Thales unveils first serial rapid I/O Multiprocessor computer for embedded applications : PowerMP4-60

August 29nd 2005 – Raleigh, NC and Toulon, France –Thales computers activities, market leader in providing integrated PowerPC and Pentium based VME COTS embedded systems and solutions to OEMs and system integrators, announces the PowerMP4-60 the first serial rapid I/O system entry into the embedded computing market place.

The PowerMP4-60 system combines PowerPC and Pentium-M technology and takes advantage of outstanding compute power to power dissipation ratio of the PowerPC technology as well as the wide spectrum of software tools available on PC platforms. PowerMP4-60’s rapid I/O high-performance, packet-switched interconnect technology fills the embedded industry’s need for reliability, increased bandwidth and faster bus speeds.

 ”With its breakthrough PowerMP4-60 system, Thales provides a solution that is particularly well-suited for computer systems that incorporate multiple processor devices in a tightly-coupled architecture, as often required by real-time embedded applications,” said Ian Scott executive director of the RapidIO Trade Association.

Product Details

The PowerMP4-60 consists of a 19” 7U rack and 8 VME64x slots. Board configurations of up to eight PowerPC G4 7457 CPU boards operating at 1 GHz for a total computing power of 60 Gflops, and a PENTXM board operating at 1.6 GHz are available now.

The PowerMP4-60’s serial Rapid I/O switch fabric has an aggregate bandwidth of 2.4 GB/s, a feature that makes it possible to sustain the maximum throughput between all processors. The PowerPC nodes are interconnected through a low latency, high bandwidth RapidI/O network., which can be routed either through the back-plane using P0 or through font panel connectors depending on customer preference. The system’s FPDP stage can perform data acquisition at 100 MB/s. The PowerMP4-60 includes MPI communications plus SNMP control and monitoring. The development tool set includes Spyker, Totalview and VSIPRO, among others. The intel boards will operate under Linux 2.4. The PowerPC cluster is proposed under Linux SMP 2.4, LynxOS 4.0 or VxWorks 6.1 (2006). A wide range of fully-integrated development tools (compilers, configuration management, debuggers, trace tools, etc.) are also part of the PowerMP software package.

The new PowerMP4-60 system is the new member of PowerMP4 systems developed for each design phase – from application development and integration to deployment and support. For each phase of a program, PowerMP4 systems provide superior performance and software productivity. Rugged versions of these High-Performance Embedded Computer (HPEC) systems are ideal for radar, sonar, image computing and electronic warfare applications. Pricing for the PowerMP family of systems starts at $18,000 subject to specifications and includes one year of Hotline support. The PowerMP4-60 will be available later this year as a Fast Track product.

About Thales:

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets worldwide. The Group employs 60,000 people throughout the world and generated revenues of 10.3 billion euros in 2004. Thales’ Computers include development of commercial and ruggedized VMEbus & CompactPCI systems solutions based on PowerPC and Pentium microprocessors. Thales’ products are optimized for a wide variety of applications in the military, aerospace, transportation, communications, and industrial markets and are used by customers worldwide, including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Bombardier, Toshiba, British Aerospace, Ericsson, Alcatel, Thales Group, and others. For more information about the PowerMP4-60 and Thales’ integrated PowerMP4 systems, hardware and software products and support, please visit our web site at www.thalescomputers.com.