Arasan Chip Systems Introduces MMC/e.MMC 4.5 Host Controller IP

First eMMC Host Controller to support new high speed standard

San Jose, California – June 16, 2011 –Arasan Chip Systems, Inc. (“Arasan”), a leading provider of Total IP Solutions, announced today the introduction of its MMC/eMMC 4.5 Host Controller IP product. Arasan’s MMC/eMMC 4.5 Host Controller is the first to support the new specification, released by JEDEC, that is designed to meet requirements for secure yet flexible program code and data storage for consumer electronic products. The MMC/eMMC 4.5 standard was approved June 9, 2011.

With its low-pin count, high bandwidth and multiple boot mechanisms, eMMC 4.5 greatly simplifies design for systems employing non-volatile storage. Arasan’s Host Controller IP implementation of the eMMC 4.5 specification facilitates higher system level performance in order to meet the increasing demands of consumer electronic devices. Arasan’s SD3.0/eMMC 4.5 Controllers are offered as a Total IP solution including RTL Host Controller IP, Software Stack, Hardware Development Board, Verification IP and ESL models.

Arasan’s eMMC 4.5 Host Controller offers important new features enabling superior consumer products including:

Higher bandwidth – eMMC 4.5 improves the performance of consumer devices by supporting 1.6Gb/sec operation at 200 MHz, which doubles the bandwidth of the previous generation devices.
Larger sector size – Arasan’s implementation supports read and write operations up to 4KB sectors as specified in the standard, further improving system level performance.
Automatic Transmission Parameter Tuning – Arasan’s eMMC 4.5 Host and Device Controller IP automatically and periodically conduct transmission parameter tuning to ensure that temperature and electrical variations in the transmission path do not degrade system performance.
e²∙MMC support– Arasan’s implementation supports the new e²∙MMC feature of the specification, which uses a cache to further improve system performance.

“Building on our extensive experience and compliance testing with SD/SDIO and eMMC standards, we were able to quickly create a Host Controller compliant with the new standards, enabling our customers to immediately take advantage of the new, higher performance capability”, said Prakash Kamath, Vice President Engineering.

Arasan’s deep experience with SD/SDIO/eMMC standards began in 2001 when the company joined the SD Association. Arasan is a current member of JEDEC, the governing body for eMMC, as well as the SD Association. Arasan Chip Systems is the leading supplier of SD/SDIO/eMMC IP and its products are used by 8 of 10 major semiconductor suppliers. Extensive experience and compliance testing, with all versions of this specification, make the choice of Arasan products the lowest risk approach to implementation of eMMC-enabled products. Arasan’s development engineering team provides direct support to customers insuring that the highest level of knowledge is immediately available to the customer thus reducing problem resolution time.

Pricing and Availability

The Arasan IP solutions, including IP core, VIP, software drivers, and hardware development kit is available immediately for licensing.

About Arasan

Arasan Chip Systems is a leading provider of Total IP Solutions for mobile storage and connectivity applications. Arasan’s high-quality, silicon-proven, Total IP Solutions include digital IP cores, analog PHY interfaces, verification IP, hardware verification kits, protocol analyzers, software stacks and drivers and optional customization services for MIPI, USB, SD, SDIO, MMC/eMMC, CF, UFS, xD and many other popular standards.

Arasan’s Total IP products serve system architects and chip design teams in mobile, gaming and desktop computing systems that require silicon-proven, validated IP, delivered with the ability to integrate and verify both digital, analog and software components in the shortest possible time with the lowest risk.

Unlike many other IP providers, Arasan’s Total IP Solution encompasses all aspects of IP development and integration, including analog and digital cores, hardware development kits, protocol analyzers, validation IP and software stacks and drivers and optional architecture consulting and customization services.

Based in San Jose, CA, USA, Arasan Chip Systems has a 15 year track record of IP and IP standards development leadership.