Concurrent Technologies has released the VP 717/08x family of 6U VME boards featuring the Intel Core i7 processor family.
Depending on the application requirements a choice of processors is supported: the 2.53GHz Intel Core i7-610E, 2.0GHz Intel Core i7-620LE and the 1.06GHz Intel Core i7-620UE. Based on 32nm process technology and Intel’s latest integrated memory/graphics controller architecture, these processors are from the Intel embedded roadmap which promises at least seven-year availability.
With up to 8 Gbytes of DDR3-1066 ECC SDRAM and dual PMC/XMC sites, the boards also include extensive I/O functionality and can support VITA 31.1. The VP 717/08x family offers front and rear I/O interfaces that are pin-compatible with the popular VP 417/03x family, providing a continuing upgrade path. Commercial and extended temperature versions are also available, and a compatible range of ruggedized, conduction-cooled, or air-cooled versions will be available shortly.
The boards are particularly suitable for CPU-intensive processing applications within the defence, homeland security, industrial control, and transportation market sectors.
The VP 717/08x family is based on the combination of the Intel Core i7 processor and an Intel Platform Controller Hub (PCH), the Mobile Intel QM57 Express chipset. This combination benefits from the integration of the graphics controller and the memory controller into the processor, resulting in reduced memory latency and improved performance-per-watt.
The Intel Core i7 processors feature Intel Direct Media Interface Technology and Intel Flexible Display Interfaces to the PCH to provide simultaneous high-speed, non-graphic traffic and video/graphic traffic. The processors also feature Intel Hyper-Threading Technology to allow multiple simultaneous execution threads in each core. They also sport Intel Turbo Boost Technology, which elevates performance for specific workloads by increasing processor core frequency on one core when the second core and/or graphics engine utilization level is low. The CPU and graphics engines have separate Turbo modes. By using simple BIOS setup options, the user can disable either or both of the turbo modes or pre-set a bias towards one or the other feature.
VITA 31.1 Gigabit Ethernet on a VME64x backplane enables a tried and tested method of implementing a LAN-based multiprocessor architecture by leveraging readily available Ethernet hardware, TCP/IP software, clustering, and other network management tools. Using standard networking techniques offers an efficient method of remote-booting boards within the chassis and simplified intercommunication between boards. It can be used as a method of offloading tasks from the standard VME backplane, thereby improving overall application efficiency. VITA 31.1 is suitable for applications such as data acquisition, radar data processing, or those requiring data synchronization across multiple system boards.