ARC is not selling a configurable processor per se, but rather a processor creation tool, called Architect, that it licenses directly to design teams. When they create a processor and instruction set with the tool, that intellectual property belongs to the design team, not to ARC, Turley said. What we have is similar to a C compiler for hardware. . . . Zilog Inc. recently bought Production Languages Corp. to bring that expertise in house, and Tensilica and ARC are both growing like beanstalks. Most of the design teams that have used the ARC scheme don't bother to change the instruction set, Turley said, but some do.
Most designers do change the bus interface, and some customers let their creative juices flow.
Turley still has his sense of humor, but you have to take his jokes with a grain of salt now. All rights reserved.