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Jun. 22, 2005

Artesyn is sampling an AdvancedTCA blade and a ProcessorPMC mezzanine card based on Freescale's fastest PowerPC chip. The KatanaQp blade features dual MPC7448 processors, while the PmPPC7448 card runs a single MPC7448. Both boards support Wind River's Carrier Grade Linux and VxWorks, and target telecom equipment.

Freescale's MPC7448 processor has been sampling since February, and is expected to ship in October. It is pin-compatible with the earlier MPC7447A, and binary-compatible with Freescale's forthcoming multi-core PowerPC chips, according to Freescale. It is the first of Freescale's PowerPC line manufactured on 90nm SOI (silicon-on-insulator) process technology.

KatanaQp

The KatanaQp (pictured above) is an AdvancedTCA blade with four PTMC (PCI Telecom Mezzanine Card) expansion sites and redundant IPMI-based system management interfaces. It targets integrated systems that combine network access (LAN or WAN) with packet, protocol, and media processing functionality on the same blade.

The KatanaQp is powered by a pair of MPC7448 processors clocked at up to 1.7GHz. The processors support distributed or SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) operation, Artesyn says. Each processor has 32KB each of L1 data and instruction cache, along with 1MB of on-die L2 cache. A Marvell GT64460 Discovery III system controller gives the processors high-speed access to up to two Gbytes of DDR SDRAM memory and 64 Mbytes of flash memory, Artesyn says.

The KatanaQP's four PTMC expansion sites provide standard 32-bit PCI-X control and CTbus (Computer Telephony Bus) data interfaces to external modules. The CTbus and PCI-X interfaces are also used to link the four sites, enabling them to exchange control information and TDM data directly, Artesyn says.

The KatanaQp's high-speed PICMG 3.1-compliant AdvancedTCA fabric interface utilizes a 24-port Ethernet switch and 10 Gigabit Ethernet channels to provide high-speed control and data plane connections. The KatanaQp also features a redundant PICMG 3.0 Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI), which makes it easy for shelf management controllers to monitor, control, and exchange management with the KatanaQp, Artesyn claims.

PmPPC7448

The PmPPC7448 is a ProcessorPMC card that gives telecom OEMs an easy way to add processing power to telecom systems equipped with PMC expansion sites, according to Artesyn.
The card combines a single MPC7448 processor clocked up to 1.7GHz with up to two Gbytes of RAM, 64 Mbytes of Flash, and three Ethernet ports. It draws 18 Watts of power, the company claims.

Additional features include:

Marvell Discovery III system controller
Two Gigabit 10/100/1000BaseT Ethernet ports, routed to the PMC connector
One 10/100BaseTX Ethernet port, routed to the module's front bezel
I2C bus system management controller
two RS-232 serial ports
Eight GPIO lines
Four 32-bit counter/timers
32-bit watchdog timer
Four-channel DMA controller

According to Artesyn, the KatanaQp and PmPPC7448 comply with all major safety, EMC, and environmental standards, including IEC60950/EN60950, UL60950, CSA C22.2, Global IEC - CB Scheme Report IEC 60950), NEBS Telecordia GR-63, and GR1089 Level 3, FCC Part 15 (US and Canada), and ETSI EN300386-V1.3.1.

Artesyn's VP of marketing, Todd Wynia, said, "The MPC7448 PowerPC processor enables us to offer our telecom OEM customers a substantial increase in performance while still holding the line on power consumption."

Freescale's GM of Computing Platforms, Bill Dunnigan, added, "Artesyn's new ProcessorPMC mezzanine card [use] Freescale's highest performance PowerPC processor, the MPC7448, which delivers gigahertz-class performance at less than 10W."

Software support for the KatanaQp and PmPPC7448 includes Wind River Systems's VxWorks 5.5 and Carrier Grade Linux.

Availability

The KatanaQp, equipped with a single MPC7448 processor and a four-channel Gigabit Ethernet fabric interface, sells in OEM quantity for $2,400. The PmPPC7448 costs $1,200 in OEM quantity. Both support Wind River Carrier Grade Linux or VxWorks 5.5.

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