Intel's next generation of 600MHz StrongARM processors has come a step closer to reality, via a licensing agreement the company has signed with ARM. The licence allows Intel to work with current versions of ARM architecture, and also with the forthcoming ARM 5TE. Intel first gave details of the next StrongARMs in March, and it's likely that these will be based on the 5TE, which has various enhancements, and which is referred to enigmatically in ARM's announcement today. Intel's next StrongARMs will run at 150-600MHz, delivering 185-750 MIPS while consuming 40-450 milliwatts. They will implement seven stage integer and eight stage memory pipelines to achieve high execution rates at fast clock speeds, and use dynamic branch prediction and extensive data bypassing to increase data throughput. The new licensing deal finally regularises Intel's position vis a vis ARM. Intel took delivery of StrongARM from DEC as part of the deal settling the latter's lawsuit against Intel. ARM itself wasn't involved in that particular deal, so although Intel ended up owning the most powerful implementation of ARM, the licensing situation remained up in the air. ® Related stories New NetWinder owner launches StrongARM-Linux server StrongARM safe in Intel's hands