Le Tour de France is arguably the world’s greatest cycling road race and has been extremely successful on the streets of…well…France. That was until a few weeks ago when “Le Tour” came to the UK.
ARM® Mali™ Multimedia IP is widely regarded as the world’s best too and it has been incredibly successful in mobile, where we are the #1 shipping GPU for Android devices. However, the scalability of our multimedia IP means our partners can also target other markets beyond mobile with the same design.
The interesting thing for me about the Atmel license announced today is not just that they now have access to ARM Cortex®-A7, ARM's most energy efficient processor ever, and ARM’s video and display processors – it is the new and different types of markets Atmel will go on and address with the same ARM Mali IP which has done so well in the mobile market.
Atmel has traditionally not focused on mobile application processors. Instead, they have been very successful in a broad range of other low power markets.
Each ARM Mali GPU, Video and Display processor delivers best-in-class performance in the smallest area. It is this small area advantage that will allow Atmel to target a vast array of markets with a rich multimedia experience.
Atmel plans to use ARM's technology in wearables, toys and even industrial markets. Here, user expectation is that any screen-based device will deliver a similar experience to the latest tablet or smartphone with a smooth 3D user interface, video capture and playback functionality, all at HD resolution and incorporating secure features for protection of data and content. And critically, all of this in a low power budget.
The Mali IP Atmel has licensed includes system-wide power saving technology such as ARM Frame Buffer Compression (see Jem Davies' blog ARM Mali Display - the joined-up story continues) out of the box support for ARM TrustZone® processor security technology and an optimized software solution delivering maximum efficiency all the way to the glass [see Dave Brown blog Do Androids have nightmares of botched system integrations).
A few weeks ago, the organisers of the Tour de France brought the race to the UK, speeding right through my tiny little village on the outskirts of Cambridge. The event was a massive success in the UK with crowds surpassing anything seen outside Paris.
I look forward to seeing where Atmel takes ARM’s range of multimedia IP and the success they will see in some very exciting markets outside mobile.