ACADEMIA

Advantech announced the latest addition to its Freescale QorIQ based product line with the launch of the AMC-4202 P5020-based AdvancedMC. The company is targeting the product at applications requiring high, single-threaded performance at low power to perform control plane functions in next generation core routers, switches and wireless infrastructure gateways. The AMC-4202 is also well suited for use in broader general purpose embedded equipment in Aerospace, Military, Medical and Industrial equipment where the P5020’s higher end IEEE 754 double precision floating point support and 64-bit data sets are critical features.

“With its Data Plane Acceleration Architecture (DPAA), packet processing, pattern matching, encryption and security accelerators along with extensive communications capabilities, the Freescale P5020 makes a compelling processor for modular AMC form factor designs in a wide range of networking devices.” statedEddie Lai, Director of Advantech’s Networks and Telecom Group. “The AMC-4202’s ability to support a programmable mix of SRIO, PCIe and SGMII channels along with dual gigabit Ethernet MACs offers appreciable versatility to networking equipment OEMs and enables their next step in performance connectivity to high-end routers and switching equipment.”

OEMs can gain time-market advantages by applying the AMC-4202 to a wide range of ATCA or custom carrier technologies as well as deploying it in modular MicroTCA designs., The AMC is derived from Advantech’s previous generation Freescale P4080 AMC in order to provide a seamless upgrade path for customers. The P5020 core also supports a hybrid 32-bit mode enabling customers to maintain their legacy software investment as they migrate to 64 bits.

The AMC-4202 is a single-width, mid-size AMC based on the Freescale 64-bit P5020 dual core processor which combines two Power Architecture e5500 cores operating at frequencies up to 2.0 GHz and delivers twice the performance over previous generation technology. The AMC provides 2, 4 and 8 GB build options for onboard DDR3 memory at 1333 MHz with ECC support. One front-panel 10GbE SFP+ connector provides network access in addition to a front panel console Mini USB port. The unique SERDES design supports up to three different AMC port configurations for a mix of SRIO, PCIe and SGMII channels. 4MB of SPI Flash and 2 GB NAND Flash provide onboard options for software and storage and the AMC includes 2 SATA interfaces for high-speed, cost effective storage options for statistics or large databases. The AMC also provides 8 KHz and 19.44 MHz telecom clock synchronization support.

“64-bit support allows the processor to utilize twice as much data per CPU cycle which increases performance for compute intensive applications. Larger backside L2 cache provides a lower latency cache for higher bandwidth to the core and the higher upper-end frequencies along with classic double precision floating point support will allow customers to execute faster, more accurate computation,” said Lai “OEMs in aerospace, imaging and high-end industrial markets have already expressed interest in the AMC-4202 and we will be extending sales of the product through our embedded sales force for broader market coverage and channel support.” concluded Lai