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ARM Tackles Design Challenges for Complex, Application-Rich Consumer Devices With Latest Realview Development Tools

CAMBRIDGE, England, October 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --

- RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional Enables Developers to Realize the Full Potential of Their ARM Processor-Based Devices, Including the Cortex-A9 MPCore Multicore Processor

ARM (; (NASDAQ: ARMH)) today announced the RealView(R) Development Suite 4.0 Professional tool suite at the fifth annual ARM(R) Developers' Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. A host of new benefits combine in the RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional, including new compilation techniques to achieve up to 10 percent processor performance improvement and enhanced system profiling for more precise analysis of software execution and system performance. Developed with complex, application-rich systems in mind - particularly mobile devices such as mobile internet devices and smartphones - RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional enables developers to push the limits of functionality and get the very best out of the ARM architecture, including the latest ARM Cortex(TM)-M3, Cortex-R4, CortexA8 and Cortex-A9 processors and the Cortex-A9 MPCore(TM) multicore processor.

"Stunningly complex devices such as today's fully-featured smartphones have generated a demand for similar gadgets and applications that offer a new level of connectivity and user experience. In order to create these next-generation devices, powerful software tools are essential," said Rich Wawrzyniak, senior analyst, Semico Research Corporation. "By continuing to introduce new features to its tool suite, ARM is ensuring that developers get the very best out of its architecture and are able to develop rich applications that will enhance the end-user experience."

Among the key benefits included in RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional are link-time code generation and profiler-driven compilation. Link-time code generation significantly reduces code size, and designers gain the option to either increase system functionality with no additional memory requirement, or lower overall system cost. Profiler-driven compilation enables code to be optimized based on actual use, which significantly improves software performance and responsiveness of applications on ARM processors.

The tool suite also features a new version of the ARM Profiler. Besides supporting long-duration profiling of fully optimized production code, the new ARM Profiler now also supports Real-Time Streaming Instruction Trace. This allows capture and storage of continuous instruction trace for up to 10 days, which would provide detailed information on what software the device is executing and how this affects the performance and behavior of the system.

"As today's consumer electronics, particularly smartphones and mobile internet devices (MIDs) become increasingly sophisticated, powerful software tools will be essential to enabling the development of new systems," said Mark Onions, director of marketing, System Design Division, ARM. "ARM has worked closely with its Partners to ensure that our software tools help designers address issues like performance, power and cost, while helping to streamline the creation of tomorrow's feature-rich designs."

Other key features and benefits of RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional include:

    - Two additional ultra-fast Real-Time System Models (RTSMs)
      supporting Cortex-R4 and Cortex-A9 processors running at an equivalent
      of 250MHz
    - Support for the ARM Cortex-A9 processor with NEONTM vectorizing
      compiler
    - The ARM Workbench IDE based on the open-source Eclipse Integrated
      Development Environment (IDE)
    - Enhanced support allowing developers to take advantage of the
      Cortex-M3 processor bit-banding memory
    - Support for controlling compiler optimizations that simplify the
      validation process for critical systems
    - Support for Texas Instruments OMAP 3 devices; Marvell Feroceon
      Dragonite v5TE and v6T2 cores; and Faraday Technology Corporation
      FA526, FA626 and FA626TE cores
    - Enhanced support for ARM CoreSight(TM) advanced debug and trace
      features

The RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional tools suite is utilized by industry-leading companies, including Dolby Laboratories, Inc. , Parasoft and QSounds Labs:

"The new RealView Development Suite helps us deliver the best Dolby solutions for the ARM processor-based devices," said Martin Dietz, vice president, EMEA and Business Strategy, Dolby Laboratories. "With these tools, our customers can more easily port technologies like Dolby(R) Mobile and aacPlus to devices, while significantly reducing time-to-market. More features in less time equals a better experience for consumers."

"RVDS 4.0 Professional is a very important step in ARM's continued evolution of their Eclipse-based RVDS development environment. By providing their state of the art tools under the open Eclipse platform, ARM greatly facilitates the tool platform integration instrumental in enabling a seamless development process with greater productivity necessary to meet the growing demand for complex mobile devices," said Sergei Sokolov, general manager of Parasoft Embedded, a member of ARM Connected Community(TM) which provides Eclipse-based code analysis and application quality solutions focused on automated defect prevention.

"The flexible and open environment of the ARM RealView Development Suite Professional tools have facilitated our efforts to provide efficient and optimized audio technologies for the mobile market," said Brian Schmidt, CTO of QSound Labs, Inc. "The new features in the RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional will help us to further optimize our code for NEON technology."

Availability

The ARM RealView Development Suite 4.0 Professional is available for licensing today in both standard and professional versions. For more information about the tools, please visit: http://www.arm.com/products/DevTools/RealViewSoftwareDevelopment.html .

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, 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. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.

ARM and RealView are registered trademarks of ARM Limited. Cortex and NEON are trademarks of ARM Limited. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. "ARM" is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries: ARM, Inc.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan Limited; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS Design Automation Inc.; ARM Germany GmbH; ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; and ARM Norway, AS.

Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories.