Architectures

A licensed architecture is purchased as IP from an IP vendor and then integrated into a final product, usually with a range of other functional blocks, such as USB or Ethernet MAC and maybe PHY, ADCs and DACs, timers, and so on. ARM is a family of licensed architectures that has become the world’s most ubiquitous processors.

A proprietary architecture is usually closely associated to a particular manufacturer, and often arose in a purely competitive way as being head to head alternatives to other manufacturers architectures. There are usually advantages of one over the only, if only the popularity of it’s development tools, packing, speed or power consumption.

The final choice one makes can also be influenced by seemingly external factors as well. The investment in a particular toolset might make it imperative that a particular platform is selected. Similarly, there may well be a programmer on the staff who is especially familiar with a certain platform, and again this put a strong bias for a decision in that direction.