THALES COMPUTERS THIRD GENERATION DUAL/QUAD PowerPC (G4) SOLUTION DELIVERS HIGH PERFORMANCE FOR INTEGRATED DATA AND SIGNAL PROCESSING WITH SUPPORT FOR VME 2eSST OPERATION

   TH-1013

      Editorial Contact: Beth Smith or
      Marty Simon @ 215/453-8700

Raleigh, NC, September 27, 2002 - Thales Computers, a leader in providing PowerPC and Pentium-based VME computing solutions to OEMs and system integrators, has introduced new high-end computing nodes to its family of Quad PowerPC (G4) VME systems. The V2G4c and V4G4c are ideal for demanding applications requiring high-performance real-time data and signal processing, including sonar, radar, medical imaging and machine vision systems.

We are pleased to announce the first VME board level product that incorporates support for VME 2eSST since the announcement of VME Renaissance at the Bus & Board Conference in January 2002," stated Tom Hall, President and CEO of Thales Computers.

Product Details
The new 6U VME VxG4c features two or four 500 MHz Motorola PowerPC 7410 (G4) processors with AltiVec vector processing units. The new board also provides a 33% improvement in local bus speed, to 133 MHz. The on-board PowerPC processors utilize massively shared memory architecture to access up to 1 GB SDRAM memory in real time with extremely low latency.

The VxG4c introduces PCI 32 support for VME 2eSST operation through Alma 2e,
the latest PCI to VME bridge designed by Thales Computers. The new bridge provides 120 MB/s throughput between up to three VxG4c cards on a VMEbus. This new single board computer also features an onboard 10/100 Base-T Ethernet port, routed to the front panel or the P2 connector.

The new computing node provides multi-CPU support, including two PCI/PMC slots with an Avignon crossbar, a 64 KB L1 and a 2 MB L2 cache for each processor, as well as external I/O support. With a much improved power performance ratio, the Quad processor version of the V4G4c has a 50-Watt power consumption. The Dual version of the board, the V2G4c, has a 38-Watt power consumption.

The new system is available in a variety of conduction- and convection-cooled environmental classes. Both versions make use of Thales Computers exclusive RuggedizerTM technology.

Thales Computers series of VxG4 Computing Nodes features two or four G4 processors, offering unprecedented performance and real-time processing for demanding data streams associated with data and signal processing applications. The series also comes with Thales Computers PowerLine4 toolkit for platform management, which speeds development cycles and time-to-market for COTS-based signal processing solutions. The PowerLine4 toolkit supports LynuxWorks and VxWorks operating systems.

The company also offers COTS hardware and software as well as dedicated services in a value-added program including high performance communication layers, machine development and supervision software, built-in test, machine integration, acceptance tests, and configuration and life-cycle management.

The new VxG4c is now available in all versions and temperature ranges; pricing for the new system starts at $15,738 (approximately €16,213).

For more information about the VxG4c and the VxG4 series of computing nodes, please visit Thales Computers website at www.thalescomputers.com, or contact Thales Computers at 1-800-848-2330, fax 919-231-8001.

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EDITORS NOTE: Thales Computers, a Thales Group company, is headquartered in Toulon, France, and Raleigh, North Carolina. Thales is one of Europe's largest professional electronics groups and a world leader in three areas: Aerospace, Defense, and Information Technology & Services. In 2001, Thales generated approximately $16.1 billion (€10.3 billion) in revenues and now has close to 65,000 employees worldwide.

Thales Computers is the leading developer of commercial and ruggedized VMEbus hardware and software solutions based on PowerPC and Pentium microprocessors. The companys products are optimized for a wide variety of applications in military, aerospace, communications and industrial markets and are in active use by customers worldwide, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Toshiba, EADS, British Aerospace, Ericsson, Alcatel and the Thales Group.