CES 2008: ARC-Based Consumer Devices Fueling the "YouTube Generation" on Display

After 3-Year Licensing Push,  ARC Customers’ Chips Arrive to the Consumer

SAN JOSE, Calif. and ST. ALBANS, England, January 14, 2008 – ARC International (LSE: ARK) today announced that more than fifteen customers and partners participated in last week’s 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.  Displaying some of the latest ARC-Based™ solutions included companies such as:  BiTMICRO, Broadcom, Chips&Media, D-Link, Fujitsu, Intel, NemeriX, Oki, Qpixel, RealNetworks, SanDisk, Siano, SiConnect, Sony, Toshiba and others.   

For calendar year 2007, over 300 million innovative silicon chips from ARC customers helped enable consumers to connect whenever, wherever to view videos and listen to music.  These ARC-Based chips are being deployed in markets such as mobile digital TV terminals, portable GPS positioning systems, WiFi-enabled laptops, portable media players, home media centers, flash memory devices, and set top boxes.

One of the hottest technology trends discussed by OEMs at CES 2008 was how to go beyond the abilities of current multimedia devices and enhance consumers’ experiences through higher quality video and audio.  Challenges to develop these next-generation multi-standard products are addressed by ARC’s “total solutions” approach.  ARC’s goal is to bring back the rich visual and aural experiences that have been degraded by digitization of original analog (“natural”) content. 

ARC customers and partners participating in CES 2008 included:

• BiTMICRO Networks – This leading provider of high performance non-volatile solid state disk, flash disk drive, network storage, and management solutions has a license for the ARC® 700 configurable core family.  With it, BiTMICRO is developing low cost, next-generation system-on-chip (SoC) devices for their state-of-the-art E-Disk® solid state storage solutions.  The company’s latest product, the industry’s highest capacity 2.5-inch serial ATA solid state disk with 832GB, was announced at CES.

• Broadcom Corporation – Broadcom demonstrated a variety of new silicon, software, and reference design platforms for powering the connected digital home.  Broadcom has a multi-year, comprehensive licensing agreement with ARC to develop leading-edge SoCs for high-growth consumer applications.

• Chips&Media – A configurable ARC 605 core is being used by this customer to develop digital set-top box chips targeted at high volume applications. Chips&Media selected this ARC core because it is smaller, lower powered, and provided up to twice the MHz performance than competing processors.

• D-Link Systems – D-Link showed its end-to-end home networking and digital home solutions, showcasing hot new products such as media players, Wi-Fi Internet photo frame, Green Ethernet switching, next-generation dual band routers, and the latest storage and security devices, many of which are ARC-Based. 

• Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe – The company uses its license for a member of the ARC 700 configurable core family to create chips for high-volume consumer applications.  An ARC customer since 2001, Fujitsu selected an ARC 700 processor because of its ability to deliver very high performance in a small die size. 

• Intel Corporation – Intel has signed a multi-year, royalty bearing licensing agreement for several ARC products.  Key benefits ARC’s configurable solutions bring to Intel’s SoC developers include the ability to reduce power consumption and increase a chipset’s performance by adding custom instruction extensions. 

• NemeriX – NemeriX specializes in ultra-low-power RF and baseband ICs for the rapidly expanding GPS and wireless industries. Using a unique combination of innovative silicon architectures and full-custom layout techniques, the Nemerix chipset is one of the world’s lowest power GPS solutions.  NemeriX has standardized its ongoing development efforts on the ARC 600 configurable core family to create GPS chipsets that offer a smaller form factor and lower power consumption than competitive offerings.  In addition to leveraging ARC’s leading configurable processor technology, NemeriX utilized Cadence's Encounter® digital IC design platform to reduce power consumption in its ARC-Based design by close to fifty percent.

• OKI Electric Industry – Its license for the ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem is being incorporated into an application specific standard product (ASSP) targeting next generation in-car audio applications. The ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem enables Oki to reduce its end customer’s bill of materials by replacing a standalone DSP with the Oki-designed ASSP. 

• Qpixel Technology – This innovator in video compression unveiled at CES the Q.stream network media streamer and Q.record personal video recorder/player reference platforms.  QPixel selected the ARC Sound Audio Subsystem to develop the QL201B chip that is used in the Q.stream and the QL202B chip for Q.record.  The low power nature of the ARC’s configurable solutions enabled the QL201B and QL202B chips to provide flexible audio processing while consuming very low power and silicon area, which is critical for portable multimedia applications such as digital cameras, camcorders, and portable media players. 

• RealNetworks – ARC and RealNetworks announced the availability of a new RealVideo  decoder for the ARC Video Subsystem family that supports RealVideo content encoded in versions 7, 8, 9 or 10 formats up to 75 percent faster than competitive offerings.  Porting the increasingly popular RealVideo decoder illustrates the multi-standard flexibility in ARC’s multimedia subsystem products. 

• SanDisk – An ARC customer since 2000, Sandisk, the the world's largest supplier of innovative flash memory data storage products chose ARC cores to optimally meet their size, area and performance needs. At this years CES, the company showed a variety of ARC-Based products including flash memory devices used in digital consumer products worldwide. 

• Siano Mobile Silicon Ltd – This expert in innovative mobile digital TV has a license for a configurable ARC 610D core with ARC’s XY Advanced DSP memory subsystem.  They are used in the new SMS1100 chip that was demonstrated at CES, which extends Siano’s mobile digital TV receiver capabilities to the Japanese and Brazilian markets.

• SiConnect – SiConnect has a license for the configurable ARC 625D core to create innovative silicon solutions that enable existing domestic electrical wiring to be used to transport audio, video, voice, and data throughout the home.  Working in partnership with blue chip telecommunication operators, cable companies and consumer electronics manufacturers, SiConnect is creating new benchmarks for PLC technology that achieve all-capacity, reliability, ease-of-use, and cost-point requirements.

• Sony – Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation has a license for a configurable ARC processor with DSP extensions that will be integrated into next-generation consumer electronic devices. 

• Toshiba America Electronic Components – Toshiba has a multiyear license for the ARChitect™ processor configurator.  Toshiba and ARC have entered into a strategic collaboration that will grow the industry's adoption of configurable processor technology worldwide. As part of the collaboration, Toshiba has taken a multiyear license for the ARChitect™ processor configurator, which will be optimized to Toshiba's Media embedded Processor (MeP) platform.  At CES, Toshiba introduced a series of laptops that incorporate ARC-Based silicon from other ARC customers.

About ARC International plc

ARC International is the world leader in configurable multimedia subsystems and CPU/DSP processors.  Used by over 140 companies worldwide, ARC’s configurable solutions enable the creation of highly differentiated system-on-chips (SoCs) that ship in hundreds of millions of devices annually.  ARC’s patented subsystems and cores are smaller, consume less power, and are less expensive to manufacture than competing products.

ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate and research and development offices in California and St. Albans, UK. For more information visit www.ARC.com. ARC International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE: ARK).