Product category:
Communications ICs (Wired)
News Release from: Tundra Semiconductor | Subject: Tsi108/9
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 19 January 2006
PowerPC host bridge family expands
The Tsi108 and Tsi109 host bridges offer designers best system performance-per-watt as well as best system performance-per-dollar.
Tundra Semiconductor has announced two key development milestones for its family of host bridges, demonstrating the company's rapidly strengthened position as the industry's leading supplier of host bridges for PowerPC The Tsi108 host bridge, a high performance host bridge with patent pending technology that supports PCI-X, DDR2-400 SDRAM, Gigabit Ethernet and Flash memory, is now in full production
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 25 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The Tundra Semiconductor Tsi85x family of PowerPC host bridges enables communications infrastructure equipment vendors to meet the demands of greater bandwidth and reduced board space.
The Tsi108 processor bus operates up to 200MHz and was the first host bridge for PowerPC to support DDR2 memory.
With such integrated features as spread spectrum clock generation, the Tsi108 increases system performance, reduces system design complexity and lowers overall system cost.
The Tsi109 host bridge is now available for general sampling.
Further reading
Reference design supports comms processor on PCI
The Wind River PPMC8260 reference design supports designs using the Tundra PowerSpanTMII multiport PCIbus switch for PowerQUICC II microprocessor architectures.
Platform to accelerate RapidIO deployment
A new hardware interoperability platform (HIP) motherboard will allow designers to evaluate RapidIO system interconnect devices from Tundra Semiconductor.
RapidIO interfaces hit the ground running
The Tsi400 RapidIO to PCI-X bus bridge and the Tsi500 RapidIO multiport switch are the first commercially available RapidIO system interconnect products.
Building on the extensive benefits of the Tsi108, the Tsi109 is capable of dual processor support that enables higher system compute performance.
The Tsi109 has an improved memory pipeline that increases memory bandwidth and integrated power management features to address demanding, low power applications.
The Tsi108 and Tsi109 offer designers best system performance-per-watt as well as best system performance-per-dollar.
Tundra's growing portfolio of host bridges for PowerPC delivers industry-leading system performance, power and cost for customers in the wireless and wireline networking, storage and embedded computing markets.
The Tsi108 and Tsi109 have received broad support from several leading customers in a range of markets, including Momentum Computer Momentum Computer, a leading provider of high-performance embedded, single board computer and compression solutions, designed Tundra's Tsi108 and Tsi109 into their board-level computer solutions for the data/telecommunications, military and aerospace markets, meeting the critical production and quality requirements of the leading industries in these markets.
"We are pleased to see production availability and general sampling of Tundra's Tsi108 and Tsi109 high performance host bridges".
"These bridges are great additions to the PowerPC ecosystem and reflect Tundra's ongoing leadership as the 'design partner' for system interconnect and small footprint solutions", said Harry White, General Manager of Momentum Computer.
"Our customers are demanding higher performance PowerPC solutions and the availability of Tundra's bridges with dual processor support, integrated power management and DDR2 memory backed by world-class support is enabling them to bring highly optimised systems to market faster".
With over a decade of investment and experience supporting PowerPC-based designs, Tundra host bridges, which also include the Tsi107 and the Tsi106, are the industry's leading companion chips for Freescale Semiconductor's MPC74xx and IBM's PPC750xx families of high performance processors.
Attesting to this, and to the design leadership and interoperability of Tundra's Tsi108 and Tsi109 host bridges, Freescale Semiconductor and IBM have both chosen to develop evaluation platforms that take advantage of the benefits of theTsi108 and Tsi109 in a range of applications.
The High Performance Computing Platform II (HPCII) MPC7448/Tsi108 solution offers users a second reference design and evaluation platform in the HPC series.
This reference solution maximises the capabilities of the Tundra host bridge family, providing customers with higher system performance and lower system power creating the best system cost solution available.
This evaluation platform is currently available through Freescale Semiconductor.
"Tundra is a trusted partner in system interconnect solutions, and we welcome the introduction of their new host bridge to the growing ecosystem behind PowerPC architecture", said Lynelle McKay, Vice President and General Manager of Freescale Semiconductor's Digital Systems Division.
"The combination of Freescale's high-performance MPC7448 PowerPC processors and Tundra's Tsi108 and Tsi109 host bridges enables our customers to reduce power and increase performance for their embedded system designs".
Now available through IBM, the PPC750GX/GL/Tsi108 evaluation platform effectively demonstrates the interoperability of the Tundra host bridge family with IBM PPC750GX processors and the ease of design made possible by its features.
The evaluation platform also demonstrates the enhanced signal integrity benefits of the Tsi108 when paired with the IBM 750GX/GL through reliable 200MHz operation with only an eight-layer printed circuit board.
For low power and cost sensitive applications, this combination provides users with the best performance, power and cost configuration available on the market.
This evaluation platform is currently available through IBM.
"IBM has added a 750GX/GL evaluationboard using the Tsi108 because the Tundra product offers not only what we need in terms of cost and power benefits, but what our customers look for as well", said Ron Martino, Director for PowerPC Standard Products, IBM Systems and Technology.
"Designers looking to build high performance and scalable next generation systems need a reliable host bridge provider that offers the features and support they need to succeed", says Rick O'Connor, Tundra's Chief Technology Officer.
"Tundra is the system interconnect leader delivering superior design support so that customers can realise the performance, power and signal integrity benefits to optimise system performance and cost for their PowerPC-based designs".
Both the Tundra Tsi108 and Tsi109 are available through Tundra's worldwide sales network.
The Tsi108 is currently available in a standard package for commercial temperatures.
A lead-free version is currently sampling and is expected to be in full production shortly.
Volume pricing for the Tsi108 is less than US $70.
The Tsi109 is currently sampling in both standard and lead-free packages for commercial temperatures.
The Tsi109 will be available for industrial temperatures and is expected to be in full production in March 2006.
Volume pricing for the Tsi109 is less then US $75.
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