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Xiran’s New Direct Path Engine Integrates Eight ARCtangent User-Configurable Processor Cores
First single-chip symmetric multiprocessor system IC based on ARCtangent achieves Gigabit/sec wire-speed in Xiran's content and data delivery systems and accelerator card platforms
San Jose, Calif., June 16, 2003 –ARC International (LSE: ARK), a world leader in user customizable processors, silicon peripheral IP, real-time operating systems and software tools for embedded system development announced today that Xiran, a division of SimpleTech, Inc. (NASDAQ:STEC) selected the ARCtangentTM for integration into its new DirectPath Engine. The DirectPath Engine chip is aimed at offering Gbps wirespeed server throughput in content delivery and network storage applications.
"Xiran selected the ARCtangent microprocessor core for two reasons," said Jean-Claude Toma, vice president of marketing. "The configurability of the ARC core made it possible for Xiran's designers to add instructions and tune the already powerful RISC instruction set to off-load a diverse set of network and transport protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP/IP, HTTP, RTP, RDT and iSCSI to our DirectPath Engine (DPE) System IC. The availability of tools from ARC helped us to validate the chip and offer OEMs an opportunity to add more application code to the device, further differentiating our DPE-enabled products. In addition, the ARC cores were extremely compact in terms of transistor count, helping us to minimize chip size without compromising on performance. Xiran's ARC-based DPE was the key technology behind our winning the AIM award for the best-in-breed content delivery solutions at this year's National Association of Broadcaster (NAB) Conference," Toma added.
"Xiran's design really showcases the benefits of configurable IP," said Mike Gulett, president and CEO of ARC International. "They've come up with a unique symmetrical processing capability which minimizes system latency. Making it possible for all the processors to see and access all data in cache memory all the time provides an exceptionally high performance environment for content and data delivery applications." The ARCtangent, a user-customizable RISC/DSP core for ASIC and system-on-chip (SoC) products, comes with a highly optimized tool chain. The MetaWare® tool suite fully supports the capabilities of the ARCtangent processor including multiprocessor debugging and extensibility for processor customization.
About Xiran
Xiran, a division of SimpleTech (Nasdaq:STEC), is a technology leader in developing advanced solutions for accelerating content delivery by servers between storage and networks at wire speeds. Located in Irvine, California, the company combines proprietary hardware, firmware and software to implement its DirectPath family of products and systems. These are aimed at improving Server width and performance in several high growth markets ranging from streaming media and video-on-demand to emerging enterprise applications involving storage area networks. For more information, visit the company's website at www.xiran.com.
About ARC
ARC International pioneered the integrated development environment for SoC design in an effort to minimize design risk for customers developing next generation wireless, networking and consumer electronics products. ARC introduced the industry's first user-customizable 32-bit RISC/DSP processor core. In early 2000, ARC became the first company to integrate the development tools, peripherals, RTOS and software that enable the designer to better design optimization and performance. ARC's approach to providing a single source for the major SoC building blocks reduces the number of IP suppliers, reduces cost, reduces the risk of system-on-chip design and reduces time-to-market. ARC's products include:
