Microsoft has entered into a lisenceing deal with ARM that can make the software behemoth pull off an ‘Apple‘ act in future. ARM chipsets are almost the universal deity of mobile or embedded systems and the latest agreement will enable Microsoft to design their own chips based on the ARM architecture, a la Apple.
Both Microsoft and Arm Holdings have collaborated for years in the fields of software and devices, particularly in the mobile, consumer and embedded product segments. Now with the software giant holding the license to design their own Arm-based microarchitectures, we sure can expect smart devices coming from Microsoft in future.
Speaking of the deal, executive vice president of marketing at Arm, Ian Drew said, “We have licensed our architecture and our instruction set to Microsoft. This type of license allows you to design your own microarchitecture.”
With this, Microsoft joined a select group of companies – Qualcomm, Marvell Technology and Infineon Technologies that have similar licensing agreements that enables them to design their own Arm-based microarchitectures.
“As an architectural licensee, Microsoft wants to go public about adding itself to that short list,” said Drew.
ARM happens to be one of the most high profile chip designers in the world, with almost everything from the Apple’s iPhone and iPad to even high-tech toys and handheld calculators having an ARM chip at its core. It might be mentioned here that the Snapdragon processors from Qualcomm goes on to power the Dell Streak tablet and Google’s Nexus One range of smartphone.
In Microsoft’s case, the deal could mean Window Phone 7 Series based slates and tablets having an ARM chip at the core. Then the Windows Embedded Compact too may be provided with ARM derived stuff in future. Microsoft will also perhaps like to port complete Windows versions on to ARM in the LongARM project, something that isn’t possible as of now. And then, who knows, Microsoft may even be planning to have ARM powering their next gen Xbox consoles.
So, its exciting times ahead as we await the launch of some smart products from Microsoft
