OPTi licenses Argonaut RISC microprocessor; Supports development of future audio, telephony, and 3D products.MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 18, 1997--OPTi, Inc., (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :OPTI OPTI Optical OPTI Osteopathic Postdoctoral Training Institution OPTI Optimal/Optimum OPTI Organizational Process Technology Innovation (process area) ) announced today that OPTi has entered into a worldwide, non-exclusive license with Argonaut RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. Cores Inc., a subsidiary of Argonaut Ltd., for the ARC microprocessor. ARC is a high performance extendable RISC core with DSP (1) (Digital Signal Processor) A special-purpose CPU used for digital signal processing applications (see definition #2 below). It provides ultra-fast instruction sequences, such as shift and add, and multiply and add, which are commonly used in math-intensive extensions which allows designers to custom-tailor the instruction set for almost any embedded application inlcuding graphics, telecommunications, networking peripherals, and multimedia. This agreement will give OPTi the ability to suport development of future audio, telephony, 3D, and intelligent controller products. OPTi joins other industry leaders in multimedia products including Brooktree, Fujitsu, S-MOS, and ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integration) More than one million transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, LSI and VLSI. Systems in licensing the ARC processor core. "OPTi's thrust into advanced audio and telephony products requires RISC and DSP technologies which we could not only license but also adapt to our own specific design needs," said Stephen Dukker, OPTi's president. "The unique flexibility of the ARC core makes it the ideal choice." "ARC significantly reduces the cost of an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. because of the unique flexibility offered by ARC," said Bob Terwilliger, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Argonaut RISC Core. "Silicon vendors and OEMs will be able to uniquely differentiate their use of ARC by targeting extensions to the needs of specific markets." The Argonaut RISC Core (ARC) is a 32-bit microprocessor designed for embedding into ASICs. Designers can add their own instructions, registers and condition codes to build their perfect microprocessor. In today's world of limited ASIC fab capacity and long lead times, many companies want to avoid being tied to a particular silicon vendor. Argonaut provides a complete development environment called Application Specific RISC Processor (ASRP ASRP ARC Standard Raster Product ASRP Australian Synchrotron Research Program ASRP Ammunition Stockpile Reliability Program ASRP Adaptive Spectral Reconnaissance Program (DARPA) ASRP Aluminum Spiral Rib Pipe ) Architecture(TM), which includes synthesizable VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) A hardware description language (HDL) used to design electronic systems at the component, board and system level. VHDL allows models to be developed at a very high level of abstraction. source code, a Rapid Hardware Prototyping System, and the Metaware(TM) software development toolchain. The ASRP Architecture allows ASIC designers to build systems that can be rapidly switched between vendors, or onto the latest technologies. Argonaut RISC Cores Inc. is the U.S. Microprocessor Subsidiary of Argonaut Ltd., a world leader in 3D games and technology development since 1990. Argonaut RISC Cores is headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. For further information contact Bob Terwilliger, president & CEO of Argonaut RISC Cores at bobt@argonaut.com, tel: 205/464-9279 (U.S.), and Anna Parton, Marketing Manager at Argonaut Ltd., at anna@argonaut.com, tel: 44.181.200.577 (U.K.). Internet address: http://www.argnonaut.com . OPTi, Inc., founded in 1989, is a leading independent volume supplier of multimedia and core logic silicon solutions to the personal computer market. OPTi is headquartered in Milpitas, California, and the company's customers include many of the major PC OEMs in the world. OPTi stock is traded on the NASDAQ, National Market under symbol OPTI. For more information about OPTi's products, contact 408/486-8000, or visit our www Home Page at http://www.opti.com . CONTACT: OPTi, Inc. Janet L. Courtenay/Anna Partons, 408/486-8216 www.opti.com or Argonaut Ltd., Anna Partons, 44.181.200577 |
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