ARM Club 3/TheARMClub_PDCD3.iso/hensa/documentation/documents/a252appl

Internet Message Format | 1999-04-27 | 9KB

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Joint Venture Announcement - 2 press releases
Date: 3 Dec 90 14:54:04 GMT

"Advanced RISC Machines Ltd" Launched to attack RISC business

- Acorn RISC Chip Designs Attract U.S. Investment -

November 27th 1990: A new silicon chip design company Advanced RISC Machines
Ltd ("ARM") has been formed in Cambridge, England. By exploiting the proven
RISC technology deigns originally developed by Acorn Computers, it will address
and attack the growing market for low-cost, low-power, high performance 32 bit
RISC chips.

Advanced RISC Machines is initially backed by Acorn Computers (80% owned by
Olivetti), VLSI Technology Inc and Apple Computer. Currently ARM products are
licensed by VLSI Technology and Sanyo Electric Company of Japan. The goals of
the new company will be to expand the ARM technology product offerings and to
promote other sources to support the expanding customer base.

The strategy of Advanced RISC Machines is to focus on applications where
ultra-low power consumption, high performance and low cost are critical. Such
applications and products include personal and portable computers, telephones
and embedded control uses in consumer and automotive electronics. Several of
these uses are already occuring at the design-in or production stage. More than
130,000 chip sets of the full 4 chip family (ARM2 processor, MEMC1 memory
controller, VIDC video controller, IOC IO controller) have been shipped to
date, placing it among the leading RISC processors.

Announcing the launch of Advanced RISC Machines today, Sam Wauchope, Managing
Director of Acorn Computers said "The ARM architecture developed by Acorn has
been implemented in several generations of chips over the last five years,
using VLSI Technology's design tools and manufacturing expertise. This proven
technology and product base will be the foundation of ARM's plan to pursue an
aggresive product roadmap".

Larry Tesler, Vice President, Advanced Products, of Apple Computer said "We
believe that Advanced RISC Machines will be a successful venture and investment
because the technology represents an important trend for the 1990s. There is a
need for a new product and standard with these advantages of high-performance,
low power consumption and low cost for a variety of applications, and we will
be investigating its use in several new product areas".

James R. Fiebiger, President and Chief Operating Officer of VLSI Technology
said "The ARM features make it uniquely suited to meet the rigorous
requirements of embedded control applications, while meeting the market demand
for low cost. The processor features the lowest cost per MIP of any product
currently available. The device has the smallest die size, allowing easy
integration of customer-defined functions. In low-power applications, the ARM
RISC provides better performance due to its high MIPs per Watt ratio.

"Used as a core cell with our design tools ARM technology has enabled us to
create ASICs rapidly and help customers bring their products to market
quickly".

Capable of processing up to 20 million instructions per second, the latest ARM
32 bit RISC processor provide unequalled cost/performance targetted at a price
of $1 per MIP. Similarly, in terms of power consumption, the ARM design as
fabricated by VLSI Technology is uniquely efficient, producting the equivalent
of 100 MIPs per Watt.

Customers worldwide are evaluating ARM RISC chip sets and application specific
derivatives. Many new designs are expected as the current ARM3 30MHz (on chip
cache) series and the ARM2as (a fully static device) lead on to even faster and
more power efficient processors. Already Acorn Computers have launched an ARM3
based machine offering 13.5MIPs and their future products will be based on the
new ARM processors and controller designs.

In Europe, Hermann Hauser's Active Book Company plans to bring out a
notebook-sized portable computer based on ARM ASIC technology. In the United
States, Radius use the ARM in graphics accelerators for the Apple Machintosh.
In Japan, Sanyo Electric Company is using ARM to develope embedded controllers.

The initial investors have agree an initial development "Roadmap" for the
technology for the first few years, but this will be tailored as market demands
are tracked by a Technical Advisory Board being set up by the company, major
customers, academic researchers and industry experts.

To assist prospective users, Advanced RISC Machines offers a complete custom
service for special versions of its RISC family. VLSI Technology will continue
to manufacture existing and future ARM designs at their worldwide fabrication
sites. In addition, they will offer the ARM as a core cell in ASIC and
catalogue product offerings.

The ARM technology, being a British design, has already attracted European
Commission funding; the new company expects its existing and planned RISC
designs to win further backing as ARM acts as a partner in the Open
Microsystems Initiative, working towards a European processor solution for
future generations of embedded control and workstations.

It is the intention of all involved that Advanced RISC Machines be an
independent company with an "open" processor architecture and the initial
investors expect that further investors will be found to confirm this
independence and add strength to the enterprise.

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"Acorn RISC Innovations Attract U.S. Investment"

Following the launch of Advanced RISC Machines Limited today (Nov 27th), Acorn
Computers see further opportunities to increase sales of their range of
existing and future computers based on ARM RISC processors.

Since 1985, when Acorn's first RISC designs were developed, Acorn has sold over
100,000 RISC based computers, more than any other manufacturer except Sun and
the most by a personal computer manufacturer.

The company is still the only manufacturer supplying 32 bit RISC machines from
less than 1000 pounds and is the clear market leader in education and training
with over 60% of the market.

Acorn has a significant 30% shareholding in Advanced RISC Machines which is
based on the Acorn RISC designs and will be staffed by many of the Acorn chip
design team. Apple Computer have also taken a 30% share and VLSI Technology
have invested in the company and licenced its products.

"More and more users are beginning to appreciate the advantages of RISC-based
systems for high performance, yet low cost, applications in desktop computers,
portable systems and embedded controllers" said Sam Wauchope, MD of Acorn
Computers Ltd.

"The investment by Apple in Advanced RISC Machines is one of the strongest
indications yet that Acorn's innovative designs are ahead of other solutions,
especially when low cost (and low power consumption) are critical", he added.

Acorn will be strongly represented on the board of Advanced RISC Machines and
will have inputs to their future product strategy and the design of new
families of ARM processors and peripheral chips in the 1990s.

The company will continue to invest heavily in research and development to
maintin its leadership in education and expand its sales in other areas of
Information Technology, such as desk-top publishing, computer-based training
and image processing.

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From: [e-mail] (Tiggr)
Subject: Another news item on the Acorn/Apple/VTI company
Date: 4 Dec 90 20:59:12 GMT
Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands



                 APPLE AND ACORN JOIN VLSI FOR MAC CHIP
                 ======================================


Apple Computer has announced a joint venture with US chip firm VLSI Technology
and European computer maker Acorn aimed at developing a RISC chip for use in
Apple's Machintosh.

Acorns part of the venture will allow VLSI and Apple to co-design a new chip
based around the ARM (Acorn Risc Machine) microprocessor.

The outcome of the venture will be a chip capable of powering the next
generation of Apple Machintosh desktop computers, or operating as a support
chip within a Machintosh to manipulate peripheral equipment such as printers.

The outcome of the venture could have major ramifications for Motorola and
Apple users.

Motorola has, since the introduction of the Machintosh computer, provided
Apple with the microprocessors at the heart of its computer - namely the 68xxx
family of chips.

Apple has been expected to adopt a Risc processor design for sometime, but
belief has been the company would use Motorola's Risc offering, the 88000.
A venture with Acorn and VLSI could strain what has been a long-standing and
reciprocal relationship between Apple and Motorola.

>From a user standpoint the adoption of a proprietary Arm/VLSI Risc processor
for the Machintosh would cast doubt on current Machintosh software being
supported.

The Acorn Arm Risc processor design is not a widespread architecture, but
Acorn has found some success with the chip design in the form of the company's
Archimedes Unix workstation.

VLSI Technology has had a long-standing relationship with both Apple and
Acorn.

Apple has long been one of VLSI's major customers for the supply of Asic
chips, and in the case of Acorn, VLSI manufactures its Arm processor.


Neil Fawcett, Computer Weekly, November 29, 1990