Wednesday, April 12, 2000

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) Microelectronics Group, the world leader in communications semiconductors, today announced it has fabricated the first silicon of the ARM10™ microprocessor core from ARM [(LSE: ARM); (Nasdaq: ARMHY)]. This high-performance core for system-on-a-chip (SoC) integrated circuits (ICs) significantly increases the performance of previous ARM® cores, enabling the development of next-generation wireless products and broadband infrastructure that support Internet access and transport. Lucent's ARM10 core-based SoCs have been designed to be at the heart of leading-edge communications applications, including Internet-enabled wireless phones and personal digital assistants, set-top boxes, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) platforms, wireless and broadband Internet connectivity, Internet routers, high-end gaming and high-speed computer input devices. The core's small die area and low power consumption are well suited for integration with Lucent's digital signal processors, enabling SoCs that perform real-time audio and video applications at power levels suitable for portable devices, wireless base stations and VoIP gateways.

Lucent also announced it is broadening its ARM core-based solution set with its licensing of the ARM7TDMI-S™, ARM946E™ and ARM966E™ synthesizable processor cores for next-generation Lucent communications SoC offerings.

"By working with ARM as a lead partner on the development of the ARM10 family and being the first integrated circuit provider to fabricate an ARM10 core in silicon, Lucent is enabling its customers to accelerate their time to market for next-generation network systems and wireless Internet appliances," said Tony Grewe, director of Communications Strategy and Business Development in Lucent's Microelectronics Group. "And by licensing synthesizable versions of the ARM7 and ARM9 processor core families, Lucent brings a new measure of flexibility and efficiency to the design of advanced communications systems-on-a-chip."

Lucent has licensed ARM cores for use in both application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and application-specific standard product (ASSP) ICs across the company's broad line of solutions, including wireless voice and data communications, broadband access and transport - including DSL - and computing and mass storage.

"Our initial evaluation of Lucent's ARM10 silicon shows it meeting all of the design's criteria," said Reynette Au, vice president of marketing, ARM. "Lucent's leadership in advancing the ARM10 family, along with their licensing cores across the ARM7 and ARM9 families, enables them to capitalize on the ARM architecture's scalability while maintaining full software compatibility across all solutions."

Lucent is fabricating its first ARM10 cores in the company's COM-1 (0.25 micron drawn) modular CMOS process, with future migration plans to the COM-2 (0.16 micron drawn) process later this year. The core's performance in 0.16-micron technology is targeted to process more than 400 MIPS (million instructions per second) at 1.5 volts, while consuming less than one watt of power.

The ARM10 family supports industry-proven operating systems such as Windows CE, Epoc32 and Linux. The ARM10 silicon is currently running Windows CE and application code including MP3 audio decompression.

Lucent is currently sampling reference devices which integrate the cached ARM10 integer unit, VFP10 floating point coprocessor, SDRAM controller, AMBA™ Advanced High-speed Bus (AHB) interface and PLL. These devices will also be available for evaluation using development cards from ARM later this year.

ARM, a leading intellectual property (IP) provider, licenses high-performance, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals, and system-chip designs to leading international electronics companies. ARM also provides comprehensive support required in developing a complete system. ARM's microprocessor cores are rapidly becoming the volume RISC standard in such markets as portable communications, hand-held computing, multimedia and embedded solutions. More information on ARM is available at http://www.arm.com.

Lucent's Microelectronics Group designs and manufactures integrated circuits and optoelectronic components for the computer and communications industries. More information about the Microelectronics Group is available from its web site at http://www.lucent.com/micro/.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., USA, designs and delivers the systems, software, silicon and services for next-generation communications networks for service providers and enterprises. Backed by the research and development of Bell Labs, Lucent focuses on high-growth areas such as optical and wireless networks; Internet infrastructure; communications software; communications semiconductors and optoelectronics; web-based enterprise solutions that link private and public networks; and professional network design and consulting services. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit its web site at http://www.lucent.com/.