ARM Launches Free Toolkit For Android Application Developer Community

ARM® Development Studio 5 Community Edition helps Android™ application developers create native software that can run up to 4 times faster than Java code.

Cambridge, UK – 28th November 2011 - ARM today announced the release of the ARM® Development Studio 5 (DS-5™) Community Edition (CE) – a free-to-use edition of its reference software development toolkit. The new edition is dedicated to the Android application developer community and helps them create native software for compute intensive tasks that can run up to 4 times faster than Java code. DS-5 CE complements the standard SDK and NDK Android development kits by offering developers a unique set of tools to help them achieve the performance and energy-efficiency advantages made possible when ARM native code is used in Android applications.

DS-5 Community Edition includes limited, but essential functionality from the premium DS-5 toolkit to help solve common Android application developer pain points. It achieves this by providing an integrated graphical debugger for NDK-generated code and visibility of advanced processor information, including ARM NEON™ Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) registers. The new toolkit permits development of Java and C/C++ code in the same Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE) to maximise productivity and ease of use.

DS-5 Community Edition features a tailored version of the ARM Streamline™ Performance Analyzer for use with compatible Android development platforms. Streamline captures detailed, system-wide performance statistics from a variety of sources which helps developers to locate hotspots in their code and isolate potential causes. Platform builders can add support for Streamline by integrating an open source driver available from the Linaro website.

“With over half a million apps on the Android market today, developers need to deliver an outstanding user experience to succeed commercially,” said John Cornish, executive vice president and general manager, system design division, ARM. “ARM DS-5 Community Edition offers developers an easy to use environment for debugging and optimizing C/C++ code. This allows them to take full advantage of ARM processor technology using native code to deliver the performance and functionality that consumers demand.”

Partner Quotes:

“We have been using DS-5 extensively for system level debugging and performance tuning”, said Duan ZhiQiang, CTO, Thundersoft. “With the release of the Community Edition, it will enable our ISV and IHV partners to access similar capabilities, improving our platform as an application development target and expanding its ecosystem."

“The community edition of DS-5 (DS-5 CE) will further reduce the barriers to open source development on ARM. We have worked closely with ARM to ensure that DS-5 support is available as an easy to install add-on for Linaro Ubuntu images in the past and are working together to deliver a similar convenient developer experience for DS-5 CE as part of our Android images”, said Alexander Sack, Platform Technical Director, Linaro. “This initiative will help users of the community edition take full advantage of Linaro optimized images.”

“The release of ARM DS-5 Community Edition is welcomed by Orange and solves some of the pain points of Android native apps developers”, said Yves Christol, Head of Advanced Software Centre, Devices, Orange.

Availability

The DS-5 CE is available free-of-charge for use by individuals and organizations with annual revenue of $100,000 or less, and up to 10 employees. DS-5 CE is available from ARM and can be downloaded now. For more information go to:

• DS-5 CE: http://www.arm.com/ds5community
• DS-5: http://www.arm.com/ds5
• Linaro platform evaluation builds http://www.linaro.org/downloads/

About ARM

ARM designs the technology that lies at the heart of advanced digital products, from wireless, networking and consumer entertainment solutions to imaging, automotive, security and storage devices. ARM’s comprehensive product offering includes 32-bit RISC microprocessors, graphics processors, video engines, enabling software, cell libraries, embedded memories, high-speed connectivity products, peripherals and development tools. Combined with comprehensive design services, training, support and maintenance, and the company’s broad Partner community, they provide a total system solution that offers a fast, reliable path to market for leading electronics companies. Find out more about ARM by following these links:

• ARM website: http://www.arm.com/
• ARM Connected Community: http://www.arm.com/community/
• ARM Blogs: http://blogs.arm.com/