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Pentek Increases I/O Flexibility in PowerPC Multiprocessing VME Module for Embedded DSP Applications
UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ (PRWEB) June 2, 2003 -- Pentek, Inc., the industry pioneer of VME board-level technology, today introduced a high-performance four-processor VME board with two different expansion module sites. The VIM (Velocity Interface Mezzanine) site provides a high-speed, buffered I/O port for functions such as digital receivers and wide-bandwidth data acquisition. The PMC (PCI mezzanine card) site provides access to a wealth of industry-standard I/O functions from a variety of manufacturers.
Pentek Increases I/O Flexibility in PowerPC Multiprocessing VME Module for Embedded DSP Applications
| | - Quad AltiVec Processor Nodes with Large Shared Memories
- Industry-Standard PMC and VIM Module Sites Offer a Multitude of I/O Options
- Three PCI Buses Provide High-Bandwidth Shared Resource Access
- Board Support Package and Drivers Ease Development
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UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ--June 2, 2003--Pentek, Inc., the industry pioneer of VME board-level technology, today introduced a high-performance four-processor VME board with two different expansion module sites. The VIM (Velocity Interface Mezzanine) site provides a high-speed, buffered I/O port for functions such as digital receivers and wide-bandwidth data acquisition. The PMC (PCI mezzanine card) site provides access to a wealth of industry-standard I/O functions from a variety of manufacturers. By offering both expansion sites, the Model 4295 provides I/O options that blend flexibility and performance on a VME board targeting high-performance signal processing.
The board packs four MPC7410 PowerPC processors into a single-slot 6U VME board, providing as much as 16 GFLOPs of floating-point signal processing power for such high-performance applications as radar, sonar, signal intelligence and image processing. Each PowerPC processor has its own Marvell GT-64260 node controller with a local SDRAM controller and dual 64-bit 66 MHz PCI bus interfaces. Three on-board 64-bit PCI buses facilitate interprocessor communication, the ability for processors to share their local memory, and connection to global memory, backplane I/O and the VMEbus. In addition to the shared resources, two of the processors have a private link to a VIM site for high-speed 32-bit data transfers. All four processors have equal access to the PMC site.
In addition to the mezzanine module sites for I/O, the board has additional built-in I/O peripherals including front panel 10/100 Ethernet and RS-232 interfaces and an optional backplane RACE++ interface. An industry standard VME64 interface connects the board to the VMEbus.
A PowerPC Tradition
The Model 4295s configuration and architecture are similar to the companys 4294 quad-processor board introduced last year, which offers dual VIM sites. Developers can readily port code to the new 4295, effectively increasing the range of I/O options for their designs. High-bandwidth I/O is important to our customers, but there are lots of other miscellaneous I/O functions that people need to accommodate," says Rodger Hosking, vice president of Pentek, Inc. The best way to provide that is by using PMC. By including both PMC and VIM on board we have added flexibility without sacrificing I/O performance."
The 4295 is the latest in a series of processor boards that Pentek has developed around the AltiVec G4 PowerPC. This is evidence of Penteks commitment to the AltiVec architecture," says Hosking. It is our third offering and more are planned." The level of software support the company provides also reveals this commitment.
Pentek offers a full board support package (BSP) with drivers for the VxWorks operating system. Pentek also offers its ReadyFlow Board Support Libraries for developers who need to optimize hardware performance. Further, the company makes available MPI Software Technologys VSI/Pro, a software package based on the Vector Signal and Image Processing Library of scientific and engineering functions. The libraries and packages are targeted for use with the Wind River Systems Tornado II software development environment.
Pricing & Availability
The Model 4295 is being offered in 400 MHz and 500 MHz speed grades and supports as much as 128 Mbytes of local memory for each processor. Pricing starts at $15,995 US with availability 12-14 weeks ARO. Penteks VxWorks BSP, drivers and ReadyFlow Board Support Library are available immediately along with the MPI Software Technology VSI/Pro library. The Tornado II development environment is available directly from Wind River Systems.
Pentek, Inc. develops, manufactures and markets innovative DSP systems to original equipment manufacturers, distributors and value-added resellers. Pentek offers powerful VME, PMC, VIM and VXI boards for data acquisition, software radio and digital signal processing featuring Texas Instruments C6000 DSPs, Motorolas G4 PowerPC and Xilinx FPGAs. Pentek's I/O includes A/D's, D/A's, Digital Receivers and upconverters and more. Pentek equips products with high-performance interfaces including RACE++ and FPDP-II and offers strong DSP software support.
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Pentek and GateFlow are registered trademarks of Pentek, Inc. Brand or product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.
North American Sales Contact: Mario Schiavone, Pentek, Inc., One Park Way, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458-2311; telephone 201-818-5900, ext. 756; fax 201-818-5904; email news@pentek.com, web site www.pentek.com.International Sales Contacts: VSystems SA in France at 130070060, VSystems Electronic GmbH in Germany at 892737630, VSystems s.r.l. in Italy at 11.966 1319, VSystems AB in Sweden at 84441550, VSystems UK at 1142813123, WTI in Israel at 99-563163 and MISH International in Japan at 42-538-7650.
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