Back in 1995 Digital (DEC) released the StrongARM1 core, developed in conjunction with ARM. This was an implementation of the ARM architecture designed for speed, and for Digital's high-performance chip process technology, as used for the high-end Alpha RISC chips. From this core came the StrongARM110 processor and the highly integrated SA1500 (which largely sunk without trace due to limited software support) and the SA1100 (which was hugely successful) and the later SA1110. StrongARM was revolutionary at the time - it offered 200 MIPS at under a watt when most of the market was running at 30 MIPS.
Intel purchased DEC in October 1997 and almost it seems by accident inherited the StrongARM technology. However, Intel quickly realised the potential of this cutting-edge technology. They promoted it agressively and set up a large team in Austin, Texas to develop the next generation, which came to be called XScale. This has now appeared on the market and a number of products make use of the XScale core.
XScale is an evolution of the StrongARM idea, taken to new heights. The XScale core includes the following features: