0)1223 400416 angela.au@arm.com	Jan Ahrenbring, Ericsson +46 8 764 1460, +46 70 590 9900 jan.ahrenbring@ecs.ericsson.se
Sales Contacts: George Milne, ARM +44 (0)1223 400577 george.milne@arm.com	Per Svensson, Ericsson +46 46 19 3397, +46 70 590 1873 per.svensson@ecs.ericsson.se

 

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