MIPS Technologies Introduces New Aptiv Generation of Microprocessor Cores

MIPS Raises the Performance Bar with New microAptiv™, interAptiv™ and proAptiv™ Families

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - May 10, 2012 -  

News Highlights: 

• A new generation of processor cores offering a high level of performance and efficiency for applications across the home entertainment, networking, mobile and embedded segments
• High-performance proAptiv™ core achieves the highest CoreMark/MHz score reported for any licensable IP core, together with leading silicon efficiency
• Multi-threaded interAptiv™ core delivers leading performance efficiency, achieving higher CoreMark/MHz than competing cores in similar die area
• Highly-efficient microAptiv™ core achieves highest CoreMark/MHz score among microcontroller-class cores; adds DSP acceleration and security
• Several lead licensees already signed for Aptiv cores

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS), a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for home entertainment, networking, mobile and embedded applications, today introduced a new generation of microprocessor cores. The Aptiv Generation cores, including the proAptiv, interAptiv and microAptiv families, offer three distinct performance levels for applications across MIPS' target segments. 

All based on the MIPS32® Release 3 architecture, the products are targeted to build on MIPS' leadership position in home entertainment, strengthen its position in networking, extend the company's offering in the high-volume embedded systems segment, and provide a highly-competitive alternative for mobile system development. For mobile devices, the Aptiv Generation offers top-end multicore performance for applications processing in products including tablets and smartphones, efficient multi-threading technology for applications such as baseband processing, and entry-level performance for embedded control and applications such as touchscreen controllers, SIM/security and GPS. 

proAptiv Family Key Features 

• Leading high-end CPU performance efficiency delivering over 4.4 CoreMark/MHz and 3.5 DMIPS/MHz (1) in considerably smaller area compared to competing IP cores (2)
• Ideal for applications processing in connected consumer electronics such as high-end mobile devices and "smart" home entertainment products, and control plane processing in networking applications
• Efficient top-end performance minimizes the need for exotic power management schemes such as "big.LITTLE" in many mobile applications
• 60-75% higher performance on CoreMark and DMIPS scores compared to MIPS32 74K /1074K superscalar single/multicore products
• Highly-scalable solution leveraging one or more threads per core, and up to six cores connected in a multi-core Coherent Processing System (CPS)
• Major architectural features and enhancements:
• High-performance multi-issue, deeply out-of-order (OoO) architecture with state-of-the-art branch prediction
• New higher-performance floating point unit (FPU) with higher synthesizable frequency for 1:1 clock with core and native double-precision execution
• Single-core and multi-core (up to six core) configurations
• Performance-enhanced, tightly-integrated second generation Coherence Manager and L2 cache controller with lower total latency
• MIPS Digital Signal Processing (DSP) Application Specific Extension (ASE) v2
• Enhanced Virtual Address (EVA) for efficient 32-bit address map utilization to reach 3GB+ user space

interAptiv Family Key Features

• The interAptiv core leverages a balanced nine-stage pipeline with multi-threading to deliver leading performance efficiency, achieving greater than 50% more CoreMark/MHz than competing cores in similar die area (1,2)
• Ideal for highly-parallel applications requiring cost and power optimization, such as smart gateways, baseband processing in LTE user equipment and small cells, SSD controllers and automotive equipment
• Highly-scalable solution leveraging one or more threads per core, and up to four cores connected in a multi-core Coherent Processing System (CPS)
• Features and enhancements
• Multi-threaded pipeline implements dual virtual processors, appearing as two complete CPUs to an SMP Linux operating system
• Hardware Quality of Service (QoS), thread management support and inter-thread communication enable optimal control for real-time applications
• Performance-enhanced, tightly-integrated second generation Coherence Manager and L2 cache controller with lower total latency
• Support for up to two I/O coherency units
• Core and CPS-level power management features
• Error Checking and Correction (ECC) support in L1 data cache, L2 cache and data SPRAM
• Enhanced Virtual Address (EVA) for efficient 32-bit address map utilization to reach 3GB+ user space
• Optional floating point unit

microAptiv Family Key Features

• Low-power, compact, real-time embedded processor core with integrated standard I/O interfaces, building on popular MIPS32 M14K core family with microMIPS code compression instruction set architecture
• Integrates DSP and SIMD functionality to address signal processing requirements for a wide range of embedded segments including industrial control, smart meters, automotive and wired/wireless communications
• Leverages highly-efficient 5-stage pipeline to achieve 3.09 CoreMark/MHz and 1.57 DMIPS/MHz (1) in microMIPS mode, with 40% and 25% higher performance, respectively, compared to competition (2)
• MCU and MPU (with integrated cache controller/MMU) product versions available for microcontroller and embedded applications
• Compared to previous generation MIPS cores and competitive cores, offers greater range of design features for both control and DSP operations
• New memory protection unit for enhanced program code and data security, microMIPS-only execution mode, secure debug and 2-wire cJTAG support

About the CoreMark Benchmark

The CoreMark benchmark, developed by EEMBC, is a simple yet sophisticated benchmark that is designed specifically to test the functionality of a processor core. Running CoreMark produces a single-number score allowing users to make quick comparisons between processors. For more information, visit http://www.coremark.org.

Product Specifications and Details

For detailed product information including benchmarks, specifications, datasheets and more, visit www.mips.com/aptiv. 

Availability

All Aptiv core families can be licensed now. The proAptiv family will be generally available in mid-2012 supporting a range of functional and performance points with single and multi-core versions. The new proAptiv FPU is also available. The interAptiv family will be available in mid-2012 in dual- and quad-core configurations, with optional FPU. Single core versions will be available in the fourth quarter. The microAptiv family is available now, with cache/MMU or non-cached core options. For more information on product availability, contact info@mips.com, or visit www.mips.com/aptiv.

Supporting Quotes 

"With the launch of our new Aptiv Generation of products, MIPS is entering a new era of innovation and increasing our competitive position. The Aptiv Generation is the result of strategic investments we have made, and are continuing to make for the future. We are pushing performance efficiency to new levels. Our previous generation of cores was already more performance-efficient than the competition. The new Aptiv Generation is even better. With these cores and the ever-expanding ecosystem around the MIPS architecture, we are providing solutions that will enable our customers to differentiate and win in an increasingly competitive market."

-Gideon Intrater, Vice President of Marketing, MIPS Technologies

"The preliminary CoreMark benchmark scores that MIPS is reporting for their new proAptiv core indicate that a deeply-pipelined CPU isn't necessarily penalized by the control operations inherent within CoreMark. EEMBC created CoreMark as a more realistic measurement of CPU performance than ineffective alternatives such as DMIPS. We are enthusiastic about MIPS' support for CoreMark as the new standard for measuring baseline CPU performance, and congratulate MIPS on reaching new performance heights."

-Markus Levy, President, EEMBC

"Microprocessor technology continues to evolve to address rapidly-increasing demands for processing power across applications that range from low-power mobile devices to high-performance networking products. MIPS' new Aptiv Generation introduces a lineup of CPU cores with the performance and power efficiency to address this broad range of markets. The specs of the new proAptiv core in particular show it to be a major step forward in performance, dramatically improving CoreMark/MHz while maintaining the power and area efficiency that we have come to expect from the MIPS architecture."

-J. Scott Gardner, Senior Analyst, The Linley Group / Microprocessor Report

"With Arteris' advanced network-on-chip interconnect technology, MIPS' customers in automotive and consumer electronics have improved performance, timing closure, power consumption and die size of their SoCs. We look forward to supporting mutual customers developing advanced next-generation SoCs based on MIPS' new Aptiv Generation of cores."

-Kurt Shuler, Vice President of Marketing, Arteris

"Carbon's solutions are targeted to accelerate our customers' time to market by providing the most productive and cost effective unified virtual platform solutions in the industry. We have long supported MIPS cores with our 100% cycle accurate models, and we are pleased to announce our planned support for the new Aptiv cores. With Carbon's system level modeling and validation tools for MIPS processor cores, customers can perform architectural analysis and validation, and achieve pre-silicon firmware optimization and hardware-software system validation.

-Bill Neifert, CTO, Carbon Design Systems

"Express Logic and MIPS Technologies have worked closely together for many years, enabling embedded developers to get to market quickly with the powerful combination of our ThreadX® RTOS on MIPS cores. ThreadX is an ideal solution for deeply embedded systems where small code size and real-time performance are critical. MIPS cores that leverage the microMIPS ISA, such as the new microAptiv core, offer a compelling solution for these systems, and we will continue to support these cores for our common customers. In addition, because ThreadX SMP supports the MIPS' multi-threading and multiprocessing technologies, designers can increase their productivity when developing real-time applications that utilize these platforms."

-William E. Lamie, CEO, Express Logic, Inc.

"We have partnered with MIPS since 2001, providing designers of MIPS-Based systems with support from a wide range of development tools and RTOS software. We look forward to continuing our relationship with MIPS by offering support of its new interAptiv family in our compiler, MULTI Integrated Development Environment and debug probes."

-Mike Haden, General Manager, Advanced Products, Green Hills Software

"Imagination's market leading technologies, including PowerVR graphics and video and Ensigma multistandard communications, have all been combined with processor IP from MIPS Technologies to enable our numerous partners to bring to market successful SoCs for next-generation devices. With Imagination's IP, MIPS' licensees can create products that deliver world-class multimedia and communications performance coupled with low power and low cost - a key requirement for tomorrow's mobile and smart connected applications. We look forward to working with MIPS and our mutual customers on next-generation solutions based on the new Aptiv Generation of products."

-Tony King-Smith, VP marketing, Imagination Technologies

"As part of the continued cooperation between Imperas and MIPS, we are excited to already have support for the new Aptiv cores in our Open Virtual Platforms™ (OVP™) and Multiprocessor/Multicore/Multithread Software Development Kit (M*SDK™The instruction accurate OVP Fast Processor Models of the MIPS' cores enable users to integrate these models into both OVP and SystemC/TLM-2.0 virtual platform environments. The models for the MIPS cores support both the MIPS32 and microMIPS instruction sets as appropriate, as well as extensions for capabilities such as floating point, DSP and multi-threading."

-Simon Davidmann, CEO, Imperas

"We are pleased to see MIPS grow its portfolio of multi-threading cores, and congratulate the company on its new Aptiv Generation of processor cores. MIPS' multi-threaded technology has delivered strong results for Lantiq's Gateway Solutions, enabling us to maximize performance while minimizing power usage and system costs. Our Gateway Solutions address system configurations ranging from cost-optimized fast Ethernet to feature-rich, high-performance Gigabit Ethernet systems, and are designed to enhance and extend telecom carriers' xDSL services in worldwide markets. Lantiq's Gateway Solutions enable carriers to meet the growing demand for triple-play services and in-home Gigabit throughput with significant cost, size and power savings at no system performance compromise."

-Rainer Spielberg, Vice President of Marketing, Lantiq

"With our TRACE32® In-Circuit Debugger, Lauterbach supports all of MIPS' classic processor cores, and we are already offering support for the complete range of debug features in its new microAptiv cores. We look forward to supporting the rest of the Aptiv Generation cores. Through our relationship with MIPS Technologies, developers working with MIPS cores will have access to a full range of debug functionality."

-Norbert Weiss, International Sales & Marketing Manager, Lauterbach GMBH

"Mentor Graphics is pleased to enable the development of Linux and RTOS-based embedded systems with MIPS' new Aptiv Generation of cores. The Sourcery CodeBench validated GNU toolchain enables developers to easily build and debug embedded applications based on both Mentor Embedded Linux and the Mentor Embedded Nucleus RTOS. Developers can take advantage of MIPS' multi-threading technology through the efficient Nucleus RTOS with VSMP capability. We are pleased to continue our relationship with MIPS by extending our broad support of MIPS architecture and tools."

-Glenn Perry, General Manager, Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division

"Microchip Technology's embedded design customers continue to benefit from our successful relationship with MIPS Technologies, via our best-in-class portfolio of 32-bit PIC32 microcontrollers built around the industry-leading MIPS architecture. For microcontrollers, MIPS provides superior performance and more advanced features than the competition. We are pleased to see the launch of MIPS' newest microAptiv cores, which fulfill next-generation application demands for 32-bit DSP performance and increased functionality."

-Sumit Mitra, MCU32 Division Vice President, Microchip Technology Inc.

"Mobileye has had great success using MIPS' multi-threaded cores in our EyeQ2 processor for vision based driver assistance systems, helping us achieve a 6x performance gain over our previous solution. Automotive safety applications require extreme reliability and real-time performance. These needs have been more than well-met by MIPS' multi-threading architecture, which greatly aids in image processing and offers ECC for enhanced reliability. We are excited that MIPS continues to build on its unique and powerful multi-threading technology, and we look forward to its new interAptiv core." -Elchanan Rushinek, Senior VP, Engineering, Mobileye

"MIPS' newest multi-threaded interAptiv processor cores provide the high performance, low power, and scalability needed for many storage and networking applications. Multi-threading enables PMC to develop products that outperform competing solutions, and we will continue to deliver the power and performance that our customers require for their next-generation systems."

-Salman Ghufran, VP, Product Development, PMC®

"Sonics and MIPS have a long-standing relationship and have partnered on numerous, successful SoCs developed by mutual customers. As the world's number one supplier of on-chip network IP for advanced SoCs, Sonics looks forward to expanding this relationship in support of MIPS' new Aptiv generation of cores. With Sonics' innovative on-chip network technology, MIPS processor cores can connect seamlessly with other IP blocks throughout the SoC. Today, this is already demonstrated in MIPS' FPGA implementations of its new Aptiv cores, where Sonics' provides the advanced on-chip network."

-Jack Browne, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Sonics, Inc.

"Synopsys collaborated with MIPS to optimize the performance of MIPS' next generation processor cores. By using the Galaxy Implementation Platform together with DesignWare® Embedded Memories and Logic Libraries tuned for high-performance processors, designers can now maximize performance and minimize energy consumption of their MIPS-Based SoCs. We continue to work with MIPS to lower designers' integration risk and speed delivery of their SoC products to market."-Rich Goldman, Vice President, Corporate Marketing & Strategic Alliances, Synopsys

"We are pleased to support the MIPS architecture with our embedded virtualization technology. Our PikeOS RTOS is a hypervisor virtualization platform that allows several applications and operating systems such as Android and Linux to run securely in parallel on a single hardware platform. With PikeOS, MIPS' licensees have flexibility in deploying CPU resources for different tasks, potentially eliminating the need for a dedicated security CPU in their system. Licensees of MIPS' Aptiv Generation of cores will soon be able to reap the benefits of this compelling technology."-Jacques Brygier, Vice President of Marketing, SYSGO AG

About MIPS Technologies, Inc.

MIPS Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: MIPS) is a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures and cores for home entertainment, networking, mobile and embedded applications. The MIPS architecture powers some of the world's most popular products. Our technology is broadly used in products such as digital televisions, set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, broadband customer premises equipment (CPE), WiFi access points and routers, networking infrastructure and portable/mobile communications and entertainment products. Founded in 1998, MIPS Technologies is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices worldwide. For more information, contact (408) 530-5000 or visit www.mips.com.

Footnotes:

1 

The Dhrystone 2.1 and CoreMark 1.0 numbers were achieved using Mentor Sourcery CodeBench v2011.03-94, gcc 4.5.2

2 

Based on publicly available information from ARM, CoreMark scores from EEMBC CoreMark website, and material available on the Internet