ARC boosts new Common License Consortium for FPGA-based IP cores with its 32-bit user-customizable processor

"ARC has been a key collaborator with Xilinx in the creation of the SignOnce IP license concept," said Mark Bowlby, AllianceCORE program manager at Xilinx. "We are glad to be able to leverage the efforts from our partnership with ARC to help produce a program that eliminates the bottleneck of multiple, differing license agreements for programmable logic users."

"We see this as a significant development since ARC's mission is to help system-on-chip (SoC) designers to accelerate their development and get their products to market quickly. We already provide the processor core, peripheral IP, software and tools as part of that strategy to ease the design flow. Now, with our involvement in the Common License Consortium, we can help our customers to take several more months off their development cycle," said Emmanuel Benzaquen, strategic alliance manager at ARC Cores.

The ARCtangentTM-A4 processor differs from traditional RISC processors because its instruction set can be configured to match a customer's exact requirements. This makes it suitable for a wider range of applications than an external or embedded fixed-instruction-set processor. ARC's tool set allows a designer to customize the processor to achieve either greater system performance or lower power at reduced clock frequencies, making it ideal as a soft, FPGA-based solution.

Benzaquen adds, "With our recently announced ARCangel 3 hardware prototyping development system based on the Xilinx Virtex[tm]-E FPGA, a customer can now create a complete complex SoC including several cores with just one set of tools and also one single license." The ARCangel 3 allows designers to evaluate SoC systems based on the ARCtangent-A4 processor integrated with other intellectual property (IP) for designs of over 2.5 million FPGA system gates. The development board is designed around an 1156 pin Xilinx Virtex[tm] XCV2000E, featuring up to 2,541,952 system gates, over 655,360 bits of block RAM and up to 804 user I/O pins.

The board can also support the larger XCV2600E or XCV3200E FPGA devices. With this enlarged capacity, the development platform easily supports integration of ARC's 32-bit user-customisable processor with other logic and IP typically found in a complex SoC design. This allows comprehensive hardware-software debug and verification of different ARCtangent-A4 processor configurations, custom instructions, custom interfaces, multiple processor systems, additional IP blocks, and SignOnce IP License third-party cores. The extensive user programmable I/O enables easy hardware debugging and interfacing to external prototyping cards and components.

Availability
Customers can purchase a full license for the ARC core that includes the core configuration utilities, development tools and the ARCangel board directly from ARC Cores. Users can also purchase optimized Xilinx netlists for application specific configurations of ARC's core from ARC Certified Design Centers and companies who can also integrate those into complete chip and board level designs. Information on ARC's products is available now on the ARC cores website (www.arccores.com) and in the Xilinx IP Center at www.xilinx.com/ipcenter.

About the Common License Consortium
Xilinx and members of its AllianceCORE third-party IP provider program have joined together to form the Common License Consortium. All consortium members have agreed to accept a single set of common IP licensing terms, called the SignOnce IP License, for acquiring FPGA-based IP cores. The result is a first for the IP industry - a single set of licensing terms, giving customers access to IP cores from multiple vendors for use in Xilinx programmable logic. For more information on this program, go to www.xilinx.com/ipcenter/signonce.htm.

About ARC International
ARC International plc is a leading developer of customizable, high-performance microprocessor cores, including ARCtangent[tm], and related intellectual property technology enabling designers to reduce time to market for their system-on-a-chip products. Over 50 customers use ARC's technology, including: Austria Mikro Systeme, BrightCom, Conexant Systems, Cypress Semiconductor, Fujitsu Microelectronics, IBM, Infineon Technologies, QLogic, SanDisk, Texas Instruments and VTech Communications. Products available based on ARC's technology include digital still cameras, set-top boxes, and network processors.

MetaWare Inc., Precise Software Technologies Inc. and VAutomation Inc. are wholly owned subsidiaries of ARC International, providing software development tools, hardware and software intellectual property and real-time operating systems for an integrated approach to system on a chip development. ARC's third party partners include Cadence, Flextronics, Intrinsix, Synopsys, TSMC, UMC, Wind River and Xilinx.

With headquarters in Elstree, England, ARC International plc and its group companies employs 235 people in research and development, sales, and marketing offices across North America, Europe and Israel. ARC International plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE:ARK). The company's website is located at www.arccores.com

Statements made in this press release that are not historical facts include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include, among others, market acceptance of the ARC technology; fluctuations in and unpredictability of the Company's quarterly results; general economic and business conditions; regulatory policies adopted by governmental authorities; assumptions regarding the Company's future business strategy; changes in technology; competition; ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; risks associated with the Company's international operations; and other uncertainties that are discussed in the "Investment Considerations" section of the Company's listing particulars dated 28 September 2000 filed with the United Kingdom Listing Authority and the Registrar of Companies in England and Wales.

ARC International (UK) Ltd. and ARC Cores, Inc., both of which are wholly owned subsidiaries of
ARC International plc, trade under the name of ARC Cores.
ARC Cores, ARCtangent and ARCangel are trademarks of ARC International (UK) Ltd.
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