Intersil adds ARM core to PRISM development

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team May 24, 2001

Intersil has licensed the ARM946E microprocessor core for use in its Prism wireless LAN product line.

Intersil has licensed the ARM946E microprocessor core for use in its Prism wireless LAN product line.

The ARM946E solution is ideally suited to applications such as IEEE 802.11-based WLANs, where low-power consumption in small form factors is critical.

Intersil has also licensed the ARM Embedded Trace Macrocell (ETM) solution for advanced SoC debug capabilities and the ARM MicroPack toolkit.

The MicroPack toolkit allows developers to successfully create AMBA bus-based SoC designs, and will enable Intersil to develop the internal bus structure for its wireless LAN products.

"Our partnership with ARM further positions Intersil as the world's leading silicon resource for building high performance wireless networking products", said Larry Ciaccia, vice president and general manager for Prism Wireless Products at Intersil.

"The ARM technology will be a key element of our roadmaps going forward and will be leveraged in our products for both the 2.4 and 5GHz band.

ARM core-based Prism MAC chips are highly programmable and offer an extensive third-party tool set, thus enabling WLAN vendors to easily customise product features and options entirely in software".

"This licensing agreement with Intersil further underlines ARM's strength in the networking space and demonstrates our commitment to providing network device manufacturers with the support they need to build leading-edge products", said Steve Evans, VP of Segment Marketing for ARM.

"ARM technology, from core IP to applications software, has enabled a new generation of networking products including ADSL and cable modems, intelligent Ethernet network interface cards and wireless LAN solutions".