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Patents and Processors - Digital, Intel and ARM



Latest: The Deal goes ahead

At the end of October, Digital Equipment Corporation and Intel announced the resolution of their patent-infringement dispute. The case revolved around Digital's assertion that Intel had copied patented techniques from Digital's Alpha processor, and used them in the Pentium. Intel counter-sued, as is the US custom. Neither case reached court: the October settlement involved both sides dropping their suits as part of a complex cross-licensing deal.

The significance of the agreement to the follower of Acorn and ARM is that the StrongARM processor is included in the deal.

The main features of the settlement are as follows. Intel is to buy Digital's processor fabrication plant (commonly known as a 'Fab') in Hudson, Massachusetts for $700 million (£432 million). Intel will also take over the Digital design centres in Austin, Texas and Jerusalem, Israel, together with their engineering staff. Digital will retain its Alpha design team, who will continue to develop the processor. Intel have agreed to produce Alpha processors at the Hudson Fab for at least the next ten years. Intel also plan to re-equip the Fab for 0.25µm work, and to use the spare capacity to produce its own processors.

For the Acorn user, the most significant part of the deal is the transfer of the Austin design centre to Intel, for it is here that the StrongARM is developed. Digital have made it clear that the StrongARM is included; "Intel will assume responsibility and customer commitment for StrongARM" said one spokesperson. However, the processor does not immediately become an Intel product, as it was never wholly owned by Digital. It is here that the complexities of the licensing agreement between ARM and Digital come into play.

The StrongARM design is based upon the common ARM architecture, as used in the ARM6 and 7 series. As a result, ARM owns the rights to the SA-1 processor core, which is used in all the SA designs. ARM and Digital jointly developed the caches and memory-management units which go with the SA-1 core to form a SA-110 processor; these designs are therefore jointly owned by the two companies, as is the complete processor. The same is true of the peripherals developed to produce the SA-1100 processor. Reynette Au, vice president of marketing for ARM, said "Digital was the sole supplier of StrongARM, but the fundamental architecture belongs to ARM". Intel cannot, therefore, take over the processor without first obtaining a license from ARM; Intel and ARM will need to "renegotiate the terms of the StrongARM relationship" according to Reynette Au. Aside from the StrongARM, Intel will also have to negotiate with ARM if it wants to use the networking products developed by Digital in Jerusalem. These network and PCI devices are based on ARM cores so they fall, once again, within ARM's intellectual property.

The question is, will Intel license the StrongARM? Opinions are mixed: Intel is noted for only using technology developed in-house, although the settlement of the patent dispute suggests that they may have used other people's designs on at least one occasion. The embedded-processor market is critical here. Intel may have a dominant position on the desktop, but they have had little success in the low-power arena. Some commentators feel that the Digital deal has given them the ideal opportunity to break into the market for hand-held computers and mobile phones. Others believe that there will be an battle within Intel between those who wish to push the x86 design further, and those who would adopt the already-successful platform. Certainly, the signals from Intel indicate differing views. Chris Hogg, an Intel Northern-European market development manager, said "StrongARM is an exciting embedded product family. ... We're going to work with ARM to pursue the appropriate IP licences". However, another spokesperson said "We are currently beginning to evaluate them as potential Intel products. But we are under no obligation to continue building any chips not used in key Digital products".

Two key areas where StrongARM is showing promise, and which Intel may wish to exploit, are Windows CE sub-notebooks and 'Intelligent I/O' systems. Power consumption is an important factor in sub-notebooks and so, with a Windows CE port in the pipeline, the StrongARM is well specified. Intelligent I/O (I2O) is a new interfacing approach for large servers and super-computers; Intel have been promoting their own i960 embedded processor, but the I2O Special Interest Group has been showing increasing interest in the StrongARM. Both of these could be important new markets for Intel, when their desktop-market position will be difficult to improve.

It is unlikely that ARM would refuse Intel a licence, but the details of that licence will be the subject of some tough negotiation. Intel are known for their "legendary" licensing conditions, but ARM are keen to point out that their fourth licensee was Texas Instruments - a company not known for the timidity of its lawyers! A tricky job for ARM will be keeping its current family of 22 licensees happy, especially if Intel is to join them.

Neither ARM's fortunes, nor those of the StrongARM, are tied to Intel, however. If Intel does not want to license the technology, ARM believes that there are other semiconductor manufacturers who will. The company has already approached other Fabs with a view to licensing or simply manufacturing StrongARM devices. "ARM has been engaged in licensing discussions with companies that have high performance processes that can produce StrongARM devices", said an ARM spokesperson. Two names in particular have been mentioned: Samsung and Mitsubishi. Both companies have licensed the 0.35µm technology from Digital which is needed to build the StrongARM, and Samsung is already an ARM licensee. As it has sole ownership of the SA-1 core, ARM is free to develop new devices in the StrongARM family without obtaining permission from either Digital or Intel. It is also believed that ARM's design team has benefited from the close association with Digital's engineers. The new ARM9 processor employs some of the high-performance tricks used in the StrongARM, and the ARM10 core is currently being jointly developed at Austin.

At present, completion of the deal is not guaranteed. The agreement must first be scrutinised by the US government's Federal Trade Commission (FTC), who will be considering whether Intel will gain a monopolistic position. The company is, in fact, already under investigation by the FTC for this very reason. The acquisition of the StrongARM technology may well influence their decision. Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Dataquest, a San Jose research firm, commented "The Feds might say, 'Intel doesn't dominate the embedded systems market, and why should we give them a sharp bullet to go after that market too?'". The investigation is expected to take several months; it remains to be seen whether there is sufficient evidence to prevent the deal going through.

Whatever the outcome of the investigations and negotiations, the prospect for ARM looks good. The conclusion of one trade journal was "...the StrongARM technology is more likely to proliferate more widely...". Commenting on the possibilities for the future, Robin Saxby, ARM's CEO, said "There is the potential for all the companies involved to win".

ARM - Digital - Intel

Sources: Electronics Weekly, Electronics
Times, TechWeb, ZDnet, Reuters.


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