<s>
Picochip	B-General_Concept
was	O
a	O
venture-backed	O
fabless	B-Algorithm
semiconductor	I-Algorithm
company	I-Algorithm
based	O
in	O
Bath	O
,	O
England	O
,	O
founded	O
in	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2012	O
Picochip	B-General_Concept
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Mindspeed	O
Technologies	O
,	O
Inc	O
and	O
subsequently	O
by	O
Intel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Picochip	B-General_Concept
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
first	O
companies	O
to	O
start	O
developing	O
solutions	O
for	O
small	O
cell	O
basestation	O
(	O
femtocells	O
)	O
,	O
for	O
homes	O
and	O
offices	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Picochip	B-General_Concept
developed	O
a	O
multi-core	B-Architecture
digital	B-Architecture
signal	I-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
,	O
the	O
picoArray	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
integrates	O
250	O
–	O
300	O
individual	O
DSP	O
cores	O
onto	O
a	O
single	O
die	O
(	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
specific	O
product	O
)	O
and	O
as	O
such	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
described	O
as	O
a	O
Massively	B-General_Concept
parallel	I-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
array	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
of	O
these	O
cores	O
is	O
a	O
16-bit	O
processor	O
with	O
Harvard	B-Architecture
architecture	I-Architecture
,	O
local	O
memory	O
and	O
3-way	O
VLIW	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
had	O
three	O
multi-core	B-Architecture
DSP	O
products	O
(	O
PC202	O
/	O
203	O
/	O
205	O
)	O
that	O
delivered	O
approximately	O
40	O
GMACS	B-Algorithm
and	O
200	O
GIPS	O
of	O
performance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
programming	O
model	O
allows	O
each	O
processor	O
to	O
be	O
coded	O
independently	O
(	O
in	O
ANSI	O
C	O
or	O
assembler	B-Language
)	O
and	O
then	O
to	O
communicate	O
over	O
an	O
any:any	O
interconnect	O
mesh	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
communication	O
flows	O
are	O
fixed	O
at	O
compile	O
time	O
,	O
not	O
dynamically	O
at	O
run	O
time	O
(	O
analogous	O
to	O
place	O
&	O
route	O
of	O
an	O
FPGA	B-Architecture
but	O
at	O
higher	O
level	O
of	O
abstraction	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
process	O
maps	O
to	O
a	O
processor	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
fully	O
independent	O
from	O
other	O
processors	O
with	O
"	O
encapsulation	O
"	O
,	O
with	O
interaction	O
only	O
through	O
defined	O
message	B-Architecture
passing	I-Architecture
and	O
data	O
flows	O
through	O
the	O
mesh	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
architecture	O
is	O
also	O
related	O
to	O
object-oriented	B-Language
programming	I-Language
concepts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Picochip	B-General_Concept
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
earliest	O
companies	O
to	O
be	O
active	O
in	O
femtocells	O
and	O
small	O
cells	O
,	O
and	O
first	O
demonstrated	O
a	O
prototype	O
at	O
MWC2005	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
since	O
developed	O
a	O
range	O
of	O
system	B-Architecture
on	I-Architecture
a	I-Architecture
chip	I-Architecture
(	O
SoC	O
)	O
products	O
named	O
"	O
picoXcell	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Investors	O
included	O
Atlas	O
Venture	O
,	O
AT&T	O
,	O
Highland	O
Capital	O
Partners	O
,	O
Intel	O
Capital	O
,	O
Pond	O
Venture	O
Partners	O
,	O
Rothschild	O
,	O
Samsung	B-Application
and	O
Scottish	O
Equity	O
Partners	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
January	O
2012	O
Picochip	B-General_Concept
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Californian	O
company	O
Mindspeed	O
Technologies	O
,	O
Inc	O
.	O
for	O
about	O
$52	O
million	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2013	O
,	O
Intel	O
acquired	O
Mindspeed	O
's	O
small-cell	O
assets	O
including	O
the	O
picoChip	B-General_Concept
technology	O
.	O
</s>
