ARM Community: Techcon Sessions You Don’t Want to Miss: Designing with ARM Cortex-A family - ARM Community

The excitement is building for the ARM Technology Conference (Techcon) as you’ve seen from my colleagues blogs on the show: Erik Ploof highlighted the overview of the show as well as my blog about ChipEstimate’s video interview with Ian Ferguson; ARM Fellow Rob Aitken articulated Why You Belong at Chip Design Day; Alan Tringham highlighted the microcontroller (MCU) tracks and provided a separate look for System Designers. Not to be left out (no, I’m not competitive), I polled a couple of internal folks and compiled a list of our favorite sessions from ARM and our Partners on our applications focused processors. These sessions provide a great opportunity to better understand and optimize for Cortex-A based designs.

Future of computing: 1^st technical details on ARM Cortex-15 released
Much has been written about the September launch of ARM’s latest processor, the Cortex-A15. Still want more for more information? Want to know more about the technical details? No more need to guess, come hear ARM Fellow David Williamson deliver an in-depth presentation on the Design of the Cortex-A15 - Wed 11:30-12:20: [ATC-128] Exploring the Design of the Cortex™-A15 Processors. And if he doesn’t cover all your questions, stay after the presentation or drop by the booth to ask our team about it. You may also want to check out this other Cortex-A15 session - Wed 10:30-11:20 [ATC-127] Cortex™-A15, High Performance Processors: Serving Up ARM in New Markets which will focus on the benefits of Cortex-A15 for enterprise, data center and telecom applications. If you really want to know all about of the architecture of the Cortex-A15, don’t miss the details of the new virtualization extensions to the ARM architecture, which have been implemented first in the Cortex-A15 - Thurs 3:00-3:50 [ATC-160] Virtualization Extensions to the ARM Architecture

Interested in optimizing for ARM Cortex-A class application processors?
The Cortex-A15 is just the latest in the Cortex-A family of processors. Cortex-A processors, which include the Cortex-A5, Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9, can be found at the heart of a broad range of devices, from the smart mobile devices we carry to enterprise infrastructure and computing. There are several sessions that focus on the Cortex-A family, and how to optimize software and systems across a range of applications using these processors. Some key tracks:

Wed 2:30-3:20 [ATC-139] Improving ARM Application Performance with GCC
Mark Mitchell is a compelling speaker, has deep knowledge of ARM and has the coolest title of Chief Sourcerer from CodeSourcery.

Wed 4:30-5:20 [ATC-141] Building Open-Source Software with the ARM Compiler
Daniel Owens, who is the product manager of the ARM Compiler will present this session on using the ARM compiler when developing with Open-Source software.

Thurs 10:30-11:20 [ATC-152] Efficient C Code for ARM Devices
Chris Shore manages the ARM Training Centers so he trains many of the trainers for ARM courses. He’s given hundreds of ARM trainings so this is sure to be a good session. Stuck for a question? Ask him how long he’s worked for ARM. You’ll probably be surprised at the answer.

Thurs 10:30-11:20 [ATC-157] Driving the SoC Revolution: The ARM Cortex™-A9, integrated, delivering, and performing
You’ll have a tough choice between Chris Shore and Ian Rickards. Ian has also been with ARM for a long time and is a favorite for delivering technical presentations. Stuck for a question? Ask him about his first job at ARM and who interviewed him.

Thurs 11:00-11:50 [TH-07] ARM Software Optimization
Think all the good speakers are in the paid session? No, we have many compelling free sessions in the ARM Theatre. John Cornish is the General Manager of the Tools Division and has extensive experience in processor design.

Thurs 12:00-12:50 [TH-08] System Coherency: Cortex-15 and Mali – selecting right system IP for performance
Another free session worth noting for those designing with the Cortex-A15. Michael Dimelow will present the newest System IP products and discuss design considerations for coherent systems using multiple processing systems.

Thurs 11:00-11:50 [ATC-169] Negotiating the Maze: Getting the most out of memory systems today and tomorrow
Andy Nightingale also a favorite speaker of mine. He has spoken at several conferences and is regularly requested to speak at industry shows and customer presentations.

Thurs 11:30-12:20 [ATC-163] Why Embedded Linux Needs ARM
ARM Fellow Dave Rusling, now the CTO of Linaro, is well respected in Open Source arenas (check out his blog about the importance of Open Source). Are you wondering how Linaro will impact your day-to-day lives? Come hear from the technical leader.

Thurs 1:00-1:50 [TH-09] Bringing Mobile Power Efficiencies to the laptop
For a look at how an ARM partner has created a high performance, low power computing system with the Cortex-A9 and Mali GPU check out another free session in the ARM Theater. Trying to reach 2 GHz? Vince Zhou will be discussing Nufront’s recent announcement of a dual core Cortex-A9. Can’t make the talk? Stop by the ARM booth (#300) and see the demo yourself.

Thurs 4:00-4:50 [ATC-151] Secure Virtualization under the ARM Architecture
Ok, I know it’s the last session, but it’ll be worth the wait. Virtualization is a big deal that many people are discussing. Green Hills knows their stuff and have a strong reputation in the embedded market. This session will be a good complement to the ARM session on the new virtualization extensions to the ARM architecture.

There is no way to cover all of the great sessions at Techcon, but the above will give you a good grounding. To find out more, check out all the sessions on the official website conference schedule builder.

50% Discount for Technical Sessions with ARM50
Here are some enticing offers to encourage you to attend Techcon. ARM and EE Times are offering a special 50% discount on the cost to attend the technical conferences at this year’s Techcon. To take advantage of this special opportunity please use the promo code – ARM50 when registering.

Attend ONE Technical Session for FREE
If you are interested in attending one technical class in addition to all the free industry sessions and expos, we are offering free admission with code ONE. Either way, don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about the Cortex-A15 and the rest of the ARM architecture.

Do you more reasons to attend Techcon? Please check out some of the recent Techcon blog posts from ARM and our Partners:
QNX’s ARM Powered Corvette That Redefines Connected Driving – a must see!

What excites you the most about ARM Techcon? Let us know on the ARM Techcon Facebook, LinkedIn, and/or Twitter. I’ll be there. Send me a tweet @ARMCommunity to say hi.

Looking forward to seeing you at Techcon! Let me know what you thought of the sessions!

Lori Kate Smith, Sr. Manager Community Programs, ARM, has the best job at ARM because she gets to work with ARM Partners developing programs that enable broader support for the ARM architecture in her role of managing the ARM Connected Community. She’s passionate about creating communities where engineers can share information, find answers to their questions and talk about cool technologies. Prior to ARM, Lori Kate spent time in multiple different industries including EDA (Cadence, Verisity, Axis Systems), Enterprise Software and dot bomb (HelloBrain), and wireless (Metricom (Ricochet), AT&T, and MCCaw Cellular equally splitting her time between every marketing and buz dev role you can imagine and major account sales. If there’s a new technology to launch or sell, she’s game. Lori Kate even managed to get a few degrees at Santa Clara University (MBA) and Middlebury College (BA.)

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