ARM unveils speedy 3G chip

NEWS Processor designer ARM has unveiled its next generation of processors aimed at the 3G mobile phone market. The ARMv6 architecture, promising higher all-round performance and an eight-fold increase in video speeds, is due to appear in devices from next year. Video was set to be the number one applications for third generation of mobile phones, but squeezing video and phone functionality into a small device with a reasonable battery life has been almost impossible. The new ARM chip aims to address this problem by improving overall system performance by 30 per cent, and has a set of specific enhancements that will allow video to function more efficiently. ARM has also been working with Texas Instruments to design a processor that will interact easily with other processors - an important feature in 3G phones. ARM, currently one of the most successful companies in the semiconductor industry, designs processors but has no factories. Their designs are licensed to other companies, such as Intel, which incorporate them into their own chip designs. ARM designs are used in a number of wireless and embedded devices, from routers to PDAs and mobile phones. The company has also published details of its PrimeXsys - a software development platform designed to enable applications to run seamlessly on a range of wireless devices without being rewritten.