ARM CEO Warren East on IoT, Nokia, platforms, Europe's future

ARM CEO Warren East on IoT, Nokia, platforms, Europe's future

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – ARM CEO Warren East said Internet of Thingsapplications could double the company's market size, he wouldn't"bet against" Nokia and his company is envisioning future technologyevolution by building internal platforms.

In a wide-ranging interview at ARM TechCon, EE Times asked Eastabout how the company is adapting to better serve its increasingdomain breadth that now ranges from servers, through mobile clientsand down to the Internet of Things (IoT).

"The Internet of Things for us is about the sale ofmicrocontrollers. We think it is likely to follow a similar path tomobile phones."

East explained that the first microprocessors in cell phones were32-bit devices that were required to spend most their time runningthe cellular communications protocol. The processor clock cyclesthat became available when the phone was not being used for a callwere put to uses running early games on tiny displays. Now we areused to multiple processor cores on an SOC, and multiple processorchips in a mobile phone; a modem chip, an application processor, aconnectivity chip.

So East expects a move to multiple cores in MCUs. "That alone woulddouble the market size for ARM," he said.

Toward 20 percent
The market is running at about 8 billion MCUs shipped per yearacross all applications, said East. In 2010 the ARM architecture hadpenetrated about 10 percent of the MCU market and in 2011 about 15percent, he said. "2012 is looking like another good year. I think Iwould be disappointed if it wasn't up around 20 percent."

But will ARM expand its intellectual property remit intomixed-signal, wireless, MEMS and other IP, which are needed inwireless sensor networks? Or will ARM stick to the digital focusthat has been its hallmark across its first 22 years of existence?

"A number of technology pieces are needed. And thinking holisticallyis vital to make things take off. Maybe we need to get involved atthe technology level. But more important is to make standardshappen," said East, clearly referring back to the announcement thatARM was becoming a leading member of the Weightless Special InterestGroup.

The Weightless group is looking to drive standardization in theintelligent re-use of spectrum allocated to broadcast services toopen up dedicated radio channels for machine-to-machinecommunications and the Internet of Things.

When specifically asked about mixed-signal IP, East said: "We're nota mixed-signal company," said East.
On the other hand it must be remembered that ARM wasn't a graphicscompany until it bought Falanx Microsystems in June 2006.
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TAG:ARM Warren East Internet of Things IoT Nokia platforms computing communication engineering servers electronics embedded systems