October 2009 Archives

"The Internet Everywhere" is ARM's slogan for its latest low-power processor, the 45nm Cortex A5 MPCore, which is aimed at smartphones and MIDS and other such mobile devices, and is available with up to four cores.

Few details are available, writes our Technology Editor, Steve Bush, but the processor includes the firm's TrustZone security block and its 128-bit SIMD Neon multimedia engine, first introduced with the Cortex-A8.

Along with the core, ARM had released a physical IP package for 40nm chips, including low-leakage, said the firm, logic libraries optimised for TSMC's 40LP process.

The core is compatible with existing Cortex-A tools and software, said ARM, including Android, Adobe Flash, Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE), JavaFX, Linux, Microsoft Windows Embedded, Symbian and Ubuntu.

One of the barriers to entry for ARM-based Netbooks appears to have been lifted - ARM say they have optimised Adobe Flash Player 10.1 on ARM-powered devices.

The work is part of the Open Screen Project, writes David Manners, which is an industry group with nearly 50 participants working together to deliver a consistent runtime environment across mobile phones, desktops and other consumer electronic devices.

The key point appears to be that Adobe Flash Player on ARM-powered devices will give consumers access to virtually all Web content everywhere, states ARM.

Intel has previously maintained - rather improbably - that the Web is geared for x86 devices. Tell that to users of Apple's iPhone 3GS.

ARM came of age with a major PC design breakthrough last week, writes Richard Wilson.

The Cambridge-based company will see a microprocessor based on one of its low power cores sitting side-by-side with an Intel Core Duo in a Dell laptop PC.