System controller boosts performance

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Oct 31, 2007

Based on Marvell's system controller architecture, Discovery VI incorporates an innovative crossbar architecture, advanced I/O peripherals and optimised interfaces.

Marvell has released the Marvell Discovery VI, a highly integrated system controller for PowerPC processor based solutions.

It is optimised for applications from sophisticated routers, switches and wireless base stations to high-volume laser printers.

"IBM's Power PC embedded microprocessors offer superior performance, scalability and power efficiency for demanding applications", said Ron Martino, Director of Power Architecture solutions, IBM Global Engineering Solutions.

"Marvell's new Discovery VI system controller combined with the IBM PowerPC 750CL processor offers system designers extremely robust solutions for demanding next-generation applications".

Based on Marvell's system controller architecture, Discovery VI incorporates a crossbar architecture, I/O peripherals and optimised interfaces.

It is suitable for high-performance and cost-sensitive applications, and is the industry's first system controller to integrate dual x4 PCI Express interfaces, two USB 2.0 ports, multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports, SATA, security engine and a clock on a single chip.

The Discovery VI supports up to a 240MHz PowerPC CPU interface and integrates a 533MHz DDR2 memory controller.

The on-chip crossbar fabric with any-to-any connectivity enables concurrent transactions among multiple units, allowing system designers to build high-performance scalable systems.

Simon Milner, Vice President and General Manager of the Enterprise Business Unit in the Communications and Consumer Business Group at Marvell said "Discovery VI enables our customers to address a wide range of performance and cost-sensitive applications by leveraging their existing software investment in Marvell system controllers".

Marvell offers complete development platforms for Discovery VI, enabling customers to start system development without waiting for their own hardware.

Development platforms are available for popular PowerPC processors, including the Freescale MPC7448A and IBM PowerPC 750CL/FL.

Complete reference design platforms, including software drivers and board support packages for VxWorks and Linux, provide a complete toolchain for accelerated development.