MILPITAS, CA--(Marketwired - June 13, 2016) - Open-Silicon, a system-optimized ASIC solution provider, today announced it has been selected to join the ARM® Approved Design Partner program. Partners in this new initiative are leading design and ASIC houses that will assist customers with designing an SoC for the first time, and help in-house teams who need additional design and silicon manufacturing support.

This program builds on the ARM DesignStart™ portal, which offers SoC designers free access to ARM Cortex®-M0 processor IP for design, simulation and prototyping with the option to buy a simplified and standardized $40,000 fast track license. The design and ASIC houses selected to join the ARM Approved Design Partner program will provide expert support during development and manufacturing. They are experienced in developing custom SoCs using ARM processor IP, and have successfully completed a stringent ARM auditing process to ensure they meet the highest quality standards.

"The new ARM Approved Design Partner program enables a powerful and extensive network of global design houses," said Chris Shore, training product manager, ARM. "Open-Silicon has a successful track record in custom SoC design and manufacturing services as well as ASIC projects, and it has made significant investments in its ARM-based product services roadmap. As a member of the program, Open-Silicon can now play a valuable role in helping to enable the easy and rapid development of new ARM-based devices."

Open-Silicon's selection for the ARM Approved Design Partner program validates the company's investments in its ARM TCoE (Technology Center of Excellence), established in 2011, and its recent Spec2Chip IoT ASIC Platform, which was developed for low risk and reduced schedule custom SoC development. This scalable platform is based on the ARM Cortex-M processor, TrustZone® CryptoCell hardware-accelerated security technology and ARM mbed™ SDK. This platform allows IoT ASIC designs to be evaluated at the system level.

"ARM and Open-Silicon share the same vision for simplifying the path for system developers to deploy IoT platforms," said Vasan Karighattam, VP of engineering, Open-Silicon. "Through this collaboration, both companies are paving the road to IoT innovation by facilitating the development of highly-differentiated custom SoC designs."

Note to those attending TSMC Europe Technology Symposium & OIP Ecosystem Forum 2016, June 13-14, 2016, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Please see Open-Silicon's Spec2Chip IoT ASIC Platform, which will be showcased on the exhibit floor.