Arc Power saving Energy PRO

Arc International PLC
11 March 2008



Media Contact:

Jonah McLeod
ARC International
[phone]
[e-mail]




   New ARC(R) Energy PROTM Core Family Slashes Power Consumption By Up to 75%

             End-to-End Advanced Energy Saving Techniques Lengthen

               Battery Life for Mass Market Portable Applications



SAN JOSE, Calif., and ST. ALBANS, England, March 11, 2008 - ARC International
(LSE: ARK) today introduced a new family of licensable, 32-bit configurable
cores that will further extend its leadership in low power processing.  The ARC
(R) Energy PROTM core family leverages the company's recently announced, ultra
low power Energy PRO technology to set new standards for low power consumption
by reducing power usage by up to 75 percent.  The Energy PRO family is aimed at
the portable and embedded microcontroller markets where lower power consumption
is a critical design issue especially in multi-core designs.  A new release of
ARC's MQX(R) operating system is included with the new Energy PRO cores,
providing additional ability to reduce system-on-chip (SoC) power consumption
through monitoring and controlling the SoC's power by parts other than the core
itself.



ARC's new Energy PRO cores use a holistic approach to power reduction that
combines sophisticated hardware and software techniques with a tool chain and
libraries.  New innovations include architectural clock gating and dynamic
voltage and frequency scaling to reduce power usage, which are under the control
of a dedicated Power Management Unit.  Power control also can be extended to
other functional blocks within the SoC to significantly reduce total chip power.
  By combining the most appropriate energy saving strategies on a per-block and
per-subsystem level, SoC designers can define multiple power management modes to
ensure that the device uses the minimum possible power while still providing the
required performance on a real time basis - even to the extent of shutting the
core down when no threads are running.



"Holistic, end-to-end solutions will help customers meet challenging low power
design requirements imposed by portable consumer devices," explained Bill
Jackson, ARC's vice president of marketing. "For the first time advanced
power-saving techniques are available to SoC designers that address power
consumption at each stage of creating CPUs and SoCs."



The ARC(R) Energy PRO Core Family

Each member of the new Energy PRO core family is configured to address a
specific application area.  The ARC Energy PRO 20 is an ultra low power,
cacheless CPU/DSP core that is designed for embedded applications including hard
real-time controllers, dedicated function blocks and medical devices.  Closely
coupled, single cycle memories provide the fast computation and deterministic
response required in hard real-time applications.  The ARC Energy PRO 30 is an
ultra low power CPU/DSP core designed to function as a complete processor
solution for applications such as portable and mobile appliances, wireless
connectivity management and RTOS-based systems.



Both cores can take advantage of ARC's optional advanced modules including ARC
XY Advanced DSP, ARC FPX single and dual floating point extensions, and SmaRT
real time trace.  Energy PRO cores are fully configurable by licensees using
ARChitect(R), ARC's processor configurator tool.  ARChitect produces
synthesizable RTL which is compatible with all major industry standard EDA
flows.



A fully integrated Reference Design Methodology (RDM), based on the Common Power
Format (CPF), has been developed with Cadence Design Systems. It leverages the
Cadence(R) Low-Power Solution to reduce power consumption and provides a drop-in
solution that improves productivity and reduces time to market.  Virage Logic's
Area, Speed and Power (ASAPTM) Logic Low-Power Standard Cell libraries are used
in order to demonstrate advanced power savings features such as isolation cells
and level shifters.



MQX(R)-EP RTOS

MQX-EP has been specially designed to complement ARC's new Energy PRO core
family.  This new RTOS provides developers with an easy-to-use software
interface for system-wide power management, monitoring and profiling, thus
enabling Energy PRO's power saving features to be fully exploited and optimized
for deeply embedded, real-time applications.  The combination of ARC's MQX-EP
software and Energy PRO processors create a holistic solution.



MQX-EP provides an advanced level of software integration with Energy PRO
technology, and the resulting power reductions are enabled by the MQX software
technology and the MetaWare(R) development tools.  This combination of
pre-verified hardware, software and development tools equips ARC customers with
a complete end-to-end solution.



Availability

The new ARC Energy PRO cores and the MQX-EP RTOS are now available for
licensing.  For more information, contact ARC sales representatives or e-mail
[e-mail].



                                     # # #



About ARC International plc
ARC International is the world leader in multimedia subsystems and configurable
CPU/DSP processors.  Used by over 140 companies worldwide, ARC's configurable
solutions enable the creation of highly differentiated system-on-chips (SoCs)
that ship in hundreds of millions of devices annually.  ARC's patented
subsystems and cores are smaller, consume less power, and are less expensive to
manufacture than competing products.



ARC International maintains a worldwide presence with corporate and research and
development offices in San Jose and Lake Tahoe, Calif., St. Albans, England, and
St. Petersburg, Russia.  For more information visit www.ARC.com.  ARC
International is listed on the London Stock Exchange as ARC International plc
(LSE: ARK).



ARC and the ARC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ARC
International. All other brands or product names contained herein are the
property of their respective owners. This press release may contain certain
"forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, including the
development, implementation, and release of features described herein. These are
at the sole discretion of ARC International. Licenses from 3rd parties for
certain software and essential patents may be required depending on licensee's
use/implementation. For other factors that could cause actual results to differ,
visit the company's Website as well as the listing particulars filed with the
United Kingdom Listing Authority and the Registrar of Companies in England and
Wales.




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