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Creating a Parallel Programming Language for Multicore

Trends in High-Speed Embedded Market: Linley Interview

Green Embedded for Energy Management

Intel® ATOM™ Processor Meets Medical Electronics

Challenges for Designing Telecom-Network Apps

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2 | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Summer 2008 | www.embeddedintel.com

SUMMER 2008

IN THIS ISSUE

32 AAEONAAEON’s Turn-Key Solution (TKS) Platforms

33 ADLINK TechnologyBenefits of Standardization with Computer on Modules

34 AdvantechMulti-core Processor AMC’s - Re-shaping the Network

36 AMPRO Computers, IncUsing High-end Intel® Processors in Space, Power, Cost, and Reliability Critical Embedded Applications

37 ArdenceIntel® Processor-based OEM/ODM Total Solutions

38 iGoLogicExtraordinary Performance With Unprecedented Touch Experience iGo Panel PC

40 KontronIntegrating ATCA Hardware with HA Middleware

44 NEXCOMWorld’s First Integrated, Ergonomic, and Energy-Efficient Mobile Tablet PC from NEXCOM

46 TenAsys CorporationINtime RTOS for Windows on Multi-Core Pro-vides Hard Real-Time Determinism

FROMTHE EDITOR 4 Multicore is Here to Stay

By John Blyler

NEWS 6 Intel and Ecosystem News

By Craig Szydlowski

FOCUS ON INTEL 8 Creating a Parallel Programming

Language for Multicore By Ed Sperling

FOCUS ON INTEL12 Parallelism Primer

By Max Domeika - Intel

MARKET WATCH14 Trends in the High-Speed Embedded Market

By Geoffrey James

STANDARDS WATCH16 Green Embedded Solutions Focus

on Energy Management By Craig Szydlowski

19 Intel® Atom™ Processor-based COMs Meet the Demands of Medical ElectronicsBy Christine Van De Graaf, Kontron

21 Analyze x86 Executables to Improve Software QualityBy Paul Anderson, GrammaTech Inc.

23 Implementing the Intel® Atom™ Processor Series on the Intel® ECX Form FactorBy Frank Shen, Product Marketing Director, American Portwell Technology Inc.

25 Looking Beyond PC/104-Plus By Geoffrey James

28 Challenges for Designing Telecoms/ Networking Applications on Top of Multi-Core Environments By Eric Carmes

60 Taming the Multicore Beast By Jakob Engblom

48 ADLINK Technology49 Advantech Corporation49 Emerson Network Power52 Flexcomm Limited52 ITOX53 Kaparel Corporation53 Kontron54 Lynuxworks55 MSI Computer Corp. 55 Nexcom56 Protech Technologies, Inc. 56 Trenton

DEPARTMENTS

SPECIAL FEATURES

SOLUTION PROVIDERS

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS

58 Arrow Electronics59 AVNET

INTEL® AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS

LAST WORD


FROM THE EDITOR

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Multicore is Here to Stay By John Blyler - Editorial Director

Do you feel inundated with multicore coverage? Some of our read-

ers have expressed weariness with the industry’s multicore push.

Such feelings are understandable, as all of the big players have blanketed

the media channels as they tout the benefits of multicore architectures.

I’m not suggesting that the benefits of lower power, greater levels of

performance, and competitive costs are just marketing hype. They’re

not, which is why so many articles have been devoted to embedded multicore trends

and technology over the last couple of years in this magazine (see referenced highlights

below). Naturally, there are economic reasons why the major embedded chip companies

are moving to multicore designs (see my last few Editor’s Notes). But hype or no hype,

embedded multicore platforms are here to stay.

In fact, the adoption of multicore systems is a growing trend among embedded de-

signers. According to a Venture Development Corp. (VDC) study highlighted at the

recent Multicore Expo (www.multicore-expo.com), embedded multicore CPU systems

are expected to grow dramatically from $372 million in 2007 to $2473 million in 2011.

The percent of developers who are using or will be using multicore in the next 12 months

is expected to increase by 55%. In 24 months, adoption will increase to nearly 79%. These

are astounding predictions!

The good news is that many designers are finding that multicore architectures will

solve a variety of embedded-hardware challenges. The bad news is that the software side

of the embedded multicore is lacking. There is a major—and widening—gap between

hardware and software capabilities in the multicore world. The VDC report noted that

vendors have reported that only about 6% of their tools were ready for parallel chips

in 2007. Equally troubling is the further finding that as much as 85% of all embedded

programming is done in C or C++. Although these are great languages, they aren’t op-

timized for multicore designs. In the short term, the industry must find ways to make

C/C++ more supportive of multicore architectures. The long-term solution will require

a new language and set of tools.

For these reasons and others, I’ll be increasing the coverage of multicore software

technology and techniques in EIS magazine. What better way to get to the crux of the

software challenge than by talking directly to the leading developers of embedded mul-

ticore technology—Intel and its ecosystem vendors? EIS editor Ed Sperling sat down

with Intel to discuss this very issue in the lead story, “Creating a Parallel Programming

Language for Multicore.” Max Domeika, one of Intel’s software gurus, goes over the

basics of parallelism as well. In addition, EIS contributing editor Geoffrey James takes

us back to the big picture of the multicore ecosystem with an interview of Linley Gwe-

nap—one of the most respected analysts in the microprocessor industry.

Several of this issue’s feature articles and case studies focus indirectly on both

hardware and software challenges in multicore. Of course, I’ll continue to cover the

embedded-hardware design space as a whole—in all its breadth. For example, EIS editor

Craig Szydloski looks at the growing effect of energy management or environmental

factors on embedded designs in “Green Embedded Solutions Focus on Energy Manage-

ment.” Other important topics include the Intel® Embedded Compact Extended Form

Factor (Intel® ECX Form Factor), the implementation of Intel’s new Atom™ processors,

and case studies in the medical and telecom industries. Breadth as well as depth is im-

portant for today’s embedded designers. It also is critical for any publication that hopes

to be of service to these talented though taxed professionals.

John Blyler can be reached at: [email protected]

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NEWS

Intel and Ecosystem News

By Craig Szydlowski

Advantech Enables Smaller Portable Devices with COM Express ‘Micro’ Form Factor Boards

Shrinking CPU modules further, Advantech unveiled its

COM-Express SOM-5775 board measuring only 95mm x

95mm (3.74” x 3.74”). This ‘Micro’ form factor performs the

same functions as ‘Basic’ COM (computer-on-module) Express

modules, but is about 24 percent smaller. These boards can be

used in ultra compact devices that require substantial computing

performance and low power consumption.

The SOM-5775 is equipped with the new Intel® Atom™

processor Z5xx series that delivers the benefits of Intel®

architecture for small form factor, thermally constrained and

fanless embedded applications. While running at 1.6 GHz core

speed, this processor consumes about 2.2 watts (thermal design

power) in an ultra-small 13x14 mm package.

The Intel Atom processor employs enhanced Intel SpeedStep®

Technology to reduce average system power consumption and

increase battery life. It is paired with a single-chip controller hub

supporting integrated graphics.

The pin definitions of SOM-5775 are the same as a standard

COM Express board and can work directly with existing carrier

boards, providing a seamless upgrade path for those customers

who are considering moving to the new Intel Atom platform. The

SOM-5775 supports DDR2 memory up to 1 Gbyte, 10/100 Mbps

Ethernet, 8 USB 2.0 ports and a PCI Express™ interface. In addition,

the integrated graphic engine supports CRT and 24-bit LCD

display modes. The target operating systems will be Windows® XP

Embedded and Vista.

Advantech SOM (System On Module) series is backwardly

compatible with existing hardware and software systems. These

boards feature long life support and are fully scalable, allowing

developers an easy path to address upgrades or changing application

needs. Advantech’s own SUSI (Secure and Unified Smart Interface)

API library provides a set of user-friendly, intelligent and integrated

interfaces, which speeds development and enhances security. The

SOM-5775 will be available in Q2, 2008.

3U VPX Form Factor SBC Addresses Demanding Embedded Applications

Expanding its support of VPX, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms

launched the VPXcel3 SBC320, the first 3U VPX single board

computer (SBC) to feature Intel® Core™2 Duo processor

technology combined with a server class memory controller.

VPX (previously known as VITA 46) brings switched fabrics to

VMEbus-based systems. VPX was specifically created with the

defense community in mind, and it retains the existing 6U and

3U form factors, supports existing PMC and XMC mezzanines

and maintains the maximum possible compatibility with

VMEbus. With this latest product launch, GE Fanuc supports a

total of leven VPX products.

Figure. VPXcel3 SBC320 Single Board Computer

The SBC320, available in five air- and conduction-cooled

ruggedization levels, is designed for demanding space-

constrained embedded computing applications that require

high compute performance and low heat dissipation. This SBC

incorporates the low-voltage Intel Core 2 Duo processor L7400

running at 1.5 GHz and the Intel® 3100 chipset, which combines

server-class memory and I/O controller functions into a single

component. The system supports up to 2 GBytes of DDR2 ECC-

enabled SDRAM and 128 Mbytes of user Flash memory.

The board routes two 4-lane PCI Express ports running at

2.5 GHz to the backplane, which provides a high level of system

throughput to the serial switched fabric VPX architecture. The

SBC320 has many connectivity options including two USB 2.0

ports, two SATA 150 ports, two 10/100/1000BaseT Gigabit

Ethernet ports, two UART (RS232) ports and a PCI-X compliant

PMC site. Developers can choose among a comprehensive set of

operating systems (e.g., Linux®, VxWorks and Windows®) and test

software support including built-in test (BIT) and background

condition screening (BCS). Covers for the SBC320 are optionally

available to allow 2-level maintenance.

Craig Szydlowski is a regular contributing editor to

Embedded Intel® Solutions magazine. He is a writer

specializing in business and technology. He has over

20 years of engineering and marketing experience

with embedded and communications systems at

IBM and Siemens.

NEWS

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FOCUS ON INTEL

Software development almost always lags behind changes in

hardware, but in the case of multicore chips software the gap

is widening.

In hardware, the ability to get increasing performance out of

a single-core processor within acceptable power budgets became

extraordinarily difficult at 130 nanometers, and totally impracti-

cal at 65nm. In portable devices such as a notebook computer,

boosting performance by 50 percent for a single-core chip would

make it too hot to hold or deplete the battery life to cool it—or

both. Even in places where the chips can be cooled effectively,

such as data centers, the demand for energy to lower the heat in

server racks has become so enormous that it has drawn the wrath

of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The solution, in hardware at least, is to add more cores onto

chips, which is exactly what companies such as IBM, AMD and

Intel have done, or to simply add more lower-function chips. But

adding more cores has created a nightmare for software develop-

ers, who almost universally approach problems serially rather than

in parallel. The problem is that to keep increasing performance,

applications now have to scale across processors, taking advantage

of an ever-rising number of cores as they become available.

Even where they have been successful, application developers

have utilized multiple cores by threading different functions or

operations across those cores. In the case of database searches,

for example, threading works extremely well because a single

task can be parsed among the available processors or cores. The

more cores available, the faster the application runs. In contrast,

that becomes much harder with gaming software because the

tasks are both different and randomly ordered.

“Threads are really a low-level way to get performance in-

creases,” says Anwar Ghuloum, principal engineer at Intel. “It’s

easy to make mistakes and deadlock the program.”

Intel’s research lab is working with its top customers to de-

velop a new programming environment, Intel Ct, which is a key

component in Intel’s Tera Scale project (see Figure). At the Intel®

Developer Forum in China in April, Zhang Cia, chief technology

officer at Neusoft Co., presented a slide showing the number of

lines of code needed for a single command was 36 for a single-

threaded application, 29 using a vectorized, multi-threaded

approach with forward scalability—the result of working with

Ct—and 116 lines using a single-threaded vectorized approach,

which does not scale.

That’s a somewhat ideal scenario. Neusoft, based in Shenyang

City, China, develops security software, and sees a parallel pro-

gramming future. When it comes to other companies, such as

gaming software makers, the course is less obvious. In the case

of desktop applications such as Microsoft Word, there are few, if

any, advantages to writing the code in parallel.

In developing Ct, Intel has focused on applications that can

be built for speed.

“The real question is how we get the productivity of the last

generation of object-oriented languages like C++ and the performance

benefits of Fortran,” Ghuloum says. “If you take a look at C code ver-

sus Fortran, the Fortran had two times better performance.”

Benefits and costsFrom a performance standpoint, developing software that

can take advantage of more cores is a slam-dunk argument. It’s

the only way to build a system cost-effectively using a single

die or even multiple embedded cores. But there also is perfor-

mance overhead associated with multiple cores. Even with highly

parallelized applications, adding another core doesn’t double

performance.

Intel estimates that with a programming language like C++,

the performance hit already was 20 percent to 30 percent, which

was acceptable given the productivity gain in writing code. With

parallel programming, the overhead is probably in the 30 percent

range. But with multiple cores, the total performance still can be

increased as much as six times.

Ken Karnofsky, director of signal processing and communica-

tions at The Mathworks, says his company has been working to

parallelize computations in its MATLAB product and to simu-

late code faster in both MATLAB and Simulink. He says that

work includes splitting functions as well as spreading out differ-

ent functions across processors.

“There are some embarrassingly parallel computations—

computations that are done over and over again with different

parameters for different data,” he says. “That is relatively straight-

forward. The harder ones are where you have to consider how the

algorithms are structured and how you distribute the data.”

Using more parallel software, in some cases, means more

middleware, which also exacts a toll on total performance. Intel

is developing its own middleware to work with multiple cores.

IBM has been doing the same in its Cell processor, creating a

hypervisor that acts like a traffic cop for the chip. And because all

of this traffic has to be directed dynamically, that carries a power

and performance price tag.


Intel and its ecosystem are developing a parallel programming language for multicore chips, but don’t expect miracles anytime soon.


By Ed Sperling

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FOCUS ON INTEL

The upside is that more software also means more program-

mability. While it’s up to the chip’s architect to determine the

percentage of functionality in software versus hardware, add-

ing more software—either in embedded code, firmware or

externally—allows some flexibility in how a device is built. And

from an inventory standpoint, discrete components can be

field-upgraded in rapidly changing markets such as consumer

electronics to incorporate the latest communications protocols

or interfaces.

All of this has to be worked out by the architect and chip

designers, of course. In the embedded world, the tradeoff has al-

ways been a tradeoff of programmability versus fixed function,

Ghuloum says. “For maximum heterogeneity, you want a micro-

controller or a processor and fixed function circuits. But you also

can make it quasi programmable. In a camera chip, the compres-

sion is very fast. A lot of that is programmable. “

Not all cores are alikeStill, developing software in parallel is immensely more com-

plex, which is why there hasn’t been a focused effort to do it until

now. Just as cheap gasoline made alternative energy sources a job

for the future, classical scaling made multicore less attractive.

Multicore programming is no longer something that can be ig-

nored, despite its complexity. And that complexity grows when

you consider that not all cores are alike—some are large, some

are small, some are homogeneous, others are heterogeneous.

And in software parallelization, the same application may take

advantage of some or all of these different types of cores at dif-

ferent times.

Until now, Ct has worked largely on a shared memory system.

Intel is now examining whether to use a distributed computing

environment approach so that an application can scale to every

node on the system.

All of this will take time, of course. The first step is for librar-

ies and frameworks to be parallel-enabled, which Intel believes

will happen in the next one to two years. After that, it could take

5 to 10 years for the development language to become main-

stream—something that will require lots of work on the part of

Intel, its ecosystem, and research currently being done by univer-

sities around the globe.

“Problem number one is how to make multicore program-

ming easier,” says Ghuloum. “That’s not solved yet. “

Ed Sperling is a regular contributing editor to Chip

Design magazine. Ed has spent the past two de-

cades immersed in technology. He is the recipient

of numerous awards for journalistic excellence.

Ct: A Throughput Programming ModelTVEC<F32> a(src1), b(src2);TVEC<F32> c = a + b;c.copyOut(dest);

1 1 0 00 1 0 1 0 1 0 00 0 1 1

1 1 0 00 1 0 1 0 1 0 00 0 1 1+

Thread 4

0 0 1 1

0 0 1 1+

Thread 3

0 1 0 0

0 1 0 0+

Thread 2

0 0 0 1

0 0 0 1+

Thread 1

1 1 0 1

1 1 0 1+

Ct JIT Compiler:Auto-vectorization,

SSE, AVX, LarrabeeCore 1

SIMDUnit

Core 2

SIMDUnit

Core 3

SIMDUnit

Core 4

SIMDUnit

Programmer Thinks Serially; Ct Exploits Parallelism

Ct Parallel Runtime:Auto-Scale to Increasing

Cores

User WritesCore Independent C++ Code

Figure: CT is a programming model developed by Intel and its ecosystem for multicore chip development, as demonstrated by the Tera-Scale program


FOCUS ON INTEL

Parallelism Primer

By Max Domeika - Intel

The typical goal of threading is to improve performance by

either reducing latency or improving throughput. Reduc-

ing latency is also referred to as reducing turnaround time and

means shortening the time period from start to completion of a

unit of work. Improving throughput is defined as increasing the

number of work items processed per unit of time.

ThreadA thread is an OS entity that contains an instruction pointer,

stack, and a set of register values. To help in understanding, it is

good to compare a thread to a process. An OS process contains

the same items as a thread such as an instruction pointer and

a stack, but in addition has associated with it a memory region

or heap. Logically, a thread fits inside a process in that multiple

threads have different instruction pointers and stacks, but share

a heap that is associated with a process by the OS.

Threads are a feature of the OS and require the OS to share

memory which enables sharing of the heap. This is an important

fact because not all embedded OSes support shared memory

and as a result, not all embedded OSes support threads. A clari-

fication is that the type of threads discussed here is user level

software threads. Hardware threads are a feature of many micro-

processors and are quite distinct in the meaning and capability.

For example, the term simultaneous multi-threading is a mi-

croprocessor feature that enables one processor core to appear

and function as multiple processor cores. For this discussion,

hardware threads are relevant only in that they may provide the

processor cores that the software threads execute upon.

One other clarification is that this discussion focuses on user level

threads only. We do not include discussion of kernel level threads or

how different OSes map user level threads to kernel threads.

DecompositionEffectively threading an application requires a plan for assign-

ing the work to multiple threads. Two categories of dividing work

are functional decomposition and data decomposition and are

summarized as:

1. Functional decomposition – division based upon the type

of work.

2. Data decomposition – division based upon the data

needing processing.

Functional decomposition is the breaking down of a task into

independent steps in your application that can execute concur-

rently. For example, consider an intrusion detection system that

performs the following checks on a packet stream:

Check for scanning attacks

Check for denial of service attacks

Check for penetration attacks

As long as each step above was an independent task, it would

be possible to apply functional decomposition and execute each

step concurrently. Figure 6.1 shows sample OpenMP code that

uses the section directive to express the parallelism.

When this code is executed, the OpenMP run-time system

executes the function in each OpenMP section on a different

thread and in parallel (as long as the number of processor cores

exceeds the number of threads executing).

In practice, attempting to execute multiple threads on the

same data at the same time may result in less than ideal perfor-

mance due to the cost of synchronizing access to the data.

Pipelining is a category of functional decomposition that re-

duces the synchronization cost while maintaining many of the

benefits of concurrent execution. A case study will be presented

later that employs pipelining to enable parallelism.

Data decomposition is the breaking down of a task into

smaller pieces of work based upon the data that requires pro-

cessing. For example, consider an image processing application

where multiple images need to be converted from one format to

another format. Each conversion takes on the order of seconds

to complete and the processing of each image is independent of

#pragma omp parallel sections{#pragma omp sectionCheck_for_scanning_attacks() ;

#pragma omp section

Check_for_denial_of_service_attacks() ;

#pragma omp section

Check_for_penetration_attacks() ;}Figure 6.1 : Functional decomposition example

#pragma omp parallel for{for (i=0;i<1000000;i++) {process_image(i);}Figure 6.2 : Data decomposition example

www.embeddedintel.com | Embedded Intel® Solutions — Summer 2008 | 13

FOCUS ON INTEL

the processing of the other images. This application lends itself

quite naturally to data decomposition. Figure 6.2 shows sample

OpenMP code using the parallel for directive.

When this code is executed, the OpenMP run-time system

will divide the processing of the images between the allocated

threads for parallel execution (assuming the number of proces-

sor cores is greater than 1). If the processing of each individual

image consumed a great deal of time, it may make sense to multi-

thread the processing of the individual image and execute the

processing of the subimages by different threads. A case study

will be presented later that employs data decomposition in order

to multi-thread image rendering.

In general, it is easier to scale applications by employing data

decomposition than it is using functional decomposition. In

practice you may find a combination of different decompositions

works well for your particular application.

ScalabilityScalability is the degree to which an application benefits from

additional processor cores.

As the number of cores the application uses is increased,

it would be nice if performance of the application increased

as well. There are natural limits to how much of an applica-

tion can be executed in parallel and this limits the obtained

performance benefit of parallelism. Amdahl’s Law is used to

compute the limits of obtained performance and is expressed [2]:

where Fraction e = the amount of the application that executes

in parallel; and Speedup e = how many times faster the parallel

portion executes compared to the original. For example, consider

an application that executes in parallel 50% of the time. Also, as-

sume the application executes on a system with four processor

cores and was threaded in such a way that the performance scales

with the number of processor cores. In this example, Fraction e =

0.5 and Speedup e = 4, and therefore Speedup = 1.6.

Efficiency is a measure of how effectively the total number of

processor cores is being employed in running the application in

parallel; the goal is a 100% measure of efficiency. In the previous

example, three processor cores are idle for 4/5 of the execution

time, which means 12/20 of the four processor cores ’ time is idle

and thus 8/20 of the time the processor cores are active with 40%

efficiency.

Consider another example involving the aforementioned im-

age processing problem with the following constraints:

Ten seconds of initialization that must run serially

One second to process one image (processing of different

images can be accomplished in parallel)

Ten seconds of post-processing that must run serially

Table 6.1 shows the calculations of scalability and efficiency

for a number of different processor cores. One observable trend

is that as the number of processor cores increases, the cor-

responding decrease in execution time is not as significant. In

other words, the speedup does not scale linearly with the number

of processor cores. For example, the scalability with 32 processor

cores is 10.89 and with 300 processors is 15.24, not 108.9 (10 X

10.89). This trend occurs because the serial portion of the appli-

cation is beginning to dominate the overall execution time. With

16 processor cores, the execution time of the image processing

step is 300/16 = 18.75 s. With 300 processor cores, the execution

time of the image processing step is 300/300 = 1 s. Furthermore,

299 processor cores are active for only 1 s out of the 21 s of total

execution time. Thus, efficiency is 5.1%. The conclusion is: maxi-

mize the benefits of parallelism by parallelizing as much of the

application as possible.

One other point worth mentioning is that scalability should

always be compared against the best achievable time on one

processor core. For example, if the use of a new compiler and op-

timization settings resulted in a decrease in execution time when

run on one processor core, the scalability numbers and efficiency

percentages should be recalculated.

Max Domeika is a senior staff software engineer

in the Software Products division at Intel®, creat-

ing software tools targeting the Intel architecture

market.

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“Software Development for Embedded Multi-Core Systems, A Practical Guide Using

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and other similar books, please visit www.elsevierdirect.com.


MARKET WATCH

Linley Gwennap, founder of The Linley Group and one of the

most respected analysts in the microprocessor industry, re-

cently co-authored the fourth edition of “A Guide to High-Speed

Embedded Processors.” We asked him to characterize the current

state of the market, its trends, and the vendors that dominate it.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: Who is the intended audience for

your report?

Linley Gwennnap: Our primary audience consists of people

who design a piece of equipment that requires a general-pur-

pose processor or network chip. The reports cover companies

developing their own CPUs to deliver extra performance, which

is why we excluded processors below 400 MHz—a speed range

easily achievable by a synthesizable core. The report thus pro-

vides an in-depth look at the top products and top vendors in the

high-end embedded processor space, specifically AMCC, AMD,

Broadcom, Cavium, Freescale, IBM, Intel, Marvell, PMC-Sierra,

RMI, and Via Technologies. People using CPUs from these firms

have diverse requirements for performance, power dissipation,

peripheral integration, and price. This guide is intended to help

them make the right selection.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: How does it accomplish that?

LG: The number of markets for high-speed processors continues

to grow. In networking alone, these speedy chips are needed for

complex functions, such as intrusion detection and other secu-

rity functions, storage management, router control plane, and

networking services. Consumer devices, such as set-top boxes,

HDTV receivers, and automobile navigation systems, also need

high-performance CPUs, as do high-speed printers, thin clients,

kiosks, industrial control, medical imaging, and a host of other

devices. System designers prefer a chip that integrates easily into

their designs. We help them identify that chip.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: What’s your research methodology?

LG: We go directly to the vendors and conduct in-depth interviews

of the product managers, architects, and executives to make sure

we have a thorough understanding of feature sets, market strat-

egy, and business strategy. Because we have a strong background

in the semiconductor industry, we take these opportunities to dig

deep and drill down well beneath the brochure level to uncover

the real differences between vendors and products. We boil all

that down in our report and offer informed opinions about what

applications will work well with each product. Essentially, we’re

trying to provide all the information and perspective needed for

system designers to make an intelligent decision.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: What long-term trend is driving

the market for high-end embedded processors?

LG: I’d have to say that it’s the movement toward multi-core ar-

chitectures. Just a few years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find

any multi-core CPU in this market segment. Now you’d be hard

pressed to find one that isn’t. This trend is important because,

unlike previous CPU innovations, multi-core forces system

manufacturers to change their software. The traditional ways

to improve processor speed, like raising the clock speed, simply

caused the software to run faster automatically. By contrast, you

must make software multi-threaded in order to take full advan-

tage of multi-core. In addition, multi-core adds complexity to

the chip design, mandating changes to interconnects, memory,

and I/O to ensure that all those processors are being constantly

fed the right data. It’s not an easy task and some multi-core CPU

designs work better and more efficiently than others.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: Where do you see multi-core as a

key requirement for an embedded system?

LG: Multi-core, by definition, is at the high end of the embedded

market. A system that requires, for example, an 8-bit controller

is obviously inappropriate. While embedded systems are begin-

ning to permeate nearly every kind of electronic product, we see

multi-core playing a major role in broadcast video processing,

surveillance applications that compress multiple streams, and

low-level networking where multiple packet streams must be

analyzed and processed. In all of these applications, you can as-

sign each task to a single CPU on the chip. Where multi-core

will prove much less useful is any complicated application where

processing must take place a step at a time or where there’s a

single data stream that must be number-crunched in real time.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: How are the major vendors posi-

tioned in this market?

Trends in the High-Speed Embedded Market

Linley Gwennap explains the future of multi-core embedded.

By Geoffrey James

MARKET WATCH


MARKET WATCH

LG: Intel dominates the market at the dollar level because their

CPUs tend to dominate the high end of the embedded market-

-especially systems, like airport kiosks and ATMs, which have

a strong resemblance to the personal computer. Freescale, on

the other hand, has been able to optimize their CPUs to meet

the needs of networking--by integrating an Ethernet interface,

for instance. They’ve also used a RISC core that consumes less

power than a comparably powerful Intel core and included cir-

cuitry that otherwise would have to be provided on a separate

chip. As a result, Freescale has been particularly successful in

base stations, DSL, and enterprise routers.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: What do you see in the future for

multi-core embedded?

LG: Any time there’s a big technology shift, it creates an op-

portunity for new entrants. This is no exception and there are a

number of smaller companies participating in interesting mar-

ket niches. For example, there’s a company called Cavium that

came right out of the gate with a chip with 16 processors running

1 GHz each based upon the MIPS core. That’s a lot of proces-

sors compared with Freescale’s multi-core units (which have two

processors) and Intel’s multi-core units (which have up to four).

However, they’ll eventually have some competition in this space

because the other vendors, most notably Intel, have announced

plans to gradually increase the number of CPUs on a chip. For

Intel, this would probably mean using the Intel® Atom™ microar-

chitecture rather than the x86 family, simply because the power

requirements are fairly demanding.

Embedded Intel® Solutions: Do you see IBM’s CELL chip mak-

ing a play in the embedded space?

LG: You can’t rule it out because IBM has been making noise for

years about expanding the market for that chip family. However,

IBM appears to be focusing on markets where there’s a big dol-

lar value, like computer gaming, where they’ve been successful

with the Playstation 3. I’m not sure that they’re all that interested

in adapting the CELL to put it into a networking application or

signal-processing application. The entire market for high-end

embedded CPUs is only around $1 billion a year and that’s ap-

parently not big enough to attract IBM’s attention.

Geoffrey James is a regular contributing author

for Embedded Intel® Solutions magazine. He is

both an author and journalist who writes about

business, technology, public policy, strategy, and

sales/marketing. Geoffrey has written over a hun-

dred feature stories for national publications.

Source: The Linley Group

Figure: Worldwide revenue market share for high-end/mid-range embedded CPUs.


STANDARDS WATCH

Global warming and other environmental concerns are chang-

ing the way people live and do business. Customers worldwide

are increasingly showing their preference for companies who prac-

tice social and environmental responsibility. Seeing opportunities

to differentiate themselves, embedded-systems manufacturers

are leveraging energy management to lower power consumption.

These efforts allow customers to protect the environment and save

money with an energy-efficient computing infrastructure.

Energy management requires a multi-pronged approach to ad-

dress both the board and system levels. Boards are incorporating

more energy-efficient processors and using software to transition

power states when computing demand changes. Remote manage-

ment systems also are helping to curb electricity usage. They shut

off systems, such as cash registers, after a store closes.

Organizations and StandardsIt may only be a matter of time before governments begin

imposing taxes and penalties on companies that don’t practice

environmentally good information-technology (IT) policies.

For companies preferring a more proactive approach, some ini-

tiatives are already well underway:

• IEEE P802.3az: Energy Efficient Ethernet Task Force

Targeting to release a draft specification as early as September,

this group is working on a standard to reduce the power

consumption on 100-Mbit and Gigabit Ethernet networks.

Under the proposal, Ethernet chips with no data to send would

be able to put the physical layer (PHY) into a sleep mode. This

option could save up to 1.5 W on Gigabit interfaces and 10

W on 10-Gbit interfaces. Furthermore, the team is looking at

ways to turn off subsystems—the PCI Express bus, memory

controller, and circuitry in the host processor—when there’s no

incoming data from the network (http://www.ieee802.org/3/az).

• Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)

This open industry specification, which was first released in

December 1996, was co-developed by Hewlett-Packard, Intel,

Microsoft, Phoenix, and Toshiba. It establishes industry-

standard interfaces for operating-system-directed power

management on notebooks, desktops, and servers. Although

it’s been widely adopted by notebook systems to conserve

battery power, the growing emphasis on energy conservation

may expand the adoption of this specification.

The ACPI specification defines four global system states, G0-G3,

as shown in Figure 1. These states are called Working, Sleeping, Soft

Off, and Mechanical Off, respectively. Within each global state, there

are sub-states that provide greater granularity for determining which

system components are powered down (http://www.acpica.org).

• The Green Grid

This global consortium is dedicated to advancing energy

efficiency in data centers and business-computing

ecosystems. Although its focus is on data centers, the group

is developing tools—such as defining models and metrics

and developing energy-efficient standards and measurement

methods—that could apply to embedded applications.

In April, the Green Grid announced collaborations with

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and

the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) to

accelerate the adoption of best practices for energy efficiency

in governmental agencies and the private sector

• Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Started by Google and Intel in 2007, this is a nonprofit group

of eco-conscious consumers, businesses, and conservation

organizations. They promote the development, deployment,

and adoption of smart technologies that can both improve the

efficiency of a computer’s power delivery and reduce the energy

consumed when the computer is in an inactive state. A top issue

Green Embedded Solutions Focus on Energy Management

By Craig Szydlowski

Figure 1: Here are the four global system states defined by the ACPI specification.

STANDARDS WATCH


STANDARDS WATCH

is that roughly 50% of the AC power delivered from a wall socket

to a PC never actually performs any work, according to Urs

Hölzle, Google fellow and senior vice president of operations.

Half of that energy gets converted to heat or is dissipated in some

other manner in the AC-to-

DC conversion (http://www.

climatesaverscomputing.org).

Energy-Efficient Processors

It wasn’t long ago that sys-

tem developers had to deal

with processors that topped 100

W. Basically, such processors can-

celled out everyone’s best efforts to minimize board-level power

consumption. Now, energy-efficient multi-core processors are

operating within a saner power range like 15 to 65 W. These pro-

cessors are monitoring the processing workload and using power

gating to reduce average energy usage as much as 35% to 40%. “A

large retailer, considering replacing its 5000 terminals with new

units that operate 33% more efficiently, can reduce annual energy

costs for POS terminals alone by $131,000—or nearly $1 million

over the average seven-year life,” says Scott Langdoc of IDC .

System TechniquesStill, other energy-saving opportunities are available to soft-

ware developers. They can dynamically adjust processor voltage

and core frequency. This step also lowers fan power consumption,

as the fans don’t need to spin as

quickly. In fact, during periods of

low demand, other system com-

ponents—hard drives, network

interface cards, and actuators—

can potentially be throttled to

save power. Embedded develop-

ers can directly manage processor

power states using capabilities like

Intel SpeedStep® Technology. They

also can integrate other mechanisms, such as Intelligent Platform

Management Interface (IPMI), to control power to other system

elements. Remote management systems can power off systems au-

tomatically during off hours without employee intervention and

save electricity in facilities that aren’t running 24 to 7.

Practicing Environmental ResponsibilityEmbedded customers are demanding action from electronics

manufacturers to step up their adoption of more environmentally

safe manufacturing processes. In response, semiconductor makers

“Customers worldwide are increasingly showing their preference

for companies who practice social and environmental responsibility.”

The HDCIII provides industry leading SS7/ATM performance and capacity for Next Generation and IMS networks. Designed to exceed your system requirements, the HDCIII provides superior scalability, flexibility and price performance ratios, making it the perfect choice for your SS7/ATM signaling needs.

FEATURES INCLUDE:• 8 software selectable trunks of full E1, T1, or J1 per card• 2, 4 and 8 trunk card options available• A combination of up to 248 MTP2 LSLs and 8 MTP2 HSLs• Simultaneous support for MTP2 LSLs, HSLs, and SS7 ATM AAL5• Support for up to 256 channels of one or a combination of protocols on one card, including Frame Relay, HDLC, X.25,LAPB/D/F/V5• On board processor and STREAMS environment for local MTP2 protocol execution, reduces CPU overhead and maximizes performance• PMC, AMC, PCI/X and PCIe board formats supported from a single driver• API compatibility with previous generation of HDC boards

APPLICATION EXAMPLES• Signaling Gateways• Media Gateway Controllers• SGSN, GGSN, MSC, HLR, VLR and BSS Nodes• VAS Applications such as SMS, Roaming and Billing• Test and Measurement applications• Simulation and Monitoring Systems

are manufacturing lead- and halogen-free products by replacing these

toxic materials with new, earth-friendly compounds, such as metal

hydroxides for flame retardation.

Furthering environmental responsibility, the IBM Retail Green

Initiative develops conservation-oriented technology solutions

that enable retailers to meet their ecological goals. “Our objective

is to help retailers better position themselves with consumers, who

increasingly value companies that are working to minimize their

impact on the planet,” says Steven Ladwig, general manager of

IBM Retail Store Solutions. For example, IBM and Intel are work-

ing together to design cost-effective, green retail solutions with

eco-friendly features and support “sustainability” through product-

longevity and material-reuse programs. One example is the IBM

SurePOS 700 Series (see Figure 2). This family of point-of-sale (POS)

systems reduces energy consumption by as much as 30% and carries

service life cycles up to seven years.

Good Corporate CitizensGoing green is a worldwide movement and more attention is

being paid to the energy efficiency of computing systems. In fact,

more and more companies are making their environmental ini-

tiatives public. “Retailers are proactively informing customers

about their green efforts. Tesco, the world’s third-biggest retailer,

recently had a press release announcing plans to measure and

publish its total direct carbon footprint as part of its commitment

to tackle climate change,” says Alan Outlaw, corporate director of

SMB, IBM Retail Store Solutions.

Craig Szydlowski is a regular contributing editor

to Embedded Intel® Solutions. He is a technology

writer with over 20 years of semiconductor and em-

bedded market experience working for Intel, IBM,

and Siemens. Szydlowski holds a BSEE from Yale

University and an MBA from the Wharton

Figure 2. The SurePOS 700 family of point-of-sale systems promises to reduce energy consumption while increasing product longevity.

Designing with Intel® Embedded

Processors?

Embedded Intel® Solutionsdelivers in-depth product, technology and design information to engineers

and embedded developers who design with Intel® Embedded processors

Visitwww.embeddedintel.com

Subscribe Today atwww.embeddedintel.com

Free!


STANDARDS WATCH

Medical original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs) face

many challenges over the lifecycle of their products. Those

challenges range from performance and reliability requirements

and passing certifications to ensuring that their technology and

products keep up with evolving needs. The continuing evolution

of processors and the emergence of new, high-speed, serial dif-

ferential interfaces challenge medical OEMs to implement new

capabilities. At the same time, they must focus on their core

business and adhere to the product-release timeframe.

Medical-equipment designers have some embedded-comput-

ing options available to them, such as commercial-off-the-shelf

(COTS) motherboards, long-life industrial motherboards, and

high-volume application-specific custom solutions. Some distinct

advantages are available with a computer-on-module (COM),

semi-custom embedded solution with a CPU module and appli-

cation-specific baseboard. These solutions include high levels of

processing performance and I/O bandwidth in a compact form

factor. More significantly, COM solutions are inherently modular.

They help designers achieve faster time to market, reduced devel-

opment cost, minimized design risk, simplified future upgrade

paths, scalability, and increased application longevity. All of these

benefits lead to the potential for increased market share.

Providing new applications to improve medical imaging

and diagnostics is one of the greatest challenges facing medi-

cal-equipment designers. At the same time, recent advances in

processing technology are squeezing more performance and

power efficiency into ultra-small packages. One example of such

performance/power efficiency can be found in the latest small-

form-factor, industry-standard COMs. These solutions are based

on the latest 45-nm Intel® processor technology.

Medical-Device Design ChallengesMedical electronic equipment aims to enhance patient care

and reduce cost in a variety of healthcare specialties. Ulti-

mately, its goal is to save lives. The OEMs that are developing

medical-imaging applications are faced with significant design

challenges including power consumption, scalability, process-

ing capabilities, and application support. As the demand for

mobile point-of-care devices increases, size, weight, and further

power constraints also will be added to the mix. For a medical

professional to examine a patient thoroughly and assess his or

her condition promptly with such a take-everywhere diagnostic

tool, high-resolution images are required. Those images need to

be manipulated in real time. Inherent in this demand is the expec-

tation that the device will have high-speed capabilities in terms of

processing, video and data conversion, and communications—all

in a minimally sized package.

Unlike the consumer market, some medical devices must

meet longevity requirements of 10 to 15 years. As the medical

industry, computing standards, and technology advance, the re-

quirements for a given device are likely to change several times

over its life cycle. Thus, devices must be scalable and upgradeable

so that applications can be updated without completely rede-

signing the device. The time to market for embedded medical

applications is a concern that’s made more challenging by the

amount of time allotted to testing for and approval by the FDA

and other regulatory entities. Testing is a significant financial

endeavor for any device. But the stringent requirements faced by

medical OEMs mean the design and development budget must

be monitored closely for continual optimization.

Intel® Atom™ Processor-based COMs Meet the Demands of

Medical Electronics

By Christine Van De Graaf, Kontron

By leveraging the Intel® Atom™ Processor this COM-Express-compatible module achieves clock speeds between 1.1 and 1.6 GHz and thermal design power of less than 5 W.


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Advantages Of COMs Hardware design, firmware and driver development, and

interface testing are just a few of the aspects of any embedded

design. Upgrades may include modifying some or all of these

areas. Designing a full custom motherboard and its enclosure re-

quires extended development time. It also results in nonstandard

device size and interfaces. A smaller, fully custom, FPGA-based

design is similarly unappealing due to the cost of developing

drivers that are specific for every interface at each revision. The

testing required also is a problem. Engineering, debugging, and

supporting a single-board computer for each new processor and

bus simply isn’t feasible. After all, a custom design can average as

long as 24 weeks.

The COM approach puts an entire computer host complex

on a small-form-factor module. That module can be mounted on

carrier boards that contain application-specific I/O and power

circuitry. All standard PC functions, such as graphics, Ethernet,

and buses, can be added via an off-the-shelf module. A custom

baseboard is then developed to interface with application-spe-

cific peripherals like storage devices, expansion sockets, and

COM connectors. Given this modularity, medical OEMs can

take advantage of the cost reduction and shortened development

timeframe that COMs provide when they’re expanding product

portfolios or modifying existing designs—especially those that

must be kept current over a five-to-ten-year lifecycle.

Focusing on the application-specific portion enables a COM-

based design to be completed within 12 weeks—a mere one-half

to one-third the time allotted for a custom design. This design can

be done by a team consisting of one electrical engineer, one sys-

tems engineer, and one mechanical engineer. To allow for more

straightforward testing and approval than soft-based designs,

the COMs hardware will have COTS drivers for each hard-based

interface. The schedule savings is enhanced by resource and cost

savings, as a custom product typically would require two addi-

tional hardware engineers and one firmware programmer.

Performance upgrades can be implemented without a single

modification to the baseboard. Rather than redesigning the entire

motherboard, a new module from the same family can simply be

installed. The device will then be ready for the approval process.

This changes the effort from a multi-engineer project over several

months to a single-engineer, one-week task. Because the I/O would

not require modification in all updates, the failure risks of the EN

60601-1 Parts 1, 2, and 4 tests are reduced greatly for an estimated

retesting cost savings of 40%. Such schedule and cost optimiza-

tions are critical to remaining competitive in the market.

An Advanced COM SolutionUntil recently, pocket ultrasound devices were largely inef-

fective because image quality was sacrificed in favor of mobility.

The power consumption of available processors has remained

high, which impairs fanless designs and reduces battery life. In

addition, no standards-based embedded-computing platform

has quite met all of the device requirements. Advanced process

technology—incorporated into an ultra-small COM form fac-

tor—has alleviated these problems to provide a standardized,

ultra-portable, high-performance embedded-computing plat-

form. That platform offers interfaces like Gigabit Ethernet, PCI

Express x1 lane, and two SATA II ports.

For example, the nanoETXexpress family of COM-Express-

compatible modules has a footprint that’s just 39% of the original

COM-Express-standard “Basic” form-factor module (see the Fig-

ure). The nanoETXexpress-SP COM is based on the Intel Atom

processor. Along with the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W,

the Intel® Atom™ processor Z5xx series provides significant re-

ductions in footprint and thermal design power compared to

the Ultra Low Voltage Intel® Celeron® M processor. Clock speeds

between 1.1 and 1.6 GHz achieve high performance within a

thermal design power of less than 5 W, allowing for fanless de-

signs. Superior image quality is provided via support for 32-bit

floating-point operations, hardware video decoding, dual inde-

pendent displays, hyper-threading technology, and 24-bit color.

The power-optimized front side bus can transfer data at rates up

to 533 MHz. In addition, the C6 low-power state reduces power

consumption while 13 additional states in SSE3 improve multi-

media instruction support. Options also are available for USB

and wireless connectivity.

With the release of this module, applications that previously

faced barriers due to size, performance issues, or power-con-

sumption limitations can now be developed using a standard

COM implementation. Adherence to the PICMG COM Express

standard ensures compatibility and expandability. One pos-

sible application of this new COM is a pocket-sized ultrasound

machine. Such a machine could transmit images wirelessly to a

standard PC for remote diagnosis. For instance, an EMT could

use this device while first on the scene so that a doctor could be-

gin the diagnosis and treatment process even before personally

attending the patient. This application could provide conve-

nience and time savings while improving the quality of patient

care. Many possibilities exist for mobile medical devices using

credit-card-sized COMs. In some cases, they may even help cli-

nicians save lives.

Christine Van De Graaf is the product marketing

manager for Kontron America’s Embedded Mod-

ules Division located in Northern California’s

Silicon Valley. She has more than seven years of

experience working in the embedded-computing

technology industry. Van De Graaf holds an MBA

in marketing management from California State

University, East Bay, Hayward, CA. Contact Info: christine.van-

[email protected] 510.661.2220 x 250


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Advanced static-analysis tools for source code have become

popular because they’ve proven themselves highly effective

at improving software quality. These tools can find serious pro-

gramming defects that are difficult to find using other means,

such as manual inspection or testing. Such defects include re-

source leaks, buffer overruns, race conditions, and null-pointer

de-references. Advanced static-analysis tools can find these de-

fects without the need for test cases. Historically, such tools have

only been able to work on source code. More recently, however,

there has been increasing interest in using these techniques to

analyze machine code. Three factors are contributing to this

trend. First, more reliance is being placed on third-party code,

which is not available in source form. Secondly, there are techni-

cal advantages to being able to analyze machine code over source

code. Finally, advances by the research community mean that

such techniques are becoming feasible.

Source-Only AnalysesThe disadvantage of source-only analyses is that it’s very rare

that all of the source code for an application is available. Almost

all applications link with third-party libraries including operat-

ing-system libraries. A source-code analysis tool is blind to any

non-source components. As a result, they usually ignore these

components entirely or make some simple assumptions about

what the components might do in practice. For commonly used

libraries, models are sometimes used. These are stubs of code

written to approximate the important aspects of the component.

This has two effects: The approximations may not be good enough

and the analysis may fail to find flaws in those components.

Object-Code AnalysesEven in cases where the source code is available, it’s helpful

to analyze the object code instead. After all, computers don’t

execute source code. They execute machine code. There may be

subtle yet important differences between the apparent semantics

of source code and the semantics of the machine code to which

it’s compiled. This is known as the What You See Is Not What

You eXecute (WYSINWYX) effect [1]. Such effects arise in sev-

eral ways. Source language definitions are full of ambiguities

and inconsistencies. In such cases, the compiler is free to resolve

these as it generates the machine code. A source analyzer also

will resolve them. But there’s no guarantee that it will resolve

them in the same way as the compiler. As a result, there will be

a mismatch between what the code actually does and what the

analysis thinks it does. Compiler optimizers take advantage of

these ambiguities frequently. Thus, the semantics of the source

code may even be different depending on the level of optimi-

zation used. Finally, the compiler itself may contain flaws and

generate incorrect code.

The danger of this kind of effect is illustrated by a simple ex-

ample found during a 2002 security review at Microsoft [2]. The

relevant code was the following:

memset(password,’\0’,len);

free(password);

The password variable was a heap-allocated buffer containing

sensitive data. The intent was sound: to minimize the lifetime

of sensitive data. Before returning the buffer to the heap, the

programmer therefore attempted to zero out its contents. Yet

the compiler noticed that the value being assigned to password

was never used. It optimized the program by removing the call

to memset, which meant that the sensitive data was returned

unaltered to the heap. As a result, a security vulnerability was

introduced that was entirely invisible in the source-code repre-

sentation.

The WYSINWYX effect can arise in other ways too. The

order of the evaluation of arguments is a very common cause.

Also, memory layout is important to consider—the location of

variables in memory, on the stack, or in registers. Some security

exploits depend strongly on particular layouts.

A source analyzer could attempt to model exactly how com-

pilers deal with these constructs. But this is rarely possible,

as this behavior isn’t documented. Or they could try to do an

analysis that takes into account all possible resolutions of such

ambiguities. In practice, however, this is infeasible without giv-

ing up performance and precision.

An analyzer that looks at object code suffers from none of

these disadvantages. All of the ambiguities and inconsistencies

have been resolved by the compiler. In addition, the analysis will

consider the code that is actually going to be executed. The anal-

yses of object code can therefore be more precise than similar

source-code analyses.

Analyze x86 Executables to Improve Software Quality

By Paul Anderson, GrammaTech Inc.


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Machine-Code AnalysisMany teams in both industry and academia are working on

machine-code analysis techniques and have demonstrated suc-

cess. Microsoft has tools for finding defects in device drivers. In

addition, several researchers at the University of Wisconsin Mad-

ison have reported methods for identifying malicious code and

security vulnerabilities. Veracode offers a service for scanning

machine code for security issues. With these tools, the challenge

is to create an intermediate representation (IR) or model of the

code that can be used to bring

techniques like static analysis

or model checking to bear.

Creating an IR for source

code is relatively straight-

forward. But machine-code

analysis is much harder. Source

code is well structured. In addition, it is easy to identify variables,

functions, types, and other high-level constructs. In contrast,

machine code is potentially completely unstructured. It may

have been generated from any source language by any compiler

or have been written by hand. It also may have undergone opti-

mization and been stripped of symbolic information. In a hostile

environment, it may even have been obfuscated.

For some programs, it’s impossible to distinguish between

code and data. Functions may not have a single entry point and

even be contiguous. There’s no guarantee that any particular

calling convention is uniformly respected. In addition, control

structures may contain indirect jumps—a construct that’s not pres-

ent in most source languages. The types of values aren’t apparent: A

pointer is indistinguishable from an integer or character. Variables

have been translated into memory locations and their sizes aren’t

immediately available. Disassemblers like IDA Pro can help with

some aspects of IR recovery. But they require manual input to help

them resolve some of the more complicated constructs.

Some more advanced techniques for IR recovery are the result

of joint research between GrammaTech and the University of

Wisconsin Madison. The result of this partnership is CodeSurfer/

x86. Specific IR includes a disassembly listing, the control-flow

and call graphs (with indirections resolved), variable and type in-

formation, and fine-grained dependences. As well as being useful

for finding defects, these representations are useful for reverse

engineering. The figure shows CodeSurfer/x86 being used to in-

spect the behavior of the Nimda worm. Here, the call graph can

be seen despite the author’s intent

to obfuscate it using indirect

function calls.

It’s clear that technologies

are starting to become avail-

able that will make it possible

to analyze machine code for pro-

gramming flaws and security vulnerabilities. Some tools are

already available for limited purposes. Services are available as

well. Tools will soon be offered to allow users to do this on their

own code. These advances are expected to improve software reli-

ability. They will put pressure on those who supply object-code

components to audit those components for both security and

quality issues.

References:[1] Balakrishnan, G., Reps, T., Melski, D., and Teitelbaum, T., “WYSINWYX: What You See Is Not What You eXecute,” Proc. IFIP Working Conference on Verified Software: Theories, Tools, Experiments, 2005, Zurich, Switzer-land.[2] Howard, M., “Some Bad News and Some Good News,” http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dncode/html/se-cure10102002.asp.

Paul Anderson is VP of Engineering at GrammaT-

ech, a spin-off of Cornell University that specializes

in static analysis. He received his B.Sc. from Kings

College, University of London and his Ph.D. in com-

puter science from City University London. Paul

manages GrammaTech’s engineering team and is

the architect of the company’s static-analysis tools.

Figure: This screenshot shows CodeSurfer/x86 being used to analyze the object code of the Nimda worm.

“A source-code analysis tool is blind to any non-source components.”


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In an industry where thinking small is the default mindset,

embedded-systems boards (ESBs) for use in compact and fan-

less applications are on the rise. Examples of such applications

include portable medical-imaging devices and in-vehicle info-

tainment systems.

Benefits of the Intel® Embedded Compact Extended Form

Factor (Intel® ECX Form Factor) single-board computer (SBC)

are well known (see “Intel® ECX Form Factor Provides Cost

and Space-Saving Solutions,” http://www.embeddedintel.com/

search_results.php?results=138). Its compact size of only 102 x

146 mm provides a small footprint. But what components will

complement this small size? This was the problem that faced de-

signers at Portwell. For example, the processor would need to

be small; that was a given. In addition, it would need to be low

power. If the final product was to be the logical next step in the

company’s family of ESBs for applications like car PCs, it also

would need to be fanless while supporting single and dual display

and operating under extreme temperatures. Based on these cri-

teria, the new, 45nm, ultra-low-power, single-form-factor Intel®

Atom™ processor and its paired control chip appeared to be a

good candidate. Its features include the following:

• It represented the latest manufacturing technology.

• Its combined CPU and System Controller Hub (SCH)

consumed less than 5 W.

• The CPU measured a mere 13 x 14 mm and the SCH was

only 22 square mm.

• It supported dual display, audio, USB, and SDIO.

• It boasted a 400-/533-MHz FSB speed with a 32-bit address.

• It had an integrated 3D graphics core.

• It supported single, clone, and dual-independent video

modes.

To meet all of specifications, however, the resulting prod-

uct would definitely increase the engineering requirement for

high-density-interconnect (HDI) technology. This fact invited

concerns about higher-complexity design processes and subse-

quent increases in the learning curve, performance-qualification

tests, and production yields—as well as subsequent fears of in-

creased product costs. Plus, the designers would need to work

with a vendor that was capable of manufacturing HDI printed-

circuit boards (PCBs).

Before starting the project, a list of engineering efforts

that would be key to design, development, and manufactur-

ing was created:

• Easy migration from small to large Intel Atom processor

package

• Placement and layout for high density

• Versatile video interfaces

• Power management

• Optimized manufacturing

Defining the objectives if a good start, but doesn’t guarantee

a successful outcome. Designing and manufacturing a device

based on HDI technology remains a major challenge. But it was

just one of many.

Starting Small With Room For GrowthThe Intel Atom processor is configured in two package sizes:

small and large. The small package accommodates operation in

the commercial/regular temperature range of 0 to 40 degrees C. The

large package supports the industrial/extended temperature range

of -40 to +85 degrees C, but will not be available until late 2008.

Implementing the Intel® Atom™ Processor Series on the Intel® ECX Form Factor

By Frank Shen, Product Marketing Director, American Portwell Technology Inc.

Figure: This picture shows one of the first Intel® Atom™ processor-based in-vehicle infotainment systems - a compact car PC that fits in a single-DIN space.

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The two packages differ in CPU and SCH size as well as ball

pitch. Both packages consist of a paired CPU and SCH, which

also became a challenge to its implementation. While the large

package wouldn’t require an HDI PCB, the small package utilized

an HDI ball grid array (BGA). It therefore made high-density

technology essential. One of the key design considerations was

to design a board that would accommodate the small package

while leaving room to migrate to the large package when it be-

came available. Optimizing the placement and layout to reserve

this space (without changing the size of the Intel ECX form fac-

tor) for the large package can make the eventual migration to the

bigger processor faster and easier.

Advanced Placement And RoutingThe next step was to find a PCB supplier that could provide

an HDI product. Natually, the board design and layout process

had to ensure optimal placement of the components within the

confines of the Intel ECX form factor. The compact form factor

of the Intel Atom processor small package came with the follow-

ing: 441 pins and 0.5992 solder ball pitch on the CPU and 1249

pins and 0.5927 solder ball pitch on the SCH. Because this ultra-

small package had less room to route, placement and layout were

serious issues. The critical engineering considerations that arose

from working in such a confined space were: how to optimize lo-

cation for each component, how to eliminate signal interference,

and how to stabilize the trace connection between PCB layers.

Once the placement process was completed, the designers

turned their attention to the layout of the circuitry on the PCB.

They could then optimize the connections and ensure maximum

performance from the board. One of the many issues for layout

routing on an HDI PCB is the potential for higher interference.

After all, maintaining the optimum signal condition between

trace and trace and layer and layer is much more difficult – do-

able, but difficult.

Putting Customers In The PictureVideo is one of the important features in our customers’ ap-

plications. The Intel Atom processor was particularly suitable for

this project because it was already designed to support single-,

clone-, or dual-display video output. Yet work was still required

to meet all of the design specifications. In addition to the LVDS

video interface on board, two additional video interfaces needed

to be available to increase flexibility: VGA and DVI.

In order to enable these different video outputs on the PEB-

2736 board, two video-connector modules were required to

deliver the video signals. Customers that wanted to use a VGA

display needed to plug in their VGA modules. If a customer

needed DVI output, he or she selected the DVI module. This

feature provided users with the flexibility to work with different

displays, such as one LCD via LVDS and another display via VGA

or DVI.

Powering Up The AtomThe Intel Atom processor’s paired control chip is a depar-

ture from previous Intel® chipsets,, which incorporate the power

plane needed by the CPU. In prior chipsets, the south bridge

usually supplies the power sequence for the second control chip

and CPU. The Intel Atom processor breaks with that convention

and doesn’t include these signals. Its architecture consists of a

CPU and a single chip—the system controller hub (SCH)—which

doesn’t power the CPU.

To generate the voltage that’s necessary for the processor’s

required timing, a power-plane and power-sequence solution

needs to be in place. This meant that an independent power-plane

management solution was necessary to fire up the processor. En-

gineering this power-plane management without taking up a lot

of space posed an initial challenge. An embedded controller (EC)

was finally selected to handle power-plane management and boot

up the Intel Atom processor.

The EC provided the minimum functionality that was re-

quired. At the same time, it provided thermal management and

an advanced-configuration-and-power-interface (ACPI) host

interface. That interface defines common interfaces for hard-

ware recognition, motherboard, device configuration, and power

management. The EC also provided a serial-peripheral-interface

(SPI) bus interface. This microprocessor solution booted up the

CPU and SCH while enabling the designers to maintain its space-

saving and cost-effective design.

Making The SMT SmarterIn addition to circuit design, placement, and layout, manufac-

turing is the final key engineering effort that’s needed to ensure

the success of any product. Due to the high-density-intercon-

nect technology, more detailed processes were implemented in

the surface-mount-technology (SMT) operation. The optimized

process needs to assemble the board, meet Portwell’s quality

standard, and remain within our economic scale. Our produc-

tion engineers responded to this requirement by fine-tuning

their approach in order to augment the process. They managed to

reduce production time while still maintaining an effective yield

rate. Since completing the project early this year, the PEB-2736

has morphed into the PCS-8230—the first Intel Atom processor-

based in-vehicle infotainment system (see Figure). It’s a compact

car PC that fits in a single-DIN space.

Frank Shen is the product marketing director at

American Portwell Technology, where he is respon-

sible for product management and new market

development. Shen has over 15 years of product

marketing experience in embedded computing,

industrial computing, and touch panel industries.

He holds a master’s degree in electrical engineer-

ing from University of Southern California.

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The PC104 family of stackable systems remains a small

but highly interesting segment of the embedded sys-

tems market. The world’s foremost expert on this market is

probably Eric Heikkila, the director for embedded hardware

systems at Venture Development Corp., a Boston MA-based

market research firm. Heikkila holds a BS in Electrical Engi-

neering with a minor in Economics from Bucknell University

where his studies focused on electrical control systems, digi-

tal system design, and electromechanical energy conversion &

power systems.

Heikkila also a co-author of the 14th edition of “Merchant

Computer Boards for Embedded/Real-Time Applications,”

the industry’s standard reference on market size, share and

forecasting for this segment. In the report (published Febru-

ary of 2007), he estimated that the PC/104 family of stackable

modules would reach approximately $264 million in 2007 and

would achieve a 9.51 percent Compound Annual Growth Rate

(CAGR) from 2005 to 2010, far outpacing many other high

tech segments. We asked him about the report and how the

PC/104 segment is likely to change in the years ahead.

GJ: What has changed in the

market since you published

your report?

EH: Not a great deal in terms

of the overall dynamics of the

market. The growing eco-

nomic uncertainty looks likely

to have a negative impact on sales for 2008, f latting out our

original forecast somewhat. However, we believe that most of

the industries that the PC/104 market serves are reasonably

resilient and so we’re sticking to our projections for 2009 and

2010. In the short term, we expect cost pressures to create

somewhat more demand for PC/104 with USB, which costs less

than implementation using the PCI bus. It won’t have a huge

impact on unit shipment, but it will definitely be measurable.

GJ: The PC/104 family comprises about half of the stackable

embedded systems market. Since PC/104 represents a stan-

dard, why are there still so many alternative architectures?

EH: There are specific applications that require features that

PC-104 doesn’t support well. For example, with the EPIC ar-

chitecture, you have more space on the board, which allows

you to package more functionality into the entire system.

There are also cases where there’s a need for a larger board

to better deal with heat dissipation than is generally available

on a PC/104 system. Because of this, we believe that these

alternative architectures will continue to exist for some time

to come.

GJ: Standardization usually drives market consolidation. That

hasn’t happened with PC/104. How come?

EH: PC/104 tends to appeal to niche markets, specifically

military/aerospace and industrial systems. All of these ap-

plications tend to be small in unit volume and require a

significant amount of customization. PC/104 vendors must

therefore be able to engage closely with the customer and

make changes as necessary to meet customer needs. What’s

emerged, then, are a large number of relatively small firms, all

specializing in particular application areas.

GJ: Why hasn’t the custom-

ization moved up a level of

abstraction? You’d think that

some of the customization

could be accomplished in soft-

ware rather than hardware.

EH: With PC/104, the “secret

sauce” that justifies one vendor over another is typically how

that vendor handles I/O. Making changes to the I/O capa-

bilities of a system typically requires making changes at the

system level, an activity that always means a certain amount

of custom manufacturing. If it were possible to make these

kind of changes purely using software, rest assured that some-

body would be doing it.

GJ: Do Embedded System on Chips (SoCs) represent a com-

petitive threat to PC/104?

EH: To a certain extent at the very low end. However, most

PC/104 systems have I/O requirements that cannot easily be

By Geoffrey James

Looking Beyond PC/104-PlusAn Interview with Embedded Systems Analyst Eric Heikkila

“It’s pretty clear that PC/104 with a PCI-Express bus is the next

generational step ...”

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met in an SoC environment. In addition, PC/104 systems gen-

erally require customization, which is more difficult to do in a

SoC environment without undergoing the expense of design-

ing a new ASIC. Therefore, I think that the impact of SoC on

the PC/104 market will be fairly limited.

GJ: Why is USB so important for PC/104?

EH: USB enables faster data transfer rates than the old ISA

bus without adding as much extra cost as the PCI bus. While

PCI remains faster, USB is more cost-effective, which is why

we believe it will be a valuable tool in the PC/104 tool kit.

GJ: Why should cost be important, if there’s so much custom-

ization going on?

EH: It’s true that the PC/104 market is not particularly price-

sensitive, because much of the expense of a system lies in the

specialty work and customization that’s required for most ap-

plications. However, while the price of the hardware is not a

primary concern, it is still a concern. All other things being

identical, the ability to offer a functional system at a lower

price than a competitor is definitely going to influence the

selection of a PC/104 vendor.

GJ: What’s next, beyond USB?

EH: It’s pretty clear that PC/104 with a PCI-Express bus is the

next generational step because it will allow data transfer rates

Stackables Shipments by Vertical Market, 2007 (Total $507.1m)

Industrial Control & Automation (29%)

Instrumentation (13%)

Medical (15%)

Military/Aerospace/Defense (14%)

Transportation (12%)

Communications (6%)

Other (11%)

SOURCE: Venture Development Corp.

RAW DATA: Industrial Control & Automation (29%) 29%Instrumentation (13%) 13%Medical (15%) 15%Military/Aerospace/Defense (14%) 14%Transportation (12%) 12%Communications (6%) 6%Other (11%) 11%

Designing with Intel® Embedded

Processors?

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and embedded developers who design with Intel® Embedded processors

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Embedded Intel ® SolutionsSUMMER 2008

Solution Providers ForumArticles from companies providing important solutions for engineers

and embedded developers utilizing Embedded Intel® Processors

GoldSponsors

Creating a Parallel Programming Language for MulticoreTrends in High-Speed Embedded Market: Linley Interview

Green Embedded for Energy ManagementIntel ATOM Meets Medical Electronics


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in excess of anything that’s available today. Unfortunately,

there’s some controversy surrounding how PCI-Express

should be implemented, with some companies doing their

own early work that’s incompatible with the work from other

firms. However, we expect the standard to eventually settle

down and provide a platform that’s likely to remain useful for

five to ten years into the future.

GJ: Do you see PC/104 penetrating into additional markets?

EH: Today, PC/104 tends to sell into military/aerospace and

industrial segments. We believe that there’s some limited op-

portunity beyond these niches in segments like transportation

(e.g. a controller on a high speed train) and medical devices

(e.g. a controller on a portable MRI machine). However, there

are some markets, like communications, where PC/104 simply

doesn’t provide sufficient bandwidth to be particularly useful.

So we expect PC/104 to pretty much remain in its niche mar-

kets, although we do expect those niche markets to continue

to grow.

GJ: Will there ever be more standardization in the PC/104

segment?

EH: Overall, the trend in embedded systems is towards greater

standardization. As the technology evolves, system manufac-

turers are learning to put more functionality into embedded

systems. More functionality crammed into a system means

that there’s less need for customization, thereby making it

more practical to use a standardized architecture. That being

said, PC/104 is likely to resist the pressure to standardize be-

cause the applications tend to be limited to very small market

niches. In addition, PC/104 tends to be used in environments

where requirements tend to be strict and inflexible.

GJ: Wouldn’t there be some benefit resulting from greater

standardization, like economies of scale in manufacturing the

systems?

EH: With military and aerospace contracts, the emphasis is

on getting it right, not saving money or cost savings in the

manufacturing arena. That being said, even PC/104 will not

be entirely immune to the standardization trend. There’s an

overall trend in Military and aerospace purchasing to use of

lower-cost commercial off-the-shelf components and systems

whenever possible. As a result, pressure may develop to stan-

dardize around a smaller number of PC/104 implementations.

Geoffrey James is a frequent contributing writer

for Embedded Intel® Solutions magazine.

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Until now, running a processor at a higher frequency was the

only solution to increase processing capabilities. Unfor-

tunately, this approach has recently reached micro-electronics

limits. Multi-Core (MC) processor technology was introduced

a few years ago and is bringing a smart solution to run several

processors in parallel while keeping power consumption under

acceptable limits.

MC technology is a great technology to address many applica-

tions. As performance requirements keep growing (demanding

applications, growing number of subscribers, higher bandwidth,

secured communications, etc.) the telecommunications and net-

working markets are MC early adopters. They can clearly benefit

from significant improvements brought by MC technology to

design efficient software architecture for telecommunications,

network and security equipment:

• MC architecture allows a flexible distribution of

cores between Data Plane and Control Plane and the

coexistence of different execution environments (one

for Fast Path, one for Slow Path and Control Plane for

instance) on a single chip. A typical use of MC technology

for telecommunications equipment, for instance on a

16-core processor, is to use several cores to implement

an efficient Fast Path under a Multi-Core Execution

Environment (MCEE), while the remaining number of

cores are dedicated to the OS environment (Linux for

instance) implementing Slow Path (IP stack) and the

Control Plane. The different functions are co-localized in

a single MC chip, but distributed over the different cores.

• MCEE provides APIs to implement lock free packet

processing and optimize memory bandwidth contention

leading to unrivalled performance compared to a standard

OS. Although services provided by such a dedicated

environment are limited, the programming model is

simpler compared to previous generation of Network

Processors based on micro-coded architectures. It is

therefore easier to provide complete features at the Data

Plane level.

• Built-in hardware features (crypto engines, packet matching

engines, and hardware queue for QoS management) can be

used for an efficient implementation of time-consuming

functions such as encryption or deep packet inspection.

• Standard Operating Systems have also been ported on MC

technology. Slow Path and Control Plane that implement

more complex mechanisms can run under a standard

Operating System. However, it requires an efficient multi-

processor implementation of the networking stacks to be

able to use it efficiently across several cores at the same

time.

• MC architecture is by essence scalable and can also be

used to interconnect different MCs to have, for instance, a

distributed Fast Path over several MCs, or to deliver High

Availability features.

Developing networking software for MC can be perceived as

complex because standard software cannot fully benefit from

MC improvements and require some long and costly re-design

phases for each protocol. In particular, one of the key issues to be

solved is the integration of Control Plane, Slow Path and Fast Path

to benefit from the level of performance of the MC technology.

By Eric Carmes

Challenges for Designing Telecoms/ Networking Applications on Top

of Multi-Core Environments

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Efficient networking software for MC platforms has to be de-

signed with several key concepts in mind:

• Networking software should be specifically designed for

MC including, an efficient Fast Path architecture to

make the best use of MC performance according to the

number of cores, a flexible distribution of Control Plane

/ Slow Path / Fast Path over the cores, and a complete

synchronization between these three elements.

• High-level APIs to interface HW features such as crypto-

engines or hardware queues for QoS should be available

while generic features should be fully portable to provide

hardware independence.

• MC specific software running under MCEE should be

fully integrated with the Control Plane OS to provide a

transparent solution for applications and to maximize

reuse of existing software. Such integration hides MC

complexities for applications.

• Networking software should integrate a complete and

comprehensive set of L2/L3 networking features, each one

optimized between Fast Path and Slow Path.

• Networking software should be open for extension to ease

the integration of differentiating and value added features.

Meeting these key concepts will significantly reduce time-to-

market for equipment providers to deploy innovative services for

fixed and wireless networks and will help to meet cost and design

challenges for designing telecoms / networking applications on

top of multi-core environments.

Eric Carmes is Founder and CEO of 6WIND. Eric

holds a Master of Science degree from both INSA

(French University for Applied Sciences) and ESE

(French Electrical Engineering University). Con-

tact Eric at [email protected].

Perspective“It transforms into a bird

Its name is Peng

The wingspan of Peng

We know not how many thousand leagues”

- Chuang Tzu

Sometimes you can fall for a trap when you work on

the same project with the same people for years on end.

You start assuming that the thoughts and state of mind

shared by the folks you iteract with completely represents

the state of mind of the general engineering community.

I may have recently fallen into this trap with regard to the

adoption and leveraging of multicore processors in the

embedded community.

Last month at Multicore Expo, I heard a speaker

comment on the need to make code “Multicore ready”.

My initial thoughts in reaction were “What do you mean

Multicore ready? I’ve been pitching software techniques

for Multicore for over 3 years now. Everyone should be

moving already.”

I could sense many attendees responded positively

to the speaker’s comment. This led me to wonder if I’d

fallen into the trap of having a perspective limited by the

engineers I have the most contact with (other engineers at

Intel) and the work I’ve been doing.

So my question is where are folks at with leveraging

multicore processors in their embedded design? Are we

still predominately in a state of wondering what to do

with multicore processors and how to make code ‘Mul-

ticore ready’? Or are we well past that point and into

planning our next design to take further advantage of

multicore processors?

I’m basically asking - what help do customers need?

To read more, visit: www.chipdesignmag.com/blogs

Max’s DilemmaBlog by Max Domeika

BLOG

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tested. Customized BIOS settings and your application soft-

ware pre-installed are just some of the many options an AAEON

Turn-Key System provides. For more information, please visit

http://www.aaeon.com.tw/partner/turn-key/index.html.

by AAEON

CONTACT US

3 Crown Plaza

Hazlet, New Jersey 07730

U.S.A.

Ph 732-203-9300 x-116

Fx 732-203-9311

AAEON’s Turn-Key Solution Platforms Include:• Embedded Boards in various Form Factors: 3.5”, 5.25” and

Mini-ITX

• Associated Hardware Components, such as CPU, RAM,

HDD, CFD

• Chassis with Fan or Fanless Option

• AC or DC Power Supply Unit

• LCD Panels with Optional Sizes and Resolutions

• Pre-built Embedded OS (Windows® XP Embedded and

Windows® CE)

• Assembly and Test Service

The Benefits of Turn-Key Solution Platforms:• One-Stop Shopping to Save Purchasing Effort

• Better Compatibility Among the Modules Integrated

• Ready-to-Use Embedded Platforms

• Shortened System Development Cycle and Time to Market

• Reduced Maintenance Efforts

• Validated Components

Model Name TKS-G10 TKS-G11 TKS-G20 TKS-G30 TKS-G50 TKS-T52

Board Size 3.5” SubCompact Board 3.5” SubCompact Board 3.5” SubCompact Board 3.5” SubCompact Board 3.5” SubCompact Board Mini-ITX

CPU BoardSupport

GENE-1425 GENE-1270 GENE-8310/ GENE-9310 with ultra low power processor

GENE-8310 withIntel® Celeron M processor 600MHz/

GENE-5315/ GENE-5312

GENE-8310/ GENE-9310 EMB-852T/ EMB-945T/ EMB-9458T/ EMB-6908T

Dimension 7” x 4.17” x 1.57” (178mm x 106mm x 40mm)

7” x 4.17” x 1.57” (178mm x 105mm x 40mm)

10” x 5.75” x 2.48” (254mm x 146mm x 63mm)

10” x 5.75” x 2.08” (254mm x 146mm x 53mm)

10” x 5.75” x 2.08” (254mm x 146mm x 53mm) 10.75” x 11.81” x 2.56” (273mm x 300mm x 65mm)

Mounting Desktop/Wallmount

Desktop/ Wallmount for VESA mounting holes

Desktop/Wallmount

Desktop/Wallmount

Desktop/Wallmount

Desktop

System Cooling Fanless Fanless Fanless Fanless 6cm fan x 1 5cm fan x 2

Ethernet WAN x 2,LAN x 4

1 1 1(GENE-8310); 2 (GENE-5312/ GENE-5315)

1 1 (EMB-852T/ EMB-945T);2 (EMB-9458T/ EMB-6908T)

Wireless LAN Antenna for Mini PCI WiFi (optional) SDIO WiFi(optional)

Antenna for Mini PCI WiFi (optional)

Antenna for Mini PCI WiFi (optional) Antenna for Mini PCI WiFi (optional) PCI or USB WiFi (optional)

SSD Onboard Flash Onboard Flash CompactFlash™ CompactFlash™ CompactFlash™ CompactFlash™

HDD N/A N/A 2.5” x 1 2.5” x 1 2.5” x 1 2.5” x 1

USB Host 1 2 4 4 4 4 (EMB-852T/ EMB-945T);6 (EMB-9458T/ EMB-6908T)

USB Client 1 1 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Serial Port 1 1 2 2 2 2

Digital I/O N/A N/A 8-bit (optional) 8-bit (optional) 8-bit (optional) N/A

VGA N/A 1 1 1 1 1

DVI N/A N/A 1 (optional) 1 (optional) 1 (optional) 1 (EMB-9458T/ EMB-6908T)

TV-out N/A N/A S-Video x 1 (optional) S-Video x 1 (optional) S-Video x 1 (optional) N/A

Audio N/A Line-out Line-out, Mic Line-out, Mic Line-out, Mic Line-out, Line-in, Mic in rear I/O

PowerRequirement

+9V to +24V DC input +9V to +24V DC input 100V to 240V AC input/ +9 to +30V DC input

100V to 240V AC input/ +9 to +30V DC input

100V to 240V AC input/ +9 to +30V DC input +12V DC input

OperatingTemperature

32˚F ~ 113˚F (0˚C ~ 45˚C) 32˚F ~ 122˚F (0˚C ~ 50˚C) 32˚F ~ 113˚F (0˚C ~ 40˚C) 32˚F ~ 113˚F (0˚C ~ 40˚C) 32˚F ~ 113˚F (0˚C ~ 40˚C) 32˚F ~ 113˚F (0˚C ~ 40˚C)

Vibration 1g rms/ 5~500Hz/random operation

1g rms/ 5~500Hz/random operation

0.5g rms/ 5~500Hz/random operation



N/A

EMC CE/FCC Class A CE/FCC Class B CE/FCC Class A CE/FCC Class A CE/FCC Class A CE/FCC Class A

Turn-Key Solution Platform Family Series

Your One-Stop Shop for Solutions & Service

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Benefits of Standardization with Computer on Modules

Only a decade ago, most embedded OEM projects where

based on one-off-designs when computer components were

concerned. Unusually shaped boards with uncommon and pro-

prietary peripherals were built into the equipment that these

boards where meant to control and monitor. All these board de-

signs were very different, but they all had one thing in common:

all system cores where based on a CPU with system memory

and a chipset to support most standard PC functions to enable

the product to communicate with the real world and store

system data. All uniquely designed systems have their unique

problems that need to be uniquely diagnosed, debugged, and

solved. The same system core may be designed and debugged

over and over for different systems. IT professionals believed

this method to be most suitable for automation.

At that time, standard form factors such as ATX and half- and

full-sized SBC were available; however their over-standard-

ization and form factor limitations restricted their application

area to small and medium quantity designs where space is not

an issue. When used in embedded projects, bulky wiring com-

plicates assembly and greatly affects MTBF values. Only with

the emergence of the Computer on Modules design some 7

years ago, was the right synergy achieved for successful large

scale deployment in embedded OEM projects. The Computer

on Module concept is still the only form factor today that

allows OEM to standardize their system core while not giving

up the possibility of achieving a fully unique application with

their custom-built carriers.

Benefits of StandardizationMany of the benefits of standardization are due to mass produc-

tion, as standardization results in far greater quantities of core

modules than the dedicated designs of 10 years ago. A single

core module today can be used in many different projects.

• Reduces cost: mass production equals a better price

performance ratio

• Improves quality: mass production equals higher product

quality

• Improves negotiating power for the buyer: standards drive

product differentiation and competition toward price

and service and away from features. This gives buyer

both better pricing and better support.

• Standard architectures (x86): allows software teams to

develop new applications faster with fewer people.

• Scalable and flexible: more module offerings can be applied

to the same platform.

Collaborative CooperationWith today’s global economy, companies are faced with the

necessity of an even faster time to market at a reduced cost.

Outsourcing has become the key to achieve this. With it, the

importance of product standardization, and specifically open

standards, has become very apparent. COM Express, the first

truly open Computer on Module form factor specification by

PICMG, exhibits the uniqueness of the concept. Open standards

can be paired with a customer’s propriety in-house designed

carrier board to still create a very unique product value.

Standardization and open standards are the basic require-

ments for the new trend in product design called “Collaborative

Innovation”. Collaborative Innovation is a response to customer

demand for closer cooperation within their ecosystem partners

who design and manufacture the standard building blocks for

their products. Customers nowadays require Collaborative

Innovation to achieve better design and production efficiency

by acquiring better product knowledge and support from their

vendors. Customers demand a tighter integration of people,

skills, and knowledge across company boundaries. It benefits

a supplier to be closely involved in mechanical and thermal

issues, even when the customer is taking care of carrier board

design and packaging of the product internally.

About ADLINKADLINK has been one of the contributing members of the

PICMG COM Express sub committee responsible for develop-

ing this new and exciting open form factor for Computers on

Modules. ADLINK’s complete Computer on Module product

family includes ETX modules for PCI/ISA oriented designs, and

COM Express modules based on PCI Express or PCI bus and

compliant with the PICMG COM Express form factor.

by ADLINK Technology

CONTACT US

ADLINK Technology Inc.

8900 Research Drive

Irvine, CA 92618 USA

866-4-ADLINK Toll Free

949-727-2099 Fax

[email protected]

www.adlinktech.com

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Multi-core Processor AMC’s - Re-shaping the Network

Intel® Core™2 Duo processors are members of Intel’s grow-

ing product line of multi-core processors based on Intel®

Core™ micro architecture, delivering breakthrough energy-

efficient performance for embedded platforms. These

processors provide an excellent performance-per watt

choice for small form factor applications such as interactive

clients (i.e., point-of-sale terminals and ATMs), gaming plat-

forms, industrial control and automation, digital security

surveillance and medical imaging. Beyond the more deeply

embedded applications in these markets, another perfor-

mance-hungry, power sensitive market exists in Telecom

and Networking equipment, where power per backplane

slot as well as optimum slot usage is paramount.

Thermal constraints within legacy bladed systems such

as CompactPCI® and the more recent MicroTCA architec-

tures make Intel Core™2 Duo processor-based products

ideally suited for the next wave of product upgrades or

complete technology overhauls. The Intel Core 2 Duo

processor also provides the optimum performance per

watt when designed on to Processor AMC’s inserted in

to ATCA-based Compute blades or Advanced Mezzanine

Card (AMC) Carriers.

Products such as Advantech’s MIC-5602 can now become

Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based TCP/IP offload engines

or packet processing AMC’s. They can be integrated into

ATCA Blades or Carriers as well as MicroTCA systems to ac-

complish network processing tasks with the advantage of

running on dedicated general purpose processors executing

legacy code.

Further performance advantages can be obtained by the in-

corporation of multi-core aware network middleware from

companies such as 6WIND who provide an open frame-

work which eases the transition from single to many cores.

In fact they even go a step further by placing configuration

and management at the heart of their software to solve real

business issues of time and cost savings associated with

software integration, interface, configuration and network

management of multi-core machines.

As we move forward through 2008 developers will be testing

the ability of general purpose processor cores to outperform

network processors in certain applications. Network proces-

sors are also multi-core processors, but augmented with

networking-specific instructions, on-chip accelerators and

by Advantech Corporation

CONTACT US

Advantech Corporation

38 Tesla, Suite 100

Irvine, CA92618

USA

1-800-866-6008 Toll Free

[email protected]

www.advantech.com

memory. However the key measurement criteria will be to evalu-

ate how well multi-core general-purpose processors could work

within programmable networking equipment, such as routers,

network analyzers or integrated security platforms.

Currently, the specialized network processor features mentioned

above provide improved performance, but they do come at the

cost of reduced generality and familiarity which can also be con-

ceived as somewhat detrimental to programmer productivity. A

larger installed base of software and developers exists around

Intel-based platforms and there is also an expectation of better

application portability to future systems.

Intel’s multi-core revolution is leading the way for reduced slot

counts in CompactPCI, ATCA and MicroTCA bladed systems and

offers economies of scale in both product provisioning and re-use.

Not only can the same Intel Core 2 Duo processor-based blade be

used in multiple instances as an application processor, but it can be

used as an intelligent packet processing engine with multiple gigabit

Ethernet ports offering line-speed packet inspection capabilities.

In a CompactPCI environment the same Intel Core 2 Duo proces-

sor-based blades can be used as the baseboard for application

processing, intelligent I/O control and gateway functionality by

populating them with I/O-specific PCI Mezzanine Cards (PMCs).

This provides some compelling benefits such as the same com-

munication interface between baseboards, be it via PICMG 2.16

packet-switching or non transparent PCI bridging mechanisms

with identical programming interfaces. Beyond the pure techni-

cal advantages, commercial benefits such as reduced inventory

and improved volume pricing can also be achieved.

With the many-core revolution well underway and advanced gen-

eral purpose system-on-chip functionality approaching fast, we

are entering an accelerated software-defined functionality era.

Host Media Processing brought us the ability to process a telepho-

ny call’s media stream rather than use digital signal processors

(DSP’s) to perform the task. Right now, software defined Radio,

RFID and Radar initiatives are moving ahead fast. By developing

with multi-bladed, multi-processor and multi-core configurations

today, our embedded Intel Core 2 Duo and Intel®

Core™2 Quad processor-based computing blades are

preparing the future shape of the network.

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Using High-end Intel® Processors in Space, Power, Cost, and Reliability Critical

Embedded Applicationsby Ampro Computers Inc.

Competitive pressures have long suggested using off-the-shelf board-level computers to increase the efficiency of developing embedded system products. Instead of “re-inventing the wheel” by developing and debugging an embedded computer and porting a BIOS or RTOS, compa-nies can focus on developing application-specific hardware and software, resulting in fast-track development of highly differentiated, competitive end products.

The advantages of using off-the-shelf, board-level embedded computers are further enhanced by utilizing an “embedded PC” architecture, which combines well-known operating systems and tools with familiar hardware components.

Recently, however, technology advances have intro-duced both challenges and opportunities into both the hardware and software sides of the equation. For ex-ample, high-speed buses and interfaces such as PCI Express, SATA, USB2.0, and LVDS have burst upon the scene over the past few years, as have multi-core CPUs such as the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor.

Similarly, platform-level software technology has evolved dramatically. Examples include operating systems such as Linux 2.6, Windows XP Embedded, Windows CE 6.0, and VxWorks 6.x; filesystem technologies such as journaling, encryption, flash memory management, and RAID; OS ex-tensions such as virtualization, hypervisors, and real-time performance; and protocol stacks for wireless communi-cations, multimedia, DRM, security, etc.

To help OEMs keep up with all these evolving hardware and software technologies, Ampro offers a continu-ally evolving product line of single-board computers (SBCs) and computer-on-modules (COMs) that span a wide range of form-factors, performance levels, and application-oriented features.

Ampro’s embedded PC products, offered in five basic form-factors as tabulated below, integrate Intel® proces-sors ranging from the Intel® Celeron® M to Intel Core 2 Duo processors, at speeds up to 1.86 GHz. In addition to the CPUs, the boards provide onboard memory; graphics, storage, and Ethernet controllers, USB and other I/O ports, and expansion buses such as PCI and PCI Express.

In addition to specific size constraints, embedded sys-tems must often meet stringent environmental factors, including fanless operation either to eliminate noise or to protect the electronics from dust or moisture. To

meet such requirements, Ampro offers SBC and COM products designed and tested to comply with the three environmental profiles tabulated below.

Of note, Ampro’s Rugged and Extreme Rugged products are designed for harsh environments from the ground up, not simply lot screened. In order to support extremes of shock, vibration, humidity, and temperature, utmost care is given to component selection, circuit design, PCB layout and materials, thermal solutions, and manufacturing pro-cesses, and HALT testing is used to locate and correct weak spots in the designs.

Equally important is the choice of manufacturing materi-als and process technology. The EU requirements for RoHS compliance means that suppliers can no longer rely or tin-lead solder on an inexpensive no-clean immersion gold process to provide durable solder joints that hold compo-nents in place without cracking under flexing loads.

Finally, recognizing the critical need for OEMs to maintain consistency throughout the life of their products, Ampro works tirelessly to ensure long-term availability and stable configurations of its board-level embedded computers.

In conclusion, thanks to their careful design and component selection -- and comprehensive software support -- Ampro’s SBC and COM products can help OEMs leverage Intel’s high-end processors for reliable, cost-effective embedded applications. By using off-the-shelf, board-level, embedded PCs as the basis of their designs, OEMs can accelerate their product development cycles and increase their investment on application-specific features and product differentiation.

Environment Profile Characteristics Industrial 0 to +60 °C Rugged -20 to +70 °C

Extreme Rugged -40 to +85 °C;

splash, humidity, shock, vibration resistant

Table 1: Environmental Profiles Supported by Ampro’s Embedded PCs

CONTACT US

Ampro Computers, Inc. 5215 Hellyer Avenue #110 San Jose, CA 95138 USA 408.360.0200 Telephone 408.360.0222 Fax [email protected] www.ampro.com

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Real Time Symmetric Multiprocessing for Multicore Embedded Applications

by Ardence, a Citrix Company

Ardence Announces Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) Support for Intel ® multicore processors running Windows Real-time Applications

Ardence, a Citrix Company, announces support for Symmetric Multiprocessor Systems (SMP) in the up-coming release of its market leading real-time Windows extension, RTX. With the release of version 9.0, multi-ple processors can be configured for real-time activities. RTSS threads can be assigned to run on specific proces-sors and they can run concurrently, providing significant benefits, including:

• Performance boost – Multiple processors dedicated to

critical, real-time tasks. Up to seven real-time threads

may concurrently run on an eight-processor system.

• Performance scalability – Performance scaling that

doesn’t require code rewrites. Real-time and non real-

time performance balance is adjustable by changing the

number of RTSS processors and Windows processors.

• High availability – Critical tasks can be scheduled to run

on more than one RTSS processor.

• IRQ Affinity – Users can specify a dedicated RTSS

processor for processing the I/O of individual pieces of

hardware.

• System fault handling – Real-time tasks survive over

system crashes and blue screen events.

In the RTX environment, users may configure the quantity of processors dedicated to Windows and how many are dedicated to the Real-Time Subsystem (RTSS). RTX 9.0 supports systems that have as many as eight processors in this initial release; seven of which can be assigned to support RTSS processes.RTX 9.0 will be generally avail-able in Q3 2008, and is currently in Beta.

CONTACT US

Ardence, a Citrix Company 14 Crosby driveBedford, MA 10730USA978.301.8000 [email protected]

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Wi-Fi Resistive orCapacitive

90°

Portrait andLandscape

VESA Mount Webcam

Extraordinary performancewith unprecedented

Touch Experience iGo Panel PC

www.igopanelpc.com

Extraordinary Performance With Unprecedented Touch Experience iGo

Panel PCby iGoLogic

iGo Panel PC is the ultimate industrial fanless embedded solu-

tion. Features Intel® Celeron® M processor 1.5 GHz with 17” or

19” widescreen TFT LCD WXGA and touch screen, It provides

the best HD (High Definition) video performance to support 720P

multimedia applications. It also features 5 RS232 ports, 4 USB 2.0

ports, 2 Ethernet ports wifi (wireless LAN b/g), internal speakers ,

and more. It supports Microsoft Windows XP Pro and XP embed-

ded on a 2.5” hard drive or a solid state Compact Flash module.

iGo17 Panel PC and iGo19 Panel PC can be broadly implemented

and perfect for several markets, such as Digital Signage, POS,

Kiosk, Gaming markets, automation.

Infinite Imagination Goes OniGo Panel PC can be built-to-order for infinite color front bezel which enables your imagination deploy with your applications friendly and efficiently.

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Your Best Solution Provider

inspiration & innovation Go on

nspiration & Innovation Go ono Deliver a Richer Signage

Inspiration & Innovation Go on to Deliver a Richer Signage ExperienceThere is almost no limitation on how and where

the iGo17 and iGo19 widescreen Panel PC can

be used. Whether you need to offer informa-

tion, digitalize your signage ads, broadcast live

news, offer your customers the power to inter-

act easily through a touch-screen panel or use

it to collect data, etc. iGo17 Panel PC and iGo19

Panel PC fanless all in one solutions empower

you to achieve that friendly and easy manners.

Corporate StrengthsConsistency, Reliability, Quality, and Flexibility are our corporate

core strengths. iGoLogic has well established first-tier relation-

ship with major IPC embedded manufacturers and components

vendors. iGoLogic’s product line include Mini - ITX Motherboards

and accessories, Embedded Computing Platforms, All-in-One

Panel Computers, Industrial Automation Devices, Industrial PC

platforms, Network Appliances, Storage Appliances, and more.

iGoLogic’s continual drive of inspiration and innovation have been

gaining overall efficiency and flexibility for our customers. Our

achievement in customer intimacy has helped us to set the high-

est standards of solutions and services. As a leading industrial

solution provider, iGoLogic has devoted to produce state-of-the-

art solutions that aid users in achieving their goals.

CONTACT US

iGoLogic, Inc.

46723 Fremont Blvd.

Fremont, CA 94538, USA.

Toll Free 877-iGo-9888

www.igopanelpc.com

Innovative thermal design

17” 19”

16.6”3.3”

12.5

”

18.81”3.47”

13.8

2”

System

I/O

Display

Packing List

Mainboard

CPU

Memory

Chipset

Wireless LAN

SSD

HDD

Camera module

Mounting

Stand

OS

Size with Frame

Weight

Operating Environment

Power Supply

Warranty

Certification

Intel® processor-based Mini-ITX Industry MainboardIntel® Celeron® M processor 1.5 GHz

512 MB DDR DIMM memory

Intel® 852GM chipset with Intel® ICH4 I/O Controller Hub

802.11b/g w/Antenna

1 x Compact Flash socket

2.5” 40 GB notebook HDD

1.3M pixels

VESA mount ready

Desktop Stand

Pre-installed Microsoft Windows XP Pro

(recommended)

475mm x 351mm x 88mm

(18.71” x 13.82” x 3.47”)

25 lbs

0-40°C / 32-104°F

AC-DC AC 100-240V 80W (US)

1 year limited warranty (parts & labor)

FCC, CE

Intel® processor-based Mini-ITX Industry MainboardIntel® Celeron® M processor 1.5 GHz

512 MB DDR DIMM memory

Intel® 852GM chipset with Intel® ICH4 I/O Controller Hub

802.11b/g w/Antenna

1 x Compact Flash socket

2.5” 40 GB notebook HDD

N/A

VESA mount ready

Desktop Stand

Pre-installed Microsoft Windows XP Pro

(recommended)

422mm x 317mm x 83.6mm

(16.6” x 12.5” x 3.3”)

25 lbs

0-40°C / 32-104°F

AC-DC AC 100-240V 80W (US)

1 year limited warranty (parts & labor)

FCC, CE

COM

Ethernet

Wireless LAN

VGA

Audio

USB

PS2

Power switch

Reset

5 x RS232 COM ports

2 x 10/100 Intel Fast Ethernets

Mini-PCI Interface support 64 bit and

128bit WEP encryption 802.11 b/g

VGA output

AC’97 codec audio

4 x USB2.0 ports

Keyboard & Mouse

Bypass front panel button switch

Reset switch

5 x RS232 COM ports

2 x 10/100 Intel Fast Ethernets

Mini-PCI Interface support 64 bit and

128bit WEP encryption 802.11 b/g

VGA output

AC’97 codec audio

4 x USB2.0 ports

Keyboard & Mouse

Bypass front panel button switch

Reset switch

Chipset

Memory Size

Size/Type

Resolution

Integrated in Intel® 852GM GMCH

Max. up to 64MB frame buffer sharing

system memory

19” TFT Resistive touch WXGA screen

1440 x 900 Pixels

Integrated in Intel® 852GM GMCH

Max. up to 64MB frame buffer sharing

system memory

17” TFT Resistive touch WXGA screen

1440 x 900 Pixels

AC Adapter, Driver

OptionalMemory

Solid State

Operating System

Touch Screen

Fram Color

Fram Type

Table Stand

1 GB DDR Memory

2.5” IDE Flash Driver

Microsoft Windows XP Home, XP

embedded

Changeable Touch or No Touch

Custom Color

Open Frame

1 GB DDR Memory

2.5” IDE Flash Driver

Microsoft Windows XP Home, XP

embedded

Changeable Touch or No Touch

Custom Color

Open Frame

17” 19”

Wi-Fi Resistive orCapacitive

90°

Portrait andLandscape

VESA Mount

FanlessCustomColor Frame

Slim andstylish Design

Webcam

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Integrating ATCA Hardware with HA Middleware

Solving the Challenges of Integrating the Complex Building Blocks for Network Service Applications

Telecommunications applications such as IP-TV, social net-

working and 4G presence-enabled services are setting the

foundation for a broad spectrum of content delivery platforms.

Telecommunication service providers (TEPs) and the telecom-

munications (TEMs) that support them are now focusing on

new delivery platforms for converged network applications.

Competition is intensifying as TEMs must keep up with these

time-to-market demands, quality of experience (QOE) expecta-

tions and increasing complexity of the network, while focusing

on differentiating their application. The demand to deliver con-

tent and provide services is slated to grow very rapidly, placing

heavy demands on the communications infrastructure, while re-

quiring significant scalability along with uninterrupted service

availability.

IPTV is an area that shows huge promise in delivering a

comprehensive communication experience that can include

everything from entertainment, corporate information dis-

semination, complex conferencing, and public information

access. IPTV combines all the video, voice and data exchange

services from computer and wireless devices with all the tele-

vision programming and Video on Demand (VoD) services.

According to a new bi-annual IPTV Forecast from Multimedia

Research Group (MRG) released in November 2007, growth for

IPTV is projected from 13.5 million in 2007 to 72.6 million in 2011,

roughly a 40% compounded annual growth rate. In North America,

Verizon and AT&T are growing considerably faster than previous-

ly forecasted, and MRG expects Verizon to be the world’s largest

IPTV service provider in 2011.

However, this market progression is not without its challenges.

MRG believes that the continued growth of the global IPTV indus-

try, specifically in Europe, Asia and North America, hinges upon

the often misunderstood “middleware” component that glues to-

gether the many working parts of the IPTV end-to-end system.

Without a flexible middleware solution that can easily and pre-

dictably increase the number of subscribers and the breadth of

services, IPTV operators will not be able to sustain long-term

growth or stability.

Developers need proven, off-the-shelf customizable solutions

that will allow them to concentrate on their application-specif-

ic core competencies and focus on delivering differentiating

features and greater application value and performance.

Partnering with a platform integration vendor to ensure the

validity and reliability of system is just as important to over-

all success.

by Sven Freudenfeld, Kontron

COTS ApproachBuilding a distributed, highly available and reliable system to deliv-

er these services is a complex and often daunting task, particularly

since back-end design is increasing in its complexity. Designing

the entire system in house is no longer a realistic use of resources

nor is it a cost-effective option. Instead, developers are looking to

a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) approach that is driven by stan-

dards in order to accelerate and take some of the risk out of the

development cycle and ultimately meet delivery schedules.

By using COTS building blocks from the hardware computing

platform up to the operating system (OS), High Availability (HA)-

middleware and certain protocol components, NEPs and TEMs

are given the fundamental elements to create a carrier-grade plat-

form. The benefits of a carrier-based platform with a true open

architecture foundation are realized in the form of highly differen-

tiated products that are scalable, freeing up valuable engineering

resources then could be used to design applications that add value

to and reduce the time to market of more innovative services.

Integrating all of the complex building blocks together is essen-

tial and can provide a number of unique technical challenges.

As a result, the desire for straightforward integration manage-

ment that has been validated and tested is rapidly becoming a

necessity. The SCOPE Alliance, has defined a reference archi-

tecture for a generic Carrier Grade Base Platform (CGBP). This

architecture, which includes hardware, operating system, op-

erations and maintenance functions and tools, also specifies

middleware as a fundamental component for service availabili-

ty. As CGBP building blocks become commoditized, the industry

cooperates in many initiatives to specify and implement an

Fig. 1: A detailed view of COTS or proprietary hardware

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open architecture. SCOPE also creates profiles for The Service

Availability Forum (SA Forum), the main organization active in

the middleware standardization effort. The SCOPE Alliance has

also published the ATCA profile, which provides guidance for a

common platform to create carrier Grade Platforms that fulfill

the needs of NEPs and their customers, the service providers.

In September 2007, the SCOPE Alliance released the Middleware

Profile v2.0. This updated profile, along with previously pub-

lished Reference Architecture, and profiles (Middleware v1.0,

ATCA, AMC, and Operating System) provides the Carrier Grade

Base Platforms/COTS ecosystem (consumers & suppliers, speci-

fications setting bodies, and the Open Source community) with

comprehensive guidance regarding the creation of interoperable

Carrier Grade Base Platforms for NEPs and Systems Integrators.

The AdvancedTCA Building BlockThe advent of the AdvancedTCA, the first standardized hard-

ware platform to meet carrier-class requirements, provides the

hardware building blocks and flexibility to integrate complex

high-performance systems from off-the-shelf components.

Processing capabilities and available bandwidth increase with

multi-core processors while maintaining a smaller footprint and

lower power performance than were achievable in past rack-

mount configurations. Manufacturers who take advantage of

the latest multi-core processors in these COTS form factors will

be able to build faster, more scalable systems without upgrad-

ing the framework or increasing floor space. Combining ATCA

blades with Advanced Mezzanine processor Cards on a carrier

grade, standard-based platform allows network management to

take place entirely on one ATCA slot on the ATCA switch blade,

alleviating the bandwidth from the fabric and maximizing the

footprint of the overall system. Delivering reliable high-perfor-

mance solutions that scale with the demands of the market is

quite promising with such advancements.

More Complex Building Blocks for Next-Generation Network SystemsSelecting the appropriate hardware to support a given set of

communications protocols and applications is just the beginning

of the engineering workload associated with launching a new

carrier-class platform. Along with the robust, highly intelligent,

high availability and reliable hardware components provided by

AdvancedTCA also comes a degree of complexity in the details of

virtually every facet of the system. Besides the standards-based

COTS system management building blocks, there are a number

of other elements which must all work together seamlessly.

System design engineers must also integrate the associated OS

and in some instances the Board Support Package (BSP) with the

associated supporting drivers for the components on the board or

system and develop middleware to integrate the hardware with

the application reliably. The management capabilities for all the

hardware, fabrics, software, and system components are quite

sophisticated and experts knowledgeable in the complex stan-

dards are required in order to pull all the building blocks together

into a cohesive system. Robust operating systems are necessary

to maintain dependable systems in high availability environments,

allowing for continued service with an interface to the user base

that allows the specifics of the hardware to remain transparent.

The Daunting Task of IntegrationWhile the benefits of using AdvancedTCA standard are many,

it still requires a certain level of an integration effort that can

take from six to 12 months to make sure all the building blocks

work seamlessly together. In addition, integrating the hardware

platform can require a great deal of support in the form of pro-

gram management, functional experts, quality assurance, tools

and deployment support all of which adds up to a tremendous

amount of precious personnel, time and money resources.

To begin with, integration efforts are on different levels start-

ing from interoperability on the hardware level when using

multiple sources for the system components. There are also

the considerations of thermal, mechanical, fabric connectiv-

ity and IPMI interoperability. This first integration task can

become quite complex. Having all the tools to perform this

task is already a significant investment not to mention the

engineering time to perform that validation and integration.

When integrating multi-sourced standard components, fur-

ther challenges arise when it comes down to identifying which

“vendor” is at fault when problems occur.

The next level of integration requires that the preferred OS is work-

ing and supported on the desired blades and might require an

additional validation effort. The manageability within the system

can take a major undertaking. Even by using standard-based com-

ponents, the system management (middleware), HPI, and shelf

management all need to be validated as a cohesive management

unit. Even if the components are designed based on standards or

a recipe, every vendor may have different method of implement-

ing it. For a product to be successful, it needs to be a complete

solution with hardware, middleware, OS, etc. Integrating all these

elements is a year’s worth of intense work which can be a time-

consuming and costly task for a systems provider.

The following outlines an example of the cost associated with re-

sources and lost revenue due to incremental time-to-market in a

real-world network application developed in house.

From the initial procurement phase (which involves component

selection, procurement and learning curve) to carrier-class

integration and validation of the hardware platform, to deploy-

ment support (including debug and component upgrade), the

incremental time to market can add up to over 700 days. The

lost revenue due to this delay can add up to a loss of $1Million

for every month not in the market, which totals to an astounding

cost of nearly $24Million. Within this, the portion associated

with just developing the custom middleware to meet the re-

quirements can total up to more than $500,000. Whereas, the

build and validate portion can add almost $250,000.

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CONTACT US

Kontron

14118 Stowe Drive

Poway, CA 92064

USA

858.677.0877 Telephone

[email protected]

www.kontron.com

The Emergence of MiddlewareGiven the difficult, detailed and time-consuming nature of

pulling the pieces of the platform together, embedded system

companies should not be discouraged away from develop-

ing AdvancedTCA-based carrier class systems. In fact, the

rapid middleware ecosystem growth provides new opportuni-

ties for realizing fully integrated carrier grade base platforms

(CGBP). The SA Forum provides guidance to TEM’s beginning

to gain recognition for the portability, interoperability and in-

creased innovation they enable. Standards-based middleware

provides TEMs with off-the-shelf high availability software to

complement its carrier-grade equipment.

Frequently there is a lapse between the availability of the

hardware and date which it is possible to deploy applications

due to the schedule cost of the back-end software develop-

ment. This gap can be being filled with middleware platforms

that provide chassis management functions, inter-process

communications, and services that are scalable from deeply

embedded to large, complex systems.

Case in Point - IPTV However, many experts feel that the single most important barrier

to widespread adoption of IPTV hinges upon a superior quality of

service (QoS) that delivers maximum quality of experience (QoE)

to the end user. Yet major design, technology and business chal-

lenges threaten to derail performance.

In order to achieve superior QoE and QoS, IPTV applications

must meet the following specifications:

• High Network Processing Capability – to relieve I/O

bottlenecks and manage concurrent data streams efficiently

for IPTV.

• Proven Standardized Platforms – to leverage advanced

technology, while remaining focused on core competencies.

• Manageability – The ability to manage the network,

perform upgrades, service existing equipment and

avoid IPTV downtime is more important than ever.

With increasing subscriber demands, service providers

demand network visibility and management at the

blade, module and system levels.

• Scalability – To prepare and build a system for change, it

is important for service providers to implement technology

that is flexible, scalable and easy to upgrade. The need

to support emerging technology and provide increased

performance, places greater emphasis on hardware

adaptability in network deployments.

• High Reliability and Availability – In an “always on”

environment, IPTV systems must be extremely available

and reliable. Network element and application failure

negatively impact the QoE. With on-demand content,

it is essential that a high availability framework be

implemented that supports controlled and managed

failover.

• Interactivity – With the emerging ability to support

High Definition resolutions on decoders, and System-

on-Chip integrated decoders, introduction of full

interactive video services based on IPTV and IP set-

top-box models that go beyond Video on Demand and

Electronic Program Guide are becoming a reality. Live

interaction between people becomes a springboard

for an entirely new paradigm of communication.

• Fast Time to Market – Widespread adoption of IPTV

requires network equipment manufacturers to adopt a

standards driven, commercial COTS approach to accelerate

development cycles and continue to meet demands.

In order to solve the business and technical challenges, an

IPTV initiative called the IPTV Experience was formed to build

an infrastructure resource. Comprised of leading companies

Enea, Intel, Kontron, and RADVISION, this broad-based in-

dustry initiative that takes full advantage of the latest proven

processor technology, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hard-

ware, middleware, and video networking.

The global effort brings together leading companies from the soft-

ware, hardware and semiconductor industries, each with a specific

solution to one or several of the major roadblocks impeding the

mass adoption of IPTV. As an alliance, member companies bring

a systemic view with an emphasis on off-the-shelf, rapidly deploy-

able solutions to accelerate the roll out of this new medium.

For this complete white paper visit kontron.com/choice.

Sven Freudenfeld is responsible for North American Business Development for the Kontron AG line of AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC, MicroTCA, and Pre-Integrated OM Solutions. Sven possesses more than 15 years of experience with voice, data, and wireless communications, having worked extensively with Nortel Networks in Systems Engineering, Sanmina-SCI in Test Engineering, and Deutsche Telekom in Network engineering. Sven holds an electrical engineering degree from Germany, and is also VP of The Communications Platforms Trade Association (CP-TA) and is the Chair of the CP-TA marketing workgroup focusing on the interoperability of COTS standard building blocks.

Fig. 2: High Availability Middleware Overview

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World’s First Integrated, Ergonomic, and Energy-Efficient Mobile Tablet PC

from NEXCOM

NEXCOM introduces three new handheld 8.4” Fan-less Mobile Tablet PC based on Intel® Atom™ Processors

For seekers of industrial-grade mobile tablet PC with long battery life, NEXCOM proudly presents three new models of handheld 8.4”

fan-less mobile tablet PC: MTC 2100-MD, MTC 2100 and MRC 2100.

The centerpiece for all three models is Intel’s smallest processor (at press time) with ultra-low power consumption — the Intel®

Atom™ processor, coupled with the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W. In addition, some important features — Wi-Fi, Bluetooth

2.0, data security protection, digital camera, and the sunlight readable touch screen — come standard on each of the three models.

MTC 2100-MD is made for health care usage in the hospitals. Featuring Intel® Atom™ processor up to 1.86 GHz with512 KB on-die

L2 cache, the MTC 2100-MD provides a powerful mobile computing platform with an 8.4” TFT color LCD and EMR (Electro Magnetic

Resonance) digitizer touch screen. It has an onboard RFID reader that significantly facilitates monitoring patients with RFID rings and

can also be used to keep track of medicines. The MTC 2100-MD has build-in Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n and RFID reader and Bluetooth to en-

hance the mobility and smooth data access.

Main Features • Support Intel® Atom™ processors

• Intel® System Controller Hub US15W

• Integrated Touch screen and EMR digitizer

• Integrated 1.3 Mega pixel Camera

• Integrated RFID reader/ optional Barcode Scanner

• Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR

• Integrated Secure Data by Infi neon TPM 1.2 and Fingerprint

• 4 ~ 8 Hours Long Lasting Battery Life

by NEXCOM

Mobile Tablet PC MTC2100-MD

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MTC 2100 is an ultra reliable handheld mobile tablet PC to consolidate data collection and processing into one solution for ware-

house management, logistics management and fleet management. For logistics management, you can scan the barcode of goods to

improve the accuracy of the order picking and staging process. The MTC 2100 is capable to send real-time picking and staging instruc-

tions to fleet truck drivers via GPRS/ GSM/ HSDPA/ UMTS wireless network

Main Features • Supports Intel® Atom™ processors

• 1 x 200-pin DDR2 SO-DIMM socket, up to 2 GB SDRAM


• Dual Independent Display (LVDS + SDVO)


• Sunlight Readable Touch Screen

• Integrated SiRF III GPS module

• Integrated 1.3 Mega Pixel camera

• Integrated Laser Barcode Scanner

• Integrated Secure Data by Infineon TPM 1.2 and Fingerprint Recognition

• Supports 3.5G or WIMAX Module


MRC 2100 is especially rugged for use in tough outdoor environments. With special rubber pads installed, it can withstand a

vertical drop of up to 4 feet (120 cm) high and is suitable to be mounted on vehicles. The MRC 2100 provides a powerful mobile

computing platform with an 8.4 in TFT color LCD and sunlight readable touch screen. The MRC 2100 has build-in Wi-Fi 802.11/b/g/n

and Bluetooth to enhance the mobility and smooth data access for various vertical markets. Furthermore, the MRC 2100 has the

strictest measurement to protect all your sensitive data by implementing TPM encryption and fingerprint security features.

To extend its functionality, the MRC 2100 has a docking connector for USB, PCI-Express and SDVO ports, while the expan-

sion slots include Mini card Socket. The MRC 2100 can be tailored to fit in various vertical applications, such as Point of

Services, retailing, logistic and much more.

Main Features • Support Intel® Atom™ processors


• Dual Independent Display (LVDS + SDVO)


• Supports 3.5G or WIMAX Module

• Integrated Secure Data by Infi neon TPM 1.2 and Fingerprint


• Optional RFID/ Barcode Scanner

CONTACT US

NEXCOM USA

3758 Spinnaker Court

Fremont, CA 94538

Office: (510)656-2248

Fax: (510)656-2158

www.nexcom.com

[email protected]

Mobile Tablet PC MTC2100

Mobile Rugged PC MRC 2100

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Embedded Virtual Manager on Multi-Core Solves Legacy RTOS Problems

Starting from scratch is a luxury many embedded de-

velopers cannot afford. Building solutions on a base

of existing proven software is often the fastest and

most reliable road to success. But how does one add

features to existing proven real-time software without

disturbing the underlying reliability and performance

of that legacy software?

A History of Real-Time for WindowsIn 1997 TenAsys Corporation introduced INtime®, an

RTOS that provides hard real-time determinism along-

side Microsoft® Windows® on a single embedded PC.

A unique form of virtualization makes this possible,

letting Windows run unmodified as the lowest priority

task in the system. This “real-time Windows platform”

has provided hundreds of developers the means to

build deterministic embedded Windows systems that

reliably control critical machine functions and simul-

taneously include high-level interfaces for system

monitoring, enterprise connectivity, and complex user

interaction.

Using Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT)

TenAsys now offers the eVM™ platform, an embedded

virtual machine manager (VMM) capable of support-

ing the demands of a variety of embedded operating

systems while simultaneously hosting the Windows

OS, each on dedicated cores of a multi-core proces-

sor. This has very useful implications for applications

that need to preserve legacy real-time code.

An Embedded VMM for Real-TimeThe eVM platform facilitates migrating legacy embed-

ded code from obsolete hardware to modern embedded

platforms. Legacy I/O can be virtualized and redirected to

minimize rewriting proven software. For example, an ob-

solete ISA system can be migrated to a smaller and less

expensive single-board computer by redirecting access

to ISA peripherals to equivalent on-board PCI devices.

Traditional VMM software emulates an entire machine,

giving each guest OS what it thinks is control of the hard-

ware. Direct access to real I/O, particularly specialized I/O,

is a key requirement of embedded software. A traditional

VMM does not provide direct and unfettered access to

the underlying physical I/O.

by Paul Fischer, TenAsys Corp.

CONTACT US

TenAsys Corporation1400 NW Compton Drive, #301Beaverton, OR 97006(877) 277-9189 Toll Free+1-503-748-4720 Telephone

[email protected]

Multi-Core Intel® Processors Support Real-Time VirtualizationThe TenAsys eVM utilizes multi-core Intel VT processors to

host virtually any OS, both legacy and current, alongside

Microsoft Windows. In an eVM system, resources are par-

titioned, insuring each OS has direct access to time-critical

hardware that would be restricted or denied by a traditional

VMM. Assigning I/O exclusively, and dedicating CPU core(s)

to an OS, is essential to guaranteeing determinism.

Determinism and the priority of real-time tasks are fun-

damental requirements for an RTOS; hosting an RTOS

on the eVM platform does not dilute those requirements.

Partitioning resources insures that only the authorized OS

will have direct access to its time-critical I/O, with little or

no overhead from the VMM.

ConclusionThe net gains from the application of virtualization tech-

nology on Intel multi-core processor platforms are the

elimination of redundant computer and communication

hardware, faster communication and coordination between

RTOS and Windows subsystems, improved reliability and

robustness, re-use of proven legacy applications, and

simplified development and debugging. Systems that pre-

viously required multiple discrete computing modules can

be combined onto a single hardware platform, saving costs

in design, manufacturing, and maintenance.

Use the TenAsys® INtime® RTOS to give your applications direct access to performance-

critical I/O on a dedicated core, so Windows and your real-time code execute at full speed. INtime

applications run alongside Windows on a single hardware platform without sacrificing determinism.

Errors are reduced and development costs are lowered

because you use a single IDE, Microsoft Visual Studio, to edit, compile, and debug real-time and Windows code.

We’ve led the way in virtualization for over 25 years.

Call toll-free (877) 277-9189 or visit www.tenasys.com/multicore

25years

Copyright © 2008 TenAsys Corporation. All rights reserved. TENASYS, INTIME, and IRMX are registered trademarks of TenAsys Corporation. Other trademarks and brand names are the property of their respective owners .


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ADLINK aTCA-6900 Dual-Core and Quad Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Pro-cessors LV 10 GbE AdvancedMC™ Carrier Blade

The ADLINK aTCA-6900 features the latest Intel® 5100 chipset and Intel® I/O Controller Hub 9R (Intel® ICH9R) with 64-bit low-voltage Intel® Xeon® processors and DDR2-667 REG/ECC up to 16 GB support. Compliant with PICMG® 3.1 Option 1/9, the aTCA-6900 supports dual IEEE802.3ap compliant 10GBASE-KX4 and 1000BASE-BX ports for fabric interface connectivity. Featuring dual-AMC.0 mid-size bays, this new carrier blade has on-board 24-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch-on-Chip providing high speed data tunnels switching between base / fabric interface, update channels, front panel egress ports, rear transition module and AMC.2 ports. Peripherals include USB v2.0 ports, analog RGB graphics, serial console and RAID 0/1/5 SATA/SAS AMC.3 storage devices.

Features:

• Dual Quad-Core and Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors LV with 12/4 MB L2 Cache

• 64-bit Intel® Extended Memory Technology• Dual-DDR2-667 REG/ECC Channels with 16 GB Maximum

Capacity• Intel® 5100 chipset and Intel ICH9R• Dual-AMC.0 Mid-size Bays• Dual-10GBASE-KX4/1000BASE-BX Fabric Interface Channels• On-board 24-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch-on-Chip• RAID 0/1/5 SATA Ports

ADLINK Technology Inc.8900 Research DriveIrvine, CA 92618 USA866-4-ADLINK Toll Free949-727-2099 [email protected]

Product Showcase IndexADLINK TechnologyaTCA-6900 Dual-Core and Quad Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processors LV 10 GbE AdvancedMC™ Carrier Blade ................. 48

Advantech CorporationAdvantech launches Intel Q35 PICMG 1.3 SHB supporting 45-nm tech FSB 1333MHz CPUs.................................................... 49 Emerson Network PowerATCA-7150 Processor Blade .......................................................... 49ATCA-7301 Processor Blade.......................................................... 50ATCA-7350 Multicore Processor Blade ......................................... 50CPCI7200 Single-Board Computer .................................................51PrAMC-7210 AMC Module ................................................................... 51Flexcomm LimitedFIDS28MC1 – 10G POS System Platform.......................................... 52FIDS43MS1 – SME/SOHO Router With ADSL2+ Accessing............ 52

ITOX Applied ComputingITOX BL100-N – A Cost-Effective Mini-ITX Solution ..................... 52

Kaparel CorporationMicroTCA 5U System .................................................................... 53

KontronKontron CP6001 & CP6923 ........................................................... 53

Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP -- The credit card size COM Express compatible solution from the origninal COM Inventor .... 54

LynuxworksLynxSecure................................................................................... 54

MSI Computer Corp.MSI Fuzzy Q35DO – Intel® Q35 Express Chipset-Based Mini-ITX Embedded Solution ..................................................... 55

NexcomPowerful New Generation of Digital Signage Media Player .....55

Reliable Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor-Based Fan-less Computer .......................................................................55

Sharing this copy of Embedded Intel® Solutions?

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PlatinumSponsor


Embedded Intel® SolutionsSUMMER 2008

Solution Providers ForumArticles from companies providing important solutions for engineers and embedded developers utilizing Embedded Intel® Processors

GoldSponsors


Trends in High-Speed Embedded Market: Linley Interview

Green Embedded for Energy Management

Intel® ATOM™ Processor Meets Medical Electronics


Protech Technologies, Inc.PSB-701LF – Protech Systems’ Long Life PICMG 1.3 CPU board with Intel® Q35 Express Chipset................................................... 56TrentonTrenton’s Multi-Core System Host Boards (SHBs) & Backplanes Maximize System Flexibility and Capability ..................................... 56


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PCE-5124 is a PICMG 1.3 form-factor single host board which is designed with the Intel® Q35 Express chipset plus I/O Controller Hub 9 DO (ICH9 DO) platform for industrial applications that need high computing power and strong I/O capability. PCE-5124 supports 45nm and 65nm manufacture technology Intel® CoreTM

2 Duo, Intel® CoreTM 2 Quad, and Intel® Pentium® processors and Intel® Celeron® processors 4xx series with FSB up to 1333MHz and DDR2 667/800MHz SDRAM up to 8GB.

By supporting advanced computing technology, PCE-5124 is suitable for computing power hungry industrial applications. PCE-5124 performs excellent graphic processing capability by it’s embedded Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 with shared memory up to 256MB. PCE-5124 can provide strong 2D/3D graphic processing power without an add-on graphic card, it saves user extra cost, power consumption and thermal design effort caused by an add-on graphic card. PCE-5124 also has rich I/O interfaces, it’s 6 SATA2 ports can support software RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 to be a cost-effective data reliability solution, the 6 on-board serial ports (COM ports) allows PCE-5124 to meet various industrial control applications.

With 1 PCI-E x 16 and 4 PCI-E x 1 lanes go down to the backplane, PCE-5124 can expand various expansion slots such as PCI, PCI-X and PCI-E slots with various backplanes. With outstanding performance and exceptional features, PCE-5124 is the very advanced computing platform for today’s and tomorrow’s up-and-coming industrial applications.

Advantech Corporation 38 Tesla, Suite 100Irvine, CA92618USA1-800-866-6008 Toll [email protected] www.advantech.com

Advantech launches Intel Q35 PICMG 1.3 SHB supporting 45-nm tech FSB 1333MHz CPUs

ATCA-7150 Processor Blade

The ATCA-7150 AdvancedTCA® processor blade from Emerson Network Power delivers a combination of performance and flexibility to help drive the successful implementation of next-generation telecom networks. It builds on the ATCA® standard to provide the right product at the right time to meet the needs of the telecom industry.

With two low-voltage Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processors, the ATCA-7150 is the highest performance processing blade in an ATCA form factor. It also provides Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) interfaces to the PICMG® 3.0 base interface and the PICMG 3.1 fabric interface in a dual star configuration. Several other network configurations are available. An array of main memory options and two local mass storage options add to the performance and flexibility of the ATCA-7150 processor blade.

Key features include:• High performance processor blade with SMP support• Two, low-voltage Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processors (2.13 GHz)• Multiple software packages including operating system• PICMG 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet base interface support• PICMG 3.1, Option 1 fabric interface support• Two SAS hard drive or SATA solid state disk bays for on-

board storage and RAID 0/1 support• Service Availability Forum™ (SA Forum) compliant HPI

interface• Designed for NEBS and ETSI compliance• RoHS (5 of 6) compliant

Emerson Network Power 2900 S. Diablo Way, Suite 190 Tempe, AZ 85282USA1 800 759 1107 Toll Free1 602 438 5720 Telephoneembeddedcomputingsales@emerson.comwww.EmersonNetworkPower.com/EmbeddedComputing


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ATCA-7301 Processor Blade

The Emerson Network Power ATCA-7301 is an AdvancedTCA®

processor blade with a powerful processing complex featuring the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor running at 2.16 GHz, local storage, standard I/O and redundant Gigabit Ethernet connections to the back plane’s base interface. Furthermore, the ATCA-7301 provides two AdvancedMC™ (AMC) sites, which can be used to provide additional processing power or I/O capabilities.

A Gigabit Ethernet (+ 2-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet) switch provides flexibility for routing Gigabit Ethernet ports between the baseboard’s control processor, AMC-based processing or I/O nodes, and the base and fabric interfaces. The ATCA-7301 blade provides system management capabilities and is hot swap compatible. The power and flexibility of the design makes it ideally suited for the telecom and datacom markets.

Key features include:• 2.16 GHz Intel® Core™2 Duo processors• On-board Gigabit Ethernet switch• Two mid-size AdvancedMC sites• AMC.0, AMC.1 and AMC.2 compliant• PICMG® 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet base interface• PICMG 3.1, Option 1, 2 and 9 fabric interface support• SAS disk AMC module option• Mixed data plane and control application on the same blade• Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Wind River PNE-LE• Designed for NEBS and ETSI compliance• RoHS (6 of 6) compliant


ATCA-7350 Multicore Processor Blade

The Emerson Network Power ATCA-7350 is an Intel®

processor-based compute blade that delivers a combination of performance and flexibility to help drive the successful implementation of next-generation telecom networks. It builds on the AdvancedTCA® (ATCA®) standard to provide the right product at the right time to meet the needs of the telecom industry.

With two Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors, the ATCA-7350 processor blade delivers the highest processing performance in an ATCA form factor. The PICMG 3.1 compliant fabric interface provides ten Gigabit Ethernet (10Gbps) capability for applications requiring higher network throughput in the backplane. The blade provides Gigabit Ethernet (1Gbps) interfaces to the PICMG® 3.0 base interface and the PICMG 3.1 fabric interface in a dual star configuration. Several other

network configurations are also available.

An array of main memory options, and two local mass storage options add to the performance and flexibility of the ATCA-7350 processor blade.

Key features include:• High performance processor blade with SMP support• Two, Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors LV (2.13 GHz)• Multiple software packages including operating system• PICMG 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet base interface support• PICMG 3.1, Option 1 and 9 fabric interface support• Two on-board 2.5” form factor hard disk bays supporting

hot swap and RAID 0/1• Multiple disk options including SAS hard drives, SATA drives

with extended temperature range, and solid state disks• Designed for NEBS and ETSI compliance



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CPCI7200 Single-Board Computer

The Emerson Network Power CPCI7200 single-board computer (SBC) uses the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor and Intel® E7520 chipset with Intel® 6300ESB I/O Controller Hub. The single-slot configuration is ideal for thermally constrained environments and includes dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces and dual channel 3.2GB/s high speed, double data rate DDR2, for a combined maximum bandwidth of 6.4GB/s.

The CPCI7200 is a low-power, high-performance SBC that offers full hot swap compliance per PICMG® 2.1 and supports the PICMG 2.9 System Management and PICMG 2.16 CompactPCI®

Packet Switching Backplane open specifications. In addition to the PICMG 2.16 variants, the CPCI7200 offers other value-added features including the PLX6466 PCI-to-PCI bridge (PPB) for universal CompactPCI system – or peripheral-slot functionality.

Also, the CPCI7200 board supports the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) specification for full board remote system and platform management as well as baseboard management controller (BMC) and peripheral mode. Overall, with the value-added PLX6466 and Gigabit Ethernet/PICMG 2.16 features, the CPCI7200 board is a superior choice for telecom applications like softswitches, control plane media-transport nodes, wireless gateways, and control plane CompactPCI and PICMG 2.16 systems as well as industrial automation, aerospace, and medical applications such as railway control, on board flight information systems, and medical imaging.


PrAMC-7210 AMC Module

The Emerson Network Power PrAMC-7210 is designed to the AdvancedMC™ (AMC) specifications, making it usable in both AdvancedTCA® carriers as well as MicroTCA™ based applications. The PrAMC-7210 is a perfect fit for applications looking for control plane processing, and other processor intensive applications that needs not only faster data transfers based on Gigabit Ethernet or PCI Express interfaces, but also multi-core processing performance.

The PrAMC-7210, with the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor core, can scale up to 1.5 GHz CPU speeds with memory sizes from 2GB to 4GB (2GB standard), allowing the software reuse for application developers. The Intel® 3100 chipset supports integrated north and south bridges, 4-channel DMA engine, DDR2-400 memory, USB, UART, SATA and PCI Express

controllers. This reduces both the on-board real estate as well as power consumption. This leaves room for additional features like USB, additional memory, etc. PrAMC-7210 can augment already deployed systems with more processing power required to support new feature development, and easy migration path based on standard interfaces like PCI Express and Gigabit Ethernet.

The module management controller (MMC) implementing IPMIv1.5 based management and hot-swap feature allows for module replacement or field upgrades, reducing the system down time to almost zero. Carrier Grade Linux brings forth the high availability features required for telecom applications.



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FIDS28MC1 ATCA form factor main board is powered by the Intel XScale® core-based Intel® IXP2805 network processor for high performance packet filtering and network security. The board offers 2 couple 10G OC192 signal fiber lines and 10 gigabits Ethernet ports. With SPI switch on board, it allows user to configure single/bidirectional OC192 to OC192/10 GE and 10 GE to 10 GE packet processing. FIDS28MC1 is a cost-effective embedded system which offers high performance network communication that saves up to 50% in cost compared to other traditional 10G OC192 system.

Applications:• Backbone network surveillance• High-speed network IP throughput

FIDS28MC1 – 10G POS System Platform

FIDS43MS1 is a mass-production ready SME/SOHO router based on latest Intel® IXP435 network processor. With ADSL2+ integration by daughter card (Optional: ST ADSL2+ solution/Conexant solution/Broadcom solution), it supports downstream rates of up to 24 Mbps; there’s 1 WAN port and 4 LAN ports in the platform; additionally, this platform supports IEEE802.3af POE standard; integrated miniPCI slot allows WLAN access via IEEE802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi card. FIDS43MS1’s software packages offer complete gateway services including VPN, stateful packet inspection firewall, WiMAX CPE, bridging and routing, and remote management.

Applications:

• ADSL/ADSL2+ SME/SOHO router• Wireless(Wi-Fi/WiMAX) gateway

FIDS43MS1 – SME/SOHO Router With ADSL2+ Accessing

[email protected]://www.flexcomm.com.cn

[email protected]://www.flexcomm.com.cn

ITOX BL100-N – A Cost-Effective Mini-ITX Solution

The ITOX BL100-N Mini-ITX board addresses the key requirements of embedded computing applications - Cost, Stability and Long-Term Availability. The Intel® Q35 Express chipset-based motherboard is compatible with lower-cost desktop processors, including Intel® Celeron® 4xx series processors, Intel® Core™2 Duo processors and Intel® Core™2 Quad processors. It also supports Intel® Enhanced Memory 64 Technology, Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology, and Intel Fast Memory Access.

Requiring only 13 watts (TDP), the Intel® Q35 Express chipset provides a 50 percent power reduction over previous generation chipsets. Even more power savings and performance can be realized using next-generation 45nm Intel® Core™2 Duo processors and Intel® Core™2 Quad processors with a 1333 MHz system bus.

Dual independent display support is provided by the onboard VGA graphics port and LVDS DFP interface, with up to QXGA (2048x1536) resolution. Additional performance increases are realized through the incorporation of Intel® Quiet System technology, which regulate fan speeds for increased noise reduction, and Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel® VT-d).

Additional Features:• Up to 2GB DDR2 667MHz or 800MHz Memory• 1333/1066/800Mhz Front-Side Bus Support• PCI Expansion Slot• Dual Gigabit LAN Ports• 6 USB 2.0 Ports

• 4 Serial COM Ports• 1 PCI Slot• VGA Graphics Port (2048x1536@75Hz)• LVDS DFP Interface (1600x1200 18/24bit)• Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio• Guaranteed availability through 2014

ITOX Applied Computing8 Elkins RoadEast Brunswick, NJ 08816732-390-2815 Telephone888-200-ITOX Toll Free732-390-2817 [email protected]


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Kontron 14118 Stowe Drive Poway, CA 92064USA858.677.0877 [email protected] www.kontron.com

Kontron CP6001 & CP6923

In today’s demanding world, designers need smart solutions. Kontron’s 6U CompactPCI CP6001 and CP6923 were designed with exactly that in mind. The CP6001 features a rugged Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor and is a perfect fit with the CP6923 PICMG 2.16 rugged Ethernet switch board. Both the CP6001 and the CP6923 boards are available in three rugged levels: R1-Standard, R2-Rugged Air-Cooled, R3-Conduction-Cooled. (R3-Conduction-Cooled versions shown here.)

With up to 8 GB of USB or 2 GB soldered flash, the CP6001 enables construction of a highly shock and vibration resistant system with non-rotating, non-volatile memory. The CP6923 board supports all relevant standards on carrier grade L2 and L3 switching and routing. Together, these 6U CompactPCI boards provide a cost-effective solution for rugged systems.

CP6001• Up to 8 GB of USB or 2 GB soldered flash• Based on the Mobile Intel® 945GM Express chipset with a

front side bus of up to 667 MHz and ICH7-R Southbridge• Two independent video outputs to the rear I/O (2x DVI - 1x

DVI and 1x HDMI)CP6923• 24x GbE ports• Leading edge technology based on BCM5650X chip• Copper, optical, rear I/O version; hot swap; IPMI-

comprehensive; firmware package

Kontron CP6923-R3

Kontron CP6001-R3

The Kaparel MicroTCA Systems were designed as a compact solution for flexible and cost-critical applications. AdvancedMC modules are plugged directly into a High-Speed backplane without a carrier card. MicroTCA stands out due to its very small design, but also due to its high scalability and clearly reduced system costs. The compact design allows a variable installation in 200mm deep 482.6mm (19”) enclosures or instrument cases and wall-mounted enclosures.

The advantages of MicroTCA extend beyond the telecommunications market, to medical technology, safety engineering or industrial automations etc. Kaparel a Rittal Company offers rack-mounted systems as well as development systems in 2U, 3U, 4U, and 5U including backplanes for the accommodation of AdvancedMC modules in half and full height.

Kaparel Corporation97 Randall DriveWaterloo, Ontario N2V 1C5Canada817-447-9420 Telephone800-452-7273 Toll Free 519-725-0414 [email protected] www.kaparel.com

MicroTCA 5U System


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LynxSecure

With the introduction of the new LynxSecure separation kernel, LynuxWorksTM once again raises the bar when it comes to superior embedded software security and safety. LynxSecure expands on the proven real-time capabilities of the LynxOS® real-time operating system (RTOS) with time-space partitioning and operating-system virtualization.

The LynxSecure separation kernel is a virtual machine monitor that is certifiable to (a) Common Criteria EAL-7 security certification (Evaluated Assurance Level 7), which is a level of certification unattained by any known operating system to date; and (b) DO-178B level A, the highest level of FAA certification for safety-critical avionics applications. LynxSecure conforms to the Multiple Independent Levels of Security/Safety (MILS) architecture.

Features & Benefits• Optimal security and safety- the only operating system to

support CC EAL-7 and DO-178B level A• Real time- time-space partitioned RTOS for superior

determinism and performance• Virtualization technology- supports multiple heterogeneous

operating system environments on the same physical hardware using Intel VT hardware

• Highly scalable- supports Symmetric MultiProcessing (SMP) and 64-bit addressing for high-end scalability

• Support for open standards- supports 100% binary compatibility for Linux or POSIX-based software application to migrate to a highly robust, secure environment

LynuxWorks, Inc.855 Embedded WaySan Jose, CA 95138USA800.255.5969 Toll Free408.979.3900 Telephone408.979.3920 [email protected]

Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP -- The credit card size COM Express compatible solution from the origninal COM Inventor

The Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP is the first credit card-sized COM Express modules based on the Intel® 45mn technology platform – the Intel® Atom™ processor Z500 series and the Intel® System Controller Hub US15W. Intel’s new two-chip solution makes it easy for nanoETXexpress to support embedded applications in areas not previously possible.

With a foot print of a mere 55 mm x 84 mm, the nanoETXexpress is a COM Express™ module that is ideal for ultra-mobile applications that require energy saving x86 processor performance, high-end graphics, PCI Express and Serial ATA combined with longer battery life. Kontron’s nanoETXexpress products are designed with the requirements of handheld devices, such as those for

medical or multi-media applications, small mobile data systems, in mind. Kontron nanoETXexpress modules are 100 percent compatible with the COM Express™ (COM.0) Type 1 pin-out in terms of connector location and pin definition.

For more information on the Kontron nanoETXexpress-SP COM Express compatible solution, visit www.kontron.com/nano.

Key Features• Highly efficient Intel® Atom™ processor Z500 series• Integrated memory controller, graphics engine and I/O

controller in single, space-saving Intel® System Controller Hub US15W

• Unprecedented power consumption/performance ratio for x86 based ultra mobile solutions

• PCI Express, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, SerialATA, LVDS, HD Audio, etc.

• 100 percent COM Express pin-out type 1 compatible

Request a sample today and start evaluating immediately!

Kontron 14118 Stowe Drive Poway, CA 92064USA858.677.0877 [email protected] www.kontron.com


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MSI Fuzzy Q35DO – Intel® Q35 Express Chipset-Based Mini-ITX Embedded Solution

Based on the latest Intel® Q35 Express chipset and Intel® I/O Controller Hub 9 DO (ICH9 DO), the Fuzzy Q35DO is a complete balance of performance, functionality, and price competitiveness for industrial computing. The Q35D0 has support for Intel® processors in LGA775 package, bringing the highest level of flexibility and power to business.

The Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 built-in graphics core provides power to 2D performance and quality while fully supporting DirectX® 9.0c for 3D functionality.

In addition to its flexible capacity upgrades and advanced functions, the Fuzzy Q35DO is easy to set up and maintain. Full support for RAID 0,1,1+0 functions provide the increased performance and fault tolerance expected from industrial-

grade components.

Specifications• Intel® Q35 Express Chipset and ICH9 DO• Support for Intel® processors in LGA775 package• Two DDR2 667/800/1066/1333MHz DIMMS for 4GB Memory Support• Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100 with DirectX® 9.0 Support• Dual GbE functionality - Intel® 82566DM, Intel® 82573L• 1 PCI-E 16x Slot• USB 2.0, Serial ATA, and IDE Support• RAID 0,1,0+1

About MSIMSI, a world-class manufacturer of an extensive variety of the highest quality IT products, is one of the world’s top five and Taiwan’s top 3 leading motherboard manufacturers. Technical leadership and innovation are the pillars behind MSI’s effort to maintain its momentum.

MSI Computer Corp. 901 Canada Court City of Industry, CA 91748USA626 913 0828 [email protected] www.msicomputer.com

NEXCOM newly-released NDiS161 is specially designed for Digital Signage Platform. It is ultra-slim, easy to be mounted behind the large-size display devices as LCD TV or PDP. NDiS161 operates on the mobile Intel® Core™2 Duo, Intel® Core™ Duo and Intel® Celeron® processors. Its fan-less thermal design can reduce the cost of maintenance. The stable reliability can guarantee working for 24/7 operations. NDiS161 provides DVI and VGA display interfaces, one GbE Ethernet with optional wireless(WiFi) connectivity, USB 2.0 ports and storage space for 2.5” HDD or SSD.

Features:• Mobile Intel® 945GME Express chipset• 410mm(H) ultra-slim casing design • Robust fan-less operating • DVI, VGA, S-Video and optional HDMI

Application:• Retail and wholesale• Hospitality• Entertainment• Education• Supermarket• Transportation• Health Care

Powerful New Generation of Digital Signage Media Player


Fan-less ready-to-configure design, NISE 3110 provides most flexible solution for Mobile Intel® 945GME Expressosk System. Featuring high performance Intel 945 GME chipsets, the NISE 3110 supports Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor and DDR2 667/533 memory. The rugged NISE 3110 provides one CompactFlash socket and one 2.5’’ HDD drive bay. Legacy device connection includes three RS232 ports, one RS232/422/485 port, and two PCI expansion slots. This is the highly reliable and fully secured platform to streamline your operation system.

Features:• Intel® Core™2 Duo, Intel® Core™ Duo processors• Mobile Intel 945GME Express chipset• Dual 1000/100/10 Mbps LAN ports• 6X USB 2.0/ VGA/ DVI• 3X RS232 and 1XRS232/422/485 via DB Connector

Application:• Gaming Solution• Kiosk / ATM• POS & Self-service Machine• Multimedia Entertainment

Reliable Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor-Based Fan-less Computer



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The PSB-701LF is based on the Intel® Q35 Express chipset and I/O Controller Hub 9 DO (ICH9 DO) configuration, which ensures its compatibility with the latest processing technology, including the Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, Intel® Core™ 2 Quad and Intel Celeron® processor configurations. Accordingly, the new model can accommodate the need for reliable usage with all leading Windows-based software applications, and can do so at any of various price levels. In fact, the PSB-701LF delivers clock speeds ranging from 1.6 – 2.0 GHz with the Intel Celeron® processor up to 2.4 – 2.66 GHz with the Intel Core™ 2 processor. Paired with two 240-pin DDR2 DIMM slots supporting Dual Channel memory architecture, plus DDR2 running at 667-800 MHz, the card provides up to 4GB of RAM.

Connectivity is another of the many advantages built into the PSB-701LF. There are four SATA II interface connectors for high-speed data transfer via RAID 0,1,10,5, along with a 20-pin header for operation via TPM (Trusted Platform Module) 1.2. Two serial ports, COM 1 and COM 2, provide RS232 and RS232/422/485 compatibility, while 10/100/1000 Mbps ports are provided for LAN 1 and LAN 2, with support for ATX-powered Wake-on-LAN. High Definition Audio is via Realtek ALC202A and a 10-pin header, and two DIN connectors are in place for keyboard and mouse connection.

The PSB-701LF was designed to satisfy the needs of memory-intensive applications, such as gaming, multimedia, medicine

and medical imaging, and telecommunications, all of which benefit from the product’s Dual Channel memory system. The card’s significant memory capability and high transfer rates are further supported by the Intel Q35 Express chipset, which offers a host of other features: Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 3100 and Rapid Recovery are included, along with tougher security and more thorough data protection, easier manageability and minimized power consumption. All this helps earn the FCC and CE certifications for the PSB-701LF

Protech Technologies, Inc.950 Fee Ana St., Suite #B Placentia, CA 928701-888-776-9767 Toll Free714-996-7200 Telephone714-996-7300 [email protected] www.protech-ipc.com

PSB-701LF

Trenton’s Multi-Core System Host Boards (SHBs) & Backplanes Maximize System Flexibility and Capability

Trenton PICMG® 1.3 products form the backbone of many industrial computers deployed in telecommunications, broadcasting, medical, industrial automation, homeland security, military and aerospace applications. Trenton’s extensive line of PICMG 1.3 SHBs & backplanes support a wide variety of PCI Express, PCI-X, PCI and purpose-built ISA option card combinations. Trenton products are designed to provide many years of trouble-free service in robust embedded computing applications and our PICMG 1.3 products come with a standard five-year factory warranty.

TECHNICAL SPECS· MCX/MCG – Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® processors (Series

54xx/53xx), Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processors (Series 52xx/51xx), Server-class and Graphics-class PCI Express configurations

· T4L, TML and TQ9 - Intel® Core™ 2 Quad processors (TQ9 only), Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processors (TQ9 & TML) and Intel® Pentium® 4 processors (T4L only), Graphics-class PCI Express configurations

· SLT/SLI – Single or dual processor SHBs featuring the Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® processors LV with a passive heat sink design and a Server-class PCI Express configuration

· NLT/NLI – Single or dual processor SHBs featuring single-core Intel® Xeon® processors and a Server-class PCI Express configuration

Server-class Backplanes (use with MCX, SLT/SLI or NLT/NLI SHBs)

BPX6806BPX6736BPX6719BPX6620BPX6610BPX6571BPX5BPX3/2BPX3/14BPX3/8

Graphics-class Backplanes (use with MCG, TQ9, TML or T4L SHBs)

BPG6741BPG6714BPG6615BPG6600BPG6544BPG4BPG2/2

TRENTON Technology, Inc.2350 Centennial DriveGainesville, GA 30504United States770-287-3100 Telephone800-875-6031 Toll Free770-287-3150 [email protected] www.TrentonTechnology.com

Featured Intel® Authorized Distributors

AdditionalIntel Core 2 Duo Processor Family Features:

Dual-core desktop

processors

Quad-core desktop

processors

Quad-core server

processors

Dual-core mobile

processors

Intel recently introduced the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor T9400*, the next-generation of the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor family. The new processor is based on Intel’s industry-leading 45-nanometer (nm) Hi-k metal gate silicon technology and its latest microarchitecture enhancements. With more than 400 million transistors for dual-core processors and more than 800 million for quad-core, the 45 nm processor introduces new microarchitecture features for greater performance at a given frequency. The following is a brief description of the improved features.

New Intel® SIMD Extensions 4 (SSE4) Instructions. Extends the Intel® 64 architecture instruction set architecture to better take advantage of Intel’s next-generation 45 nm silicon manufacturing process and expands the performance and capabilities of Intel® architecture. In addition, this instruction set delivers further performance gains for SIMD software and will enable these microprocessors to deliver superior performance and energy efficiency to a broad range of 32- and 64-bit software.

Larger, Enhanced Intel® Advanced Smart Cache. Processors include a 50% larger L2 cache with a 24-way associativity to further improve the hit rate and maximize utilization. These large caches improve performance and efficiency by increasing the probability that each execution core can access data from a higher performance, more efficient cache subsystem.

Higher Speed Cores and System Interface. Processors will run at higher core speeds (greater than 3 GHz for some versions) than previous Intel Core 2 Duo processors. Front-side bus speeds will be increased up to 1.600 GHz, in addition to the 1.066 GHz and 1.333 GHz now available. This will improve overall system performance.

Enhanced Intel® Virtualization Technology. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor T9400 speeds up virtual machine transition (entry/exit) times by an average of 25 to 75%. This is all done through microarchitecture improvements and requires no virtual machine software changes.

Super Shuffle Engine. Implementing a full-width, single-pass shuffle unit that is 128-bits wide, these processors can perform full-width shuffles in a single cycle. This doubles the speed for most byte, word or dword SSE data shuffle operations and significantly reduces latency and throughput for SSE2, SSE3 and Intel SSE4 instructions that have shuffle-like operations like pack, unpack and wider packed shifts.

Fast Radix-16 Divider. Processors provide faster divide performance, roughly doubling the divider speed over previous generations for scientific computations, 3D transformations and other mathematical-intensive functions. The inclusion of a new, fast divide technique called radix 16 speeds division in both floating-point and integer operations.

Store Forwarding. To speed up the reading of the result of a misaligned store that crosses an 8-byte address boundary and is still in a pipeline, these processors can forward the result of the store to the load immediately rather than waiting for the store to finish and write to memory.

Improved Operating System (OS) Synchronization Primitive Performance. Certain OSs temporarily block out or mask interrupts when starting a critical section of code and needing exclusive access over a resource such as an I/O device. Through faster clear interrupts/set interrupts (CLI/STI) capability, these processors can move into and out of this mode faster, significantly improving performance. And, they can execute locked instructions such as XCHG, ADD/ XADD/NEG/BTS/AND and CMPXCHG faster.

Improving Energy EfficiencyIn addition to Intel 45nm Hi-k silicon technology

benefits, the Intel Core 2 Duo processor family builds on the energy-efficiency capabilities of the Intel Core microarchitecture with two important additions. Deep Power Down Technology is a radically new and advanced power management state (C-state) that significantly reduces the power of the processor during idle periods so internal transistor power leakage is no longer a factor. And, to further increase the speed at which single-threaded applications can be processed, thus improving the performance of many applications, Intel has enhanced the Intel® Dynamic Acceleration Technology.

45 nm Next-Generation Intel® Core™ Microarchitecture

Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor FamilyNew innovations and enhancements deliver higher performance and energy efficiency.

© Avnet, Inc. 2008. Al l r ights reserved. AVNET is a registered trademark of Avnet, Inc.

Al l other brand or product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information aboutthe Intel Core 2 Duo processor family and Intel’s 45 nm technology, visit

www.em.avnet.com/intel.

*Intel® processor numbers are not a measure of performance.

Processor numbers differentiate features within each processor

series, not across different processor sequences. See

http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number for details.


LAST WORD

Recent media attention has focused on the creation of three

industry-supported university labs in the U.S. These labs

are dedicated to improving software development for multicore

chips. They are located at the universities of Stanford, Berkeley,

and Urbana-Champaign and funded by computing industry

leaders AMD, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Sun. By

leveraging the BEE3 field-programmable-gate-array (FPGA) -

based system simulators, the

three research groups plan to

provide a testing ground for

designing and programming

systems with a potentially

very large number of cores.

The research looks into

both programming models

and hardware support, such as transactional memory. Funda-

mentally, the question being addressed is how the combined

hardware-software system can better support the expression of

parallel algorithms and programs. Eventually, this work will pro-

vide new technology that will be part of the processors that we all

buy. It is research that should have been done many years ago.

In the here and now, however, the virtualized-software-devel-

opment (VSD) and virtual-platform industry is already offering

market-ready development platforms with multicore capabilities.

These tools help programmers tackle the problems that currently

face them as they migrate their existing code from single proces-

sors to multiprocessors and multicore devices. At the Embedded

Systems Conference (ESC), Virtutech conducted a survey with

embedded-multicore-chip provider Freescale Semiconductor.

The companies’ goal was to gauge the interest and readiness of

engineers to develop for multicore systems and adopt virtual

platforms for their development work.

The results of the survey demonstrate that engineers want to

move to new multicore architectures. But they are constrained

by the fact that software innovation hasn’t kept pace with the

multicore hardware on which it’s designed to run. As a result, the

computing world isn’t realizing the potential advantages of mul-

ticore processors and SoCs. After all, software cannot keep up

and tends to get stuck in debugging parallel software. This issue

is especially acute for many users of embedded x86 processors,

as the x86 world has turned completely to multicore to provide

increased performance.

Virtualized software development can solve this problem

by providing the development tools and pre-existing hardware

models that simplify and accelerate complex software develop-

ment. Two particular problems solved by virtual platforms are

repeatability and probe effects. On a physical parallel computer,

every run of a parallel program will be different, as the timing

of interactions between cores varies. This means that timing-re-

lated bugs, such as race conditions, will show up every once in a

while. In addition, repeating them is very hard.

In the world of virtualized

software development, re-

peatability is ensured by the

virtualization system con-

trolling the virtual time and

recording all inputs. Once

a bug has manifested itself

inside the virtual world, it can

be trivially reproduced—over and over again. Designers also can

use reverse execution to back out of a bug and investigate the sys-

tem state that leads up to the problem. This is impossible physical

hardware as well as a great boon to parallel software debugging.

Virtualized software development also is free from probe ef-

fects, as instrumentation is added inside the virtualization layer

without disturbing the timing or behavior of the software run-

ning on the virtual hardware. This removes the “Heisenbug”

effect (in which the act of trying to observe a bug makes it go

away due to the disturbance you introduce). In doing so, it makes

the debug of parallel software a much more palatable task.

Apart from the host-target side, a new version of the Simics

development platform enables software developers to leverage

the multicore architecture of their host environment to run very

large virtual-hardware setups containing many tens of boards

and networked machines on a single workstation. One can see

how multicore enables new levels of performance once that soft-

ware is parallelized.

Jakob Engblom is technical marketing manager at

Virtutech in Stockholm, Sweden. He holds an MSc

in computer science and a PhD in computer systems

from Uppsala University. Engblom is interested in

parallel computer architectures, simulation tech-

nology, and embedded-software development.

By Jakob Engblom

Taming the Multicore Beast

“The results of the survey demonstrate that engineers want to move to new

multicore architectures, but ...”

The Embedded Communications Computing business of Motorola is now a business of Emerson Network Power.

Emerson, Business-Critical Continuity, Emerson Network Power and the Emerson Network Power logo are trademarks of Emerson Electric Co. AdvancedTCA, CompactPCI, MicroTCA and AdvancedMC are trademarks of PICMG. Intel is a trademark or registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. ©2008 Emerson Electric Co.

Intel® technology-based embedded solutions. Just another reason why Emerson Network Power is the global leader

Emerson Network Power is now clearly the leading provider of embedded computing solutions.

Make our AdvancedTCA® ®, Processor PMC,

See how Emerson Network Power can help you build a clear advantage.

Go to www.EmersonNetworkPower.com/EmbeddedComputing

To you, the advantages are clear.

To your customer, it makes you the clear choice.

ATCA integrated platforms for IPTV and Video on Demand

CHOICEis good

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1-888-294-4558 - [email protected]: +49 0 800 7253756 - Asia: +886 2 2910 3532

Life is good when you have choices. People who subscribe to IPTV or Video on Demand services are no different. They want quality viewing loaded with diverse, interactive features. To support these services, network equipment providers need a wealth of building-block options and suppliers to design their carrier-grade network applications. That’s where Kontron comes into play. We offer highly flexible integration services of AdvancedTCA platforms that come fully pre-tested and validated just the wayyou need it to get your application to market – quickly.

Design your next application with Kontron.IMS • IPTV • WIRELESS • CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORKS

OM9020 – ATCA 2-slot Integrated IPTV, VoD Platformv Kontron AT8030 ATCA node; three Intel® Core™2 Duo processorsv Astute Networks’ Caspian ATCA iSCSI, RAID-5 board; density of 1.5TB/slot.v I/O performance at 44K I/Os per second

Visit Kontron @ NXTcomm 2008!

June 16-19, 2008 | Booth SL4123

Come see – Live – Kontron’s latest ATCA platform for IPTV and Video on Demand applications!

www.kontron.com

v

embedded intel solutions summer 2008

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