Arm today announced a simpler, more intuitive naming scheme for its compute platforms to help developers and manufacturers better understand which solutions suit their needs. Under the new naming structure, infrastructure-grade server CPU products will be known as Arm Neoverse, the name previously reserved for Arm's core IP for server CPUs. The PC lineup will adopt the name Arm Niva, while Arm Lumex will convey its focus on mobile performance to smartphones and tablets. Automotive applications, which require both safety certification and high compute capacity, will fall under Arm Zena. Finally, Arm Orbis will cover IoT and embedded devices, offering a tailored edge AI platform for everything from sensors to earbuds.

In addition to the market-specific names, Arm is overhauling its IP numbering system to align with generational releases. Future cores will carry labels such as Ultra, Premium, Pro, Nano, and Pico to indicate relative performance and power characteristics. Combining a clear platform identity with a descriptive performance tier, this two-tier approach should make it easier for partners to plan long-term roadmaps and pick the right building blocks for their designs. Arm's GPU technology will continue under the well-known Mali brand, but Mali will now be presented explicitly as a component within each platform rather than a separate product. By integrating Mali GPUs into Neoverse, Niva, Lumex, Zena, and Orbis, Arm aims to deliver fully validated subsystems instead of standalone IP pieces.

When we first heard of NVIDIA launching its GK110-based consumer graphics card by as early as February, it took us by surprise. Intimidating naming (GeForce Titan 780?) aside, the graphics card is hoping to better NVIDIA's current-generation flagship, the dual-GPU GeForce GTX 690, in a single-GPU package, but does the graphics card market really need NVIDIA to launch its card at the moment? Perhaps not, but the answer lies not with AMD and competition in the graphics card market, but Sony, and competition between PC and console platforms.

Over the weekend, it surfaced that Sony would introduce its next-generation PlayStation console (codenamed "Orbis") later this month, and it would mark the beginning of the next-generation of game consoles. PlayStation 4 features an updated hardware feature-set, and promises to raise the bar with graphics detail that the console industry held with an iron fist for the past half decade. This presents a challenge for not only NVIDIA, but PC gaming in general. Here's how.

Sony's next-generation PlayStation, reportedly codenamed "Orbis", is known to be powered by an AMD x86-64 CPU with graphics based on its Southern Islands architecture, from the older report. We're now hearing that Sony may implement a multi-GPU solution of its own. According to an IGN.com report, the CPU in question will be a custom-version of AMD's A8-3850 quad-core APU. This should serve as indication that the processor cores will be based on AMD's K10 Stars architecture, rather than K15 Bulldozer/Piledriver.

The GPU, on the other hand, will be based on the "Southern Islands" architecture, and the IGN.com report pin points it to resemble Radeon HD 7670. The HD 7670 is a re-branded HD 6670, which is based on the 40 nm "Turks" GPU. Turks uses neither Graphics CoreNext nor VLIW4, but the older VLIW5 number-crunching machinery. The most interesting piece of information here is talk of a multi-GPU configuration between this Turks-based GPU, and the GPU that's embedded into the "Llano" APU. We know that the graphics core embedded into AMD A8-3850, the Radeon HD 6550D, can work in tandem with Radeon HD 6670 to yield an AMD Hybrid CrossFireX configuration called "Radeon HD 6690D2". This could be end up being Sony's graphics weapon of choice.

Sony may have codenamed PlayStation 4 "Orbis" (IPA: /ˈor.bis/), according to a Kotaku report. The next-generation game console is slated for "holiday season, 2013." This information was sourced by Kotaku, from a reliable source with a good track-record of accuracy. Orbis is derived from the Latin word for "circle", or "to circle/orbit". The term "Orbis Vita" or "Orbis Vitae" denotes "the circle of life." The specifications of Orbis known so far, include AMD-made x86-64 CPU, and an AMD-made GPU, built on the Southern Islands (Graphics CoreNext) architecture. In all probability, it could be a unified SoC, a highly scalar Fusion chip.