SAN JOSE (Linley Tech Data Center Conference) – Feb. 8, 2012 – As cloud computing provides processing capabilities for a growing number of popular services targeting consumers and businesses, the world’s public and private data centers are evolving quickly to keep up with demand. Virtualization and other processing advancements have helped data center servers keep pace with performance requirements, while complementary embedded multicore communications processors have begun playing a larger role due to their ability to help manage, classify and service the enormous amounts of data flowing across and within the cloud.
Worldwide communications processing leader Freescale Semiconductor is helping to evolve the world’s data centers with the T4240 and T4160 embedded multicore processors from its QorIQ Advanced Multiprocessing (AMP) series. Featuring 24 virtual cores and based on Freescale’s dual threaded e6500 Power Architecture® core, the previously announced T4240 processor has achieved the highest CoreMark benchmark performance-per-watt profile and overall performance score ever recorded for an embedded processor. In addition, Freescale today unveils its new software- and pin-compatible QorIQ AMP series T4160 processor featuring 16 virtual cores achieving 1.8 GHz within a 25W power envelope.
The T4240 and T4160 products deliver a compelling combination of hardware acceleration, fabric-based interconnect technology, high speed I/O, hardware-assisted virtualization and next-generation 64-bit Power Architecture cores for applications in the data center, as well as other networking and industrial segments. Both products will be manufactured using 28nm process technology.
To meet stringent data center power efficiency requirements, AMP series products also utilize cascading power management technology, which is an advanced approach that reduces energy consumption using a variable-mode power switch, allowing customers to modulate the power of the cores and other processing units with independence and precision.
The T4240 and T4160 processors incorporate a broad array of highly advanced technologies ideally suited for data center applications including:
- Dual threaded, 64-bit Power Architecture® e6500 cores with 40-bit real address memory and one Terabyte of physical address memory;
- Second generation hardware-based hypervisor technology designed to simplify development and enable the safe and autonomous operation of multiple individual operating systems, allowing them to share system resources, including processor cores, accelerators, memory, interconnects and other on-chip functions;
- 50 Gbps of packet parse, classify and distribute acceleration;
- Support for both 10G and 1G Ethernet, allowing the flexibility for multiple 10G and 1G Ethernet interfaces;
- 20 Gbps of IPSEC forwarding performance, including a crypto acceleration engine (SEC) with 40 Gbps of performance for SSL and other security protocols;
- A new 20 Gbps data compression engine (DCE), as well as a regular expression pattern matching engine for application recognition and data loss prevention;
- New functions supporting quality of service including data center bridging (DCB) and egress traffic shaping, designed to eliminate loss due to queue overflow and accommodate efficient allocation of bandwidth on link;
- System interconnect technologies including PCIe rev 3.0 with SR-IOV to facilitate high-speed peripheral expansion;
“Data center technology is evolving at remarkable speed, and many of our customers are rapidly adding bandwidth while battling latency by flattening the data center network,” said Brett Butler, vice president of Freescale’s Networking Processor Division. “Interestingly, the data center of the future is beginning to mirror the architecture of our embedded SoCs, driven by the same requirement to deliver the highest network and content processing performance at the lowest cost of ownership. The technology demands associated with this trend are Freescale’s traditional communications processing strengths.”
More information regarding the T4240 and T4160 products is available at www.freescale.com/QorIQ.
Availability
Samples of the T4240 and T4160 are planned for mid-2012. The devices are also part of the Freescale Product Longevity program, with 10 years of assured supply. For terms and conditions, please see: www.Freescale.com/productlongevity.
Resources
QorIQ Advanced Multiprocessing (AMP) series Product Site
Introducing the QorIQ Advanced Multiprocessing (AMP) Series [June 2011 VIDEO]
Supporting quotes from Freescale partners follow
“Increasingly, our data center equipment customers need open-standard, high-density computing blades for the creation of private and public cloud networks. Their key challenge is to deliver higher traffic processing capabilities within fixed power envelopes as required by the ATCA standard and other specifications,” said Eddie Lai, AVP of Business Development for Advantech. “The exceptional performance-per-watt of Freescale’s new QorIQ T4240 processor provides Advantech the ideal platform for creating network services blades capable of delivering double the packet processing per blade.”
“Freescale’s T4 family products are an exciting new implementation of the latest Power Architecture ISA, especially where high performance virtualization is concerned,” said Nina Wilner, chief technology officer for Power.org. “This focus on hardware-level core virtualization and multi-threading, coupled with innovative hardware acceleration will provide a real leap in value and flexibility for applications in the Data Center and Private Cloud.”
About Freescale
Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE:FSL) is a global leader in embedded processing solutions, providing industry leading products that are advancing the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets. From microprocessors and microcontrollers to sensors, analog integrated circuits and connectivity – our technologies are the foundation for the innovations that make our world greener, safer, healthier and more connected. Some of our key applications and end-markets include automotive safety, hybrid and all-electric vehicles, next generation wireless infrastructure, smart energy management, portable medical devices, consumer appliances and smart mobile devices. The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing and sales operations around the world. www.freescale.com
