Concurrent offers PP 68x/m71 CompactPCI boards

The PP 68x/m71 range is one of the first to feature the 2.00 GHz Six-Core Intel Xeon processor L5638 or the 1.87GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor L5618.

Both processors are from the Intel embedded roadmap, which offers at least seven-year availability.

With up to 48Gbytes of DDR3-1066 ECC SDRAM, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, and several SAS and SATA300 disk interfaces, these boards are pin-compatible with Concurrent Technologies' PP 66x/m71 family.

These latest Intel Xeon processors, based on 32nm process technology, now support four or six higher-performance cores with faster AES encryption instructions and larger last level caches.

Therefore, the PP 68x/m71 family is claimed to have one of the highest-performance specifications available to 6U CompactPCI users and is particularly suitable for CPU-intensive processing applications within the telecommunications, defence and homeland security market sectors.

The PP 68x/m71 family is based on the Intel Xeon 5600 Platform, consisting of the Intel Xeon processor, the Intel 5520 I/O Hub and the Intel ICH10R I/O Controller Hub.

The Intel Xeon 5600 platform is said to provide impressive performance-per-watt and integrates the memory controller into the processor for reduced memory latency.

The Intel Xeon processors feature Intel Quickpath technology and Intel Turbo Boost technology, which, along with Intel Hyper-Threading technology, deliver high performance for bandwidth-intensive applications.

Intel Quickpath technology provides a high-speed, point-to-point connection between the microprocessor and the Intel 5520 I/O Hub.

Intel Turbo Boost technology elevates performance for specific workloads by increasing processor core frequency.

The PP 68x/m71 products benefit from the Intel Xeon processor's large last level on-die cache of 12Mbytes and its ability to directly access (via a 1066MHz memory bus) up to 48 Gbytes of DDR3-1066 ECC SDRAM in four DIMM sockets.

The processor has a fast I/O data path to the Intel 5520 I/O Hub via the 20 Gbytes/sec Intel Quickpath Interface.

For high-performance I/O, control and data processing flexibility, the PP 68x/m71 supports, via the front panel, a PMC/XMC site (133MHz PCI-X and up to x8 PCI Express lanes) as well as optional I/O interconnections via two Gigabit Ethernet ports (copper or optical).

The rear I/O configuration can provide an interface for either an optional PMC rear I/O board or an optional on-board eight-port hardware Raid controller board supporting SAS and Sata300 drives.

The PP 68x/m71 can operate as a system controller board (left slot or right slot), a peripheral board or as a satellite board (blade).

Support is also provided for PICMG 2.16 (Ethernet fabric), PICMG 2.9 (IPMI) and PICMG 2.1 (hot swap); the CompactPCI backplane interface operates at 33/66MHz PCI signalling speeds.

The PP 68x/m71 includes three 10/100/1,000Mbps Ethernet interfaces (one front and two rear) and the front panel also provides USB 2.0, RS-232, digital (1,600 x 1,200) and dual analogue graphics (2,048 x 1,536), keyboard and mouse interfaces.

The rear connectors provide four further USB 2.0 ports, an RS-232 port and four Sata300 interfaces, as well as the connections to the optional Raid controller.

Other interfaces included are a watchdog timer, long duration timer, LAN boot firmware and options for an onboard 2.5in Sata300 disk and Compactflash storage.

For applications requiring rear I/O connections, a single- or dual-slot transition module is available that can be optionally fitted with a USB flash disk and up to two 2.5in Sata300 disks.

For ease of integration, the PP 68x/m71 family of boards support many leading operating systems, including Linux, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Solaris, Vxworks and QNX.

This includes, as applicable, support for 64-bit operating systems.