GE Intelligent Platforms announced a Linux-ready AdvancedTCA single board computer with an option for Intel's new Xeon 5600 processors. The dual-Xeon A10200 offers up to six cores clocked to 2GHz, plus 12MB of L3 cache per CPU, and offers dual 10 gigabit Ethernet interfaces and four gigabit Ethernet interfaces, says the company.

GE Intelligent Platforms announced its telecom-focused A10200 AdvancedTCA (ATCA) single board computer (SBC) in September, offered with a dual- or quad-core Xeon 5500 processor. That initial version is now shipping, and the company says it's prepping a version with one of the new 32nm fabricated, four- or six-core Xeon Processor 5600 CPUs announced by Intel yesterday.

The Xeon 5600 delivers up to 60 percent greater performance than its predecessors, but with platform power consumption that can be 30 percent lower, claims Intel. The "frequency-optimized" quad-core version of the Xeon 5600 peaks at 3.46GHz with a TDP of 130 Watts, while the six-core version reaches 3.33GHz with a TDP of 130 Watts, according to the company. Like Intel's other new "Westmere-EP" processors, the Xeon 5600 also provides AES-NI (advanced encryption standard new instructions) and TXT (trusted execution technology).

The A10200's Xeon 5600 models are clocked to 2.13GHz (quad-core L5518) or 2GHz (six-core L5638), says GE Intelligent Platforms. As a result, the new version delivers up to a 50 percent performance increase compared to the Xeon 5500 model, claims the company. Aside from the faster new processors, which offer the additional benefit of up to 12MB of L3 cache per CPU, the Xeon 5600 and Xeon 5500 models appear to be identical.

Typical applications for the A10200 SBC include control-plane functions for WiMAX, LTE (Long Term Evolution), and NGN (Next Generation Networks) networks, says GE Intelligent Platforms. Customers can combine the SBC with GE's AT2-5800 packet processor blade for data-plane processing, gaining a complete networking processing system for applications such as session border controllers (SBC), says the company. Within the ATCA chassis, both blades are said to communicate via high speed, redundant dual 10 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and dual 1GbE networks.

GE's A10200
(Click to enlarge)

Like the Xeon 5500 version, the Xeon 5600 model of the A10200 offers up to 64GB of DDR3 SDRAM, which enables the storing of larger routing tables in main memory, says GE Intelligent Platforms. This is said to reduce the number of time-consuming routing table swaps between main memory and the database.

The PICMG 3.0/3.1 compliant A10200 is equipped with 1GbE and 10GbE interfaces to the backplane ATCA base and fabric ports, respectively, as defined in PICMG 3.1, says GE. Four gigabit Ethernet (Intel 82567) interfaces are provided, with one port on the front panel and two base ports with serial-on-LAN support. There's also an "update channel" 1GbE port for remote management and trouble-shooting, says the company.

Dual 10 gigabit Ethernet fabric ports are driven by the new Intel 82599 controller, which offers a 40Gbps PCI Express interface, "and the ability to deliver up to a 250 percent improvement in network throughput," claims GE. The 82599 controller for the 10GbE interfaces also offers load sharing features that enable it to direct incoming Ethernet packets to a specific core within a specific processor based on hashed packet header values. This feature enables much higher data throughput due to parallel processing, and is especially useful for virtualization applications, claims GE.

Additional front-facing I/O is said to include four USB 2.0 ports, a COM port, and an IPMC console port. A "TMS102" rear transitional module (RTM) provides rear access to the two 1GbE interfaces noted above, as well as two more USB 2.0 interfaces, eight GPIO ports, and two on-board, RAID-ready SATA hard disk drives.

The A10200 is equipped with a software package that includes standard BIOS, device drivers, and the hardware initialization resources required to support Wind River or Red Hat Linux, says the company. VxWorks and Windows are said to be available on request. An optional run-time BIT (Built-In Test) application package will also be available, says GE.

Key specifications listed for the GE A10200 include:

• Processor -- dual sockets for Intel Xeon 5600 (6-core L5638 @ 2GHz, or 4-core L5518 @ 2.13GHz) with 8MB or 12MB L3 cache; or dual- or quad-core Xeon 5500
• Memory:
  • 8 x total DIMM sites, supporting up to 64GB DDR3 SDRAM
  • Up to 2 x quad-rank DIMMs per channel @ 800MHz for 64GB
  • Up to 2 x single/dual-rank DIMMs or one quad-rank DIMM per channel @ 1066MHz (with L5518) or 1333MHz (with L5638) for 32GB or less
• Chipset -- Intel 5520 plus ICH10 controller
• Networking:
  • 4 x gigabit Ethernet (Intel 82567) interfaces (2 x ATCA base port with serial-on-LAN; 1 x front-panel RJ45; 1 x update channel maintenance port)
  • 2 x 10 gigabit Ethernet (Intel 82599) fabric ports with serial-on-LAN
• Other I/O:
  • IPMI subsystem and console port with hot-swap management, supporting serial-on-LAN
  • 1 x VGA (optional via RTM)
  • 1 x RS232 COM1 (front-facing)
  • 6 x USB 2.0 connectors (4 x front-facing, 2 x RTM)
  • 8 x GPIO
  • 2 x SATA 2.0 lanes (3Gbps) to RTM
• Operating temperature -- 32 to 131 deg. F (0 to 55 deg. C)
• Other features -- Watchdog; timer; temp. sensor; 4 x LEDs
• Compliance -- ATCA format; PICMG 3.1 and PICMG 3.0 compliant; suitable for NEBS office environments
• Operating system -- Wind River Linux or Red Hat Linux; VxWorks and Windows Server 2003/2008 on request

Stated Juergen Eder, director, Product Management, IPC & SBCs at GE Intelligent Platforms, "This newest version of the A10200 is an example of GE's focus on early implementation of the latest advances in processors: bringing the newest, most innovative technologies to market as quickly as possible helps us be the trusted partner our customers are looking for."

Availability

GE Intelligent Platforms did not announce when the Xeon 5600 version of the A10200 would be available, but the Xeon 5500 is available now, says the company. More information may be found here.

---

Related Stories:

• Intel fields six-core embedded CPUs
• Rugged COM Express board serves up soldered Core 2 Duo
• VPX board steps up to Penryn processors
• MicroTCA systems come with SUSE Linux
• AMC board boasts new quad-core Xeon
• CGL-ready ATCA system moves to 40Gbps
• Linux, ATCA rising

Discuss ATCA blade cranks it up with six-core Xeon   >>> Be the FIRST to comment on this article!

>>> More News Articles          >>> More By Eric Brown