Just before the weekend ARM announced a new acquisition. The Cambridge-based chip designer bought another UK based business; Geomerics. The acquisition shows ARM building its technological strength with a focus on graphics and it hopes to use some of the bought-in tech in its mobile processor business. You might know of Geomerics as it is the firm behind Enlighten which is used to enable "fully real-time global illumination technology," in AAA games like Battlefield 3 and 4, Need for Speed Rivals, Eve Online, and Medal of Honor: Warfighter.
Talking about the acquisition Pete Hutton, EVP and GM Media Processing Division, ARM, said "The innovative technologies being developed by Geomerics are already revolutionizing the console gaming experience and are set to rapidly accelerate the transition to photo realistic graphics in mobile." He also suggested that the acquisition will be "transformative for the user experiences," in mobile games in the future.
The Geomerics blog looked at the deal from another perspective but reassured current customers and suppliers that they can "can rest assured that they will continue to be supported to the highest possible level of service," as the startup firm continues with its current projects. While ARM is seen as a mobile-focussed company and Geomerics says that the mobile tech development will be accelerated, it "will continue to push for the highest graphical quality across all platforms including both console and mobile".
Also we were informed that Geomerics and ARM have been working together in partnership for over two years. With ARM looking to increase its activity and its importance in the gaming industry the union of the two companies became an "obvious" beneficial strategy which has been followed through.
ARM's efforts to bolster its graphics technology though buying-in IP was also in evidence in September, when it bought Cadence Design Systems’ PANTA family of display controller cores.
