Configurable, Multi-Standard Audio Subsystem Provides Unique Product Differentiation and Fast Time to Market
TOKYO, Japan and ELSTREE, England, April 10, 2006 – ARC International (LSE: ARK) today announced that Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) has taken a license for the new ARC™ Sound Advanced Subsystem. Oki plans to incorporate the ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem into an application specific standard product (ASSP) targeting next generation in-car audio applications. The ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem is capable of performing its functions while operating at 200 MHz or less, and enables high-speed encoding and decoding of multiple audio streams, as well as ripping of music streams to AAC formats at up to 12x the normal speed while decoding other streams in parallel. It includes a configurable ARC 700 family processor, ARC’s award winning 128-bit Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) accelerator, a media-centric DMA engine and hardware and software development tools.
ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem allows Oki to create a robust, proprietary silicon platform, which will help them expand market share in the rapidly growing advanced in-car audio and other markets.
“We are pleased to have Oki Electric as the first announced licensee for the new ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem,” said Derek Meyer, senior vice president of sales and marketing at ARC International. “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. Oki benefits by creating an ARC-Based ASSP with more functionality and less power consumption than could be obtained using a fixed architecture device.”
About the ARC™ Sound Advanced Audio Subsystem
The ARC Sound Advanced Subsystem includes three high performance compute engines: A configurable 700 family, ARC’s new 128-bit SIMD accelerator with more than 60 new instructions specifically created for audio applications, and a high-throughput DMA engine. It is a customizable solution for complex ASSPs or system-on-chip (SoC) designs targeting the demanding high-fidelity audio market.
Selected as the "Product of the Year" at the Global Signal Processing Conference (GSPx 2005), ARC’s 128-bit SIMD accelerator takes advantage of the parallelism inherent in audio applications. The engine can deliver an order-of-magnitude performance improvement when performing audio encoding and decoding. The SIMD accelerator also greatly reduces power consumption by increasing application performance without raising the processor clock speed.
To supply the SIMD accelerator’s insatiable demand for audio data, the subsystem has a highly tuned DMA engine. Operating concurrent with and independent of the ARC 700 family core and SIMD accelerator, the DMA engine streams unprocessed audio packets into memory and streams processed packets out to mass storage or audio amplifiers.
About Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is Japan's first telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. With the corporate vision, "Oki, Network Solutions for a Global Society," Oki provides top-quality products, technologies and solutions to its customers through its info-telecom system business, semiconductor business and printer business. All three businesses function as a collective force to create exciting new products and technologies that satisfy a spectrum of customer needs in various markets. Visit Oki's global web site at http://www.oki.com/.
About ARC International plc
ARC International is the world leader in low-power, high-performance 32-bit configurable CPU/DSP processor cores, subsystems, real-time operating systems and development tools for embedded system design. ARC’s patented configurable CPU technology assists customers in the development of next generation digital media, consumer and communications devices, resulting in lower cost, higher performance SoC products.
ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate offices in San Jose, California, USA and Elstree, UK. The company has research and development offices located in England and the United States. For more information please visit the ARC website at: www.ARC.com. ARC International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc (LSE: ARK).
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