| Mezzanine board sports Core 2 Duo T9400 |
Jul. 22, 2008
 Concurrent Technologies has announced a CompactPCI board that uses Intel's Core 2 Duo T9400 processor and GM45 chipset. Targeting industrial control, telecommunications, and telemetry, the "PP512/06x" features two PMC/XMC (PCI Mezzanine Card/Switched Mezzanine Card) module sites, and three gigabit Ethernet interfaces, says Concurrent.
(Click here for a larger view of the Concurrent Technologies PP512/06x)
The PP512/06x is a single-slot CompactPCI card that can operate as a system controller board, a peripheral board, or independently as a satellite board. In satellite mode, the card receives power from the CompactPCI bus, but the CompactPCI interface is disabled, making the device hot-swappable, according to Concurrent.
PMC combines the electrical characteristics of the PCI bus with the mechanical dimensions of the CMC (common mezzanine card) format. The XMC (VITA 42) standard is based on the PMC mechanical definition, but added switched fabric interconnects to the existing PCI bus interface.
A block diagram of the Concurrent Technologies PP512/06x
(Click to enlarge)
According to Concurrent Technologies, the PP512/06x has two PMC/XMC expansion interfaces, providing the following capabilities:- 32/64-bit, 33/66/100/133MHz PCI/PCI-X
- 3.3V or 5V PCI signaling
- Separate PCI Express to PCI-X bridges
- I/O via front panel
- XMC site 1 supports x4 PCI Express link
- XMC site 2 supports up to x8 PCI Express link:
- x4 mode if PMC PCI/PCI-X bus is enabled
- Dual x4 mode if PCI/PCI-X bus site is disabled
- Site 1 rear PMC I/O via J5
- Site 2 rear XMC I/O via J3
Meanwhile, the device's CompactPCI interface delivers a 33/66MHz, 32/64-bit interface via J1 and J2 connectors. Supporting 3.3V or 5V signaling levels, the interface is compatible with the PICMG 2.0 R3.0 standard, and is also said to be PICMG 2.1 R2.0 hot-swap compliant.
Concurrent touts the board as "ideal for CPU-intensive operations," due to Intel's dual-core Core 2 Duo T9400, which runs at 2.53GHz. The most recent CPU to appear on the chipmaker's embedded roadmap, the T9400 uses 45nm process technology, and it has a 6MB second-level cache. As with other boards using this processor, the PP512/06x also employs Intel's GM45 Express chipset, consisting of the GM45 GMCH (graphics memory controller hub) and ICH (I/O controller hub) 9M.
The T9400 is capable of accessing power-saving DDR3 memory via a dual-channel architecture and a 1066MHz frontside bus. Concurrent's CompactPCI board supports these technologies by sporting dual SODIMM sockets, each with a capacity of up to 4GB.
Also featured is a range of onboard I/O. For example, the board supports three gigabit Ethernet interfaces (one front and two rear). At the front, it offers USB 2.0, RS232, and analog graphics (2048 x 1536) ports, plus keyboard and mouse interfaces. At the rear, it sports three additional USB 2.0 ports, RS232, and up to four SATA300 interfaces.
Other touted features are a watchdog timer, a long-duration timer, LAN boot firmware, and the capability of carrying a 2.5-inch SATA300 hard disk drive or CompactFlash storage on board.
Features and specifications cited by Concurrent Technologies for the PP512/06x include:- Processor -- Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 running at 2.53GHz
- Memory -- up to 6GB of DDR3 RAM via dual SODIMM slots
- Display -- up to 2048 x 1536 analog resolution via GM45 chipset, accessed via 26-way high-density connector
- Networking -- 3 x gigabit Ethernet interfaces:
- 2 x rear interfaces via x1 PCI Express links; support for PICMG 2.16 R1.0 packet signaling backplane
- 1 x front interface with RJ45 connector
- Other I/O:
- Up to 4 x SATA300 interfaces via J5
- Option to use 1 x SATA for on-board disk drive (uses PMC/XMC site 1)
- Option to use 1 x SATA for on-board EIDE interface:
- Supports up to UltraDMA 100
- Used for on-board CompactFlash site under
PMC/XMC site
- 2 x RS232 serial channels:
- 1 x Tx/Rx channel (supports CTS and RTS) accessed via 26-way high-density connector on front panel
- 1 x Tx/Rx channels (supports RI, CTS, RTS, DSR, DTR and DCD) via rear panel transition module
- 4 x USB 2.0:
- 1 accessed via a 26-way high-density connector on front panel
- 3 accessed via J5
- Independent legacy speaker output via J3
- Keyboard and mouse interfaces accessed via a 26-way high-density connector on front panel
- Expansion -- PMC/XMC interfaces and CompactPCI interface, as described earlier
- Electrical specifications -- +12V and -12V routed to PMC/XMC slots; power requirements to be announced
- Operating temperature -- 0 to 55 deg. C
- Dimensions -- 9.2 by 6.3 x 0.8 inches
The PP 512/06x supports Windows XP Embedded, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Linux, Solaris, VXWorks, and QNX. It appears to be available now, but pricing and availability were not released.
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