Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Raza Microelectronics | Subject: XLS616 and XLS416
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 12 February 2008
Basestation processors sport 16 virtual
CPUs
First multicore multithreaded processor with integrated support for Serial RapidIO interface as well as for IEEE1588 precision timing protocol controller.
The latest additions to the XLS processor family from RMI serve the emerging needs in wireless basestation applications The new offering represents the industry's first multicore multithreaded processor with integrated support for Serial RapidIO interface as well as for IEEE1588 precision timing protocol (PTP) controller making it an ideal solution for next generation designs
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 4 Oct 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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Each of the new quad-core members of the XLS processor family provide customers with pin-compatible upgradeability to the previously announced dual core and single core processors within the XLS family.
The XLS processor is a feature-rich general purpose processor with application specific autonomous hardware accelerators and multiple on-chip interconnect options providing an ideal combination of high level programmability, performance scalability, and intelligent packet management.
RMI's XLS processor enables integrated control plane, data plane, and security processing in a single SoC.
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The XLS processor family is optimised for applications such as wireless basestations, where PCB real estate and power are at a premium, while requiring integrated network connectivity, security, and compression acceleration options.
These features offered by XLS will benefit emerging wireless standards that emphasise high datarate and low latency applications such as mobile VoIP and video conferencing.
"Next-generation 3G, WiMAX and LTE basestations require both high-performance processing and high-speed interconnect", says Linley Gwennap, Principal Analyst of The Linley Group.
"The industry has adopted SRIO as the interconnect of choice in baseband applications".
"Additionally, most next-generation basestations will have an IP backhaul, which requires stringent timing synchronisation".
"By combining four multi-threaded CPUs, an integrated SRIO interface, and an IEEE1588 controller on a single chip, RMI provides basestation vendors with a high-performance and cost-effective solution for baseband as well as network-interface processing".
"The new quad-core XLS processor places strategic emphasis on the mobile infrastructure market and leverages RMI's strength in innovative multicore and multithreaded processing architecture".
"This strength, coupled with our close relationships gives RMI the technical foundation and expertise to deliver a truly innovative basestation solution with very low system power", says Lance L Smith, Vice President and General Manager, Scalable Processor Solutions, RMI.
The XLS processor provides the speed, scalability, and integration necessary for a wide range of applications while maintaining software compatibility throughout the product families.
The XLS416 and the XLS616 are targeted at the cellular basestation market, according to In-Stat, a market research firm, this is forecasted to have 4.7 million stations in operation by 2011.
Derived from RMI's powerful XLR processor family, the XLS processor supports fine grained multithreading technology enabling each processor core to serve as four "virtual CPUs".
The result is a core that can context switch every cycle enabling multi-context operation with zero performance overhead.
RMI's threading technology benefits latency sensitive networks in which memory access times cause single threaded CPUs to stall when accessing memory.
RMI's XLS616 and XLS416 processors integrate up to 16 virtual CPUs (fine-grain HW processing threads using single-clock thread context switching) from four MIPS64 CPUs, three high speed on-chip interconnects, large multilevel caches, autonomous security and compression accelerators, multiple memory controllers, IEEE1588 PTP controller, eight Gigabit Ethernet MACs, Serial RapidIO, PCI Express and GPIO.
The XLS616 supports four 32/36bit DDR-2 memory controllers for memory intensive applications while the XLS416 supports two 32/36bit memory controllers for systems in which cost and power are more significant constraints.
Both RMI devices can be configured to support the 64/72bit interfaces required for interfacing to low-cost commodity DIMM memories.
The new devices provide pin-compatible upgrades for all members of the XLS processor family including the 600 Series, 400 Series, and 200 Series of the XLS processor family.
The XLS416/616 processor will sample in Q3 2008 with full-production expected in Q1 2009.
The XLS processor family enables a wide range of system price/performance points, from the entry level through the mid-range of the markets for which it serves.
Pricing is available on request.
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