NICE, France — Handshake Solutions (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koninklijke Philips NV, has announced the release of a clockless version of a multilayer AMBA Advanced High-performance Bus (AHB). This complements Handshake's ARM996HS licensable asynchronous processor core announced in 2006.

The AMBA bus standard and its AHB derivative were created by ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England). Handshake's scan-testable clockless version of the interconnect IP provides such benefits as low power consumption and low electromagnetic interference (EMI), the company claimed.

As well as being a natural extension to the ARM996HS, the interconnect is compatible with clocked and clockless masters and slaves.

"Drawing on our experience with the ARM996HS and the SFR bus and peripherals for our HT80C51 core, IP for a clockless multilayer AHB was the next logical step. We will continue to help customers benefit from clockless technology with further developments in processors, interconnects and peripherals," said Ad Peeters, chief technology officer of Handshake Solutions, in a statement.

"The release of dedicated IP for a clockless multilayer AHB by Handshake Solutions will help further reduce overall power and EMI requirements for embedded systems," said John Cornish, vice president of marketing for processors for ARM, in the same statement.

The clockless multilayer AHB is aimed at medium performance applications. It is particularly well-suited to event- or interrupt-driven applications where its instant response and zero standby power consumption are particularly useful.

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