"We are delighted to be able to present the modeling capabilities of our new DeskPOD family using a world-class RISC core like the ARM7TDMI," said Richard Curtin, CEO of Simpod, Inc. "It is precisely this type of silicon intellectual property (SIP) for which the DeskPOD family was designed — Simpod offers unique price/performance benefits to embedded system designers working in highly competitive end-system markets." Simpod intends to demonstrate that the DeskPOD system can enable ARM customers and licensees to achieve faster time-to-modeling for hardware/software co-development of embedded ARM7TDMI processor designs. "We are pleased to be involved with promising new technology that addresses our customers' need for substantially improved efficiencies in the design, verification and system-level integration of reusable IP," said Alistair Greenhill, business manager of ARM's EDA business unit. "With time-to-market pressures mounting steadily in the end-system markets for which ARM7TDMI is most appropriate, the potential for faster time-to-modeling and more efficient co-development using the DeskPOD IP modeling platform would offer significant advantages to our customers."

ARM7TDMI
Ideal for sophisticated applications such as mobile phones, pagers and disk controllers that require more performance, address space and software support than 8 or 16-bit controllers can deliver, ARM7TDMI was the first of ARM's 32-bit RISC cores to incorporate the Thumb architectural extension. Featuring a 16-bit instruction set drawn from the original 32-bit ARM instruction set, the Thumb extension allows a subset of the most commonly used 32-bit ARM instructions to execute from 16 or 32-bit memory with a 30 to 40 percent code density improvement. On execution, Thumb instructions are decompressed by the processor into equivalent ARM instructions in real time.

DeskPOD
Packaged in a convenient desktop form-factor, the DeskPOD family supports up to 570 fully programmable I/O signals to connect between the digital sub-system and the simulation development environment. DeskPOD API can support HDL-based simulators (Verilog and VHDL), as well as for embedded software development tools. Multiple DeskPOD systems can be incorporated in a single simulation model, providing a scalable modeling resource for complex system design and verification.

The Simpod modeling system satisfies a variety of design and verification requirements while easily co-existing with the user's current development environment. DeskPOD provides the hardware engineer with quick time-to-modeling, and the potential for significant performance improvements over RTL simulation. Concurrent with the hardware design and verification effort, software engineers can run DeskPOD through a "C" API to verify embedded firmware or driver code intended for use in the target system. In this fashion, the software engineer gains access to the actual system blocks much sooner in the co-development schedule, allowing early validation of the code versus the system specification. Additionally, the DeskPOD socket can be connected to another subsystem by use of a cable, allowing the code to be tested in-circuit.

Availability
DeskPOD prices begin at $25,000, with production release scheduled for the second quarter, 1998. Modeling capabilities for the ARM7TDMI core will be available concurrent with DeskPOD production shipments.

About ARM
ARM is a leader in microprocessor Intellectual Property. ARM designs and licenses fast, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals and "system-chip" solutions for embedded control, consumer/educational multimedia, DSP and portable applications. ARM supports its processor offerings with development hardware and software and contract design services. ARM licenses its technology to leading semiconductor, software and OEM partners worldwide who focus on applications, design and manufacturing. Each partner offers unique ARM-related technologies and services which together satisfy a broad range of end-user needs. Through this partnering, ARM is rapidly becoming the global volume RISC standard. ARM has offices in Cambridge and Maidenhead, UK; Los Gatos, California; Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington, USA; Munich, Germany; Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, Korea. For more information, visit the ARM web site at http://www.arm.com.

About Simpod
Simpod designs and develops a family of high-performance modeling systems for the co-development of digital electronic systems. The company's patented and patent pending technologies are incorporated in the DeskPOD family for use in the development of systems-on-a-chip (SoC), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), silicon intellectual property (SIP), and embedded system design. Simpod products and services offer hardware and software development teams scalable, simulation acceleration and rapid time-to-modeling solutions which significantly shorten product design and verification schedules. Company headquarters are located at 3080 Olcott Street, Santa Clara, California 95054. Tel: (408)-330-9300 For more information, see the company website, www.simpod.com