The agreement covers existing and future Cortex processors, Mali GPUs, CoreLink system IP and Artisan physical IP, as well as Cadence Design IP, such as cores for PCI Express, Ethernet, analogue and memory and storage protocols.
Craig Cochran, vp of marketing with Cadence, said: "Customers will be assured that they will be using IP that has been proven to work. It will also allow Cadence to optimise IP performance and to reduce the risk to the customer. To our knowledge, this is the first broad IP interoperability agreement in the industry."
Pete Hutton, president of ARM's product groups, added: "Extending our collaboration with Cadence to IP interoperability means we are mutually embracing the increasing importance of optimising the IP systems within SoC designs. By working together closely, we can continue to deliver the key technologies that allow our customers to push the boundaries of innovation."
Keven Yee, product marketing director for Cadence's IP group, said: "This allows us to access and cross license IP to support customers with system level integration. SoCs are becoming more complex and the number of IP blocks being integrated continues to increase. Someone looking to integrate a Cortex-M processor core with analogue functionality will know that we have made sure the integration works smoothly."
