BANGALORE, INDIA: ARM and Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. announced that Mindspeed has licensed ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore processor for their next generation, multiservice networking platforms, designed to support voice and data services across wireline and wireless networks.

ARM MPCore (multicore) technology increases performance scalability and control over power consumption, whereas, Cortex-A9 MPCore processor was developed to deliver MPCore technology to a breadth of new application markets by further optimizing and extending this technology.

The agreement is an extension of an existing collaboration between the two companies, during which period Mindspeed Comcerto 100 and 1000 series of broadband gateway processors based on the ARM1136J-S processor were launched.

ARM also provided Mindspeed with comprehensive on-site hardware training on the Cortex-A9 processor deliverables to ensure they were able to start designing with the technology as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Tom Medrek, Mindspeed’s senior vice president and general manager, multiservice access, said: “The proposition of multiservice networking, combining all types of communications, including data, voice and video over a single packet cell-based infrastructure, is emerging as a strategically important issue for enterprise and public service provider infrastructures alike. Enabling this technology within tight power constraints is only possible with high-performance, embedded multiprocessing technology. ARM has proven expertise and experience in this area, as demonstrated with our Comcerto 100 series, and was our logical partner for future development.”  

Ian Ferguson, director Enterprise Solutions, ARM, said: “The ARM architecture is the optimal solution to enable best-in-class quality of service (QoS) for the networking platforms that are emerging as broadband gateways evolve into intelligent multiservice access points. The Cortex-A9 MPCore processor provides the flexibility to extend peak performance to unprecedented levels while reducing power consumption, a combination which makes it ideal for high-performance networking applications.”