Atmel Corporation is a global leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, and complementary products such as capacitive touch sensing ICs, ASICs, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete microcontroller based system solutions focused on consumer, industrial, automotive, security, communications computing markets. By providing tools and support Atmel enables those customers to lead the markets they serve with electronic products that are smaller, smarter, more cost-effective and versatile than ever before.

Company Objective:
Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers. Leveraging ARM’s processor technology, high bandwidth architectures and rich peripheral set, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with flash microcontrollers and embedded MPUs for consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets.

Atmel's Primary Business Model:
Atmel Corporation has focused on development tools and design flow. We make it easier for our customers to design chips into their products and to experience the ease-of-use and efficiency. This is one of the major reasons why we have succeeded with our 8- and 32-bit microcontrollers. For AVR microcontrollers, we host all our development tools by AVR Studio, a high-end debugger provided to our customers for free. We also support third-party suppliers that complete our product range by developing and offering a wide range of kits and software to the market. In addition, we offer design kits for suppliers to integrate into their solutions to ensure the quality of third-party tools.

Company offerings:
Atmel offers proprietary AVR-based microcontrollers in the 8/16- and 32-bit families, as well as programmable logic, secure and smart card ICs, nonvolative memory, ASICs and communication ICs.

Atmel's AT91SAM 32-bit ARM Flash MCUs and embedded MPUs are designed for system control, wired & wireless connectivity, user interface management, low power and ease of use. They have received wide acceptance in markets like POS terminals, security, building automation, industrial control, medical, white goods, PC and gaming peripherals, toys and cellular phone accessories. A comprehensive and high-quality eco-system provides access to development tools, flash programming, software and worldwide technical support.

Atmel has a proven track record as a market-leading ARM MCU and MPU vendor, a developer of high bandwidth architectures, an innovator of low power microcontrollers, and a facilitator of software portability.

What is unique about Atmel's solutions?
Atmel’s ARM-based solutions offer higher memory densities, higher performance, lower cost and lower power consumption.

Atmel recently announced a family of 400 MHz ARM926 embedded MPUs that supports second-generation Dual Data Rate DRAM (DDR2) and are optimized for industrial applications such as building automation, data loggers, POS terminals, alarm systems and medical equipment. DDR2 and DDR3 offer higher memory densities, higher performance, lower cost and lower power consumption than SDRAM.

Why have you chosen to work with ARM?  What are the  primary benefits you have received by working with ARM?
Back in 1995 when Atmel was looking for 32-bit processors, Atmel discovered that ARM offered the best performance-to-power consumption compromise in the market. The ARM7TDMI offered the ideal starting point for a 32-bit microcontroller family, and the introduction of ARM9 provided Atmel the opportunity to expand its business in the embedded MPU segment.

How long has Atmel been working with ARM?
1995

What one experience comes to mind from Atmel's early days working with ARM?
ARM processors gained rapid market adoption in the mobile phone market after the introduction of the ARM7TDMI. However, the wide adoption in the general purpose microcontroller space has taken nearly 10 years more. Atmel was the first licensee to introduce the ARM-based 32-bit microcontroller family in 1998. The introduction of ARM microcontrollers by other ARM licensees around 2003, and the integration of flash memory, triggered the rapid expansion of the ARM-based MCU business.

Specialist area as an ARM Partner?
Atmel is a market leader in ARM-based flash microcontrollers and embedded MPUs.

How does Atmel work with ARM as a licensee?
Atmel licenses ARM cores. In addition, the company partners with ARM at conferences and events; writes joint white papers and technical articles; and engages in many joint promotions.

Can you name any products ARM/Atmel technology ship with? 
Point of Sale (POS) terminals, medical, process automation, PC, mobile phone and gaming console accessories, building automation, energy metering

For more information about Atmel’s 32-bit ARM-based microcontrollers, please click the following link: http://www.atmel.com/products/at91