The 1-Gbit/s ML7240 network processor
from OKI Electric Industry Co.
targets network equipment like home
and small office/home office (SOHO)
routers and Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) gateway equipment. Its main
claim to fame is its very low power consumption.
The ML7240’s ARM926EJ-S RISC
processor runs at 400 MHz. It also
features a quality of service (QoS)
accelerator and IPsec security processor
for secure communication, a voice
engine, and two Gigabit Ethernet media
access controllers (MACs). Peripheral
interfaces include a DDR2 SDRAM controller,
USB 2.0 host controller, PCI 2.2
host/device controller, SPI, I2C, UART,
GPIO, and a timer. Power consumption
is 1.5 W during normal operation.
The IP protocol engine takes care of
all the core network processes, such as
routing and other protocol activities.
An embedded proprietary DSP handles
voice-related functionality such as voice
compression, echo cancellation, and
tone generation/detection all as part of
VoIP operations. All of this distributed
task-sharing architecture means less load
on the ARM CPU, allowing more of it to
be used for applications.
This chip is provided in a 27- by
27-mm, 544-pin, ball-grid array package.
Samples are available now with production
volume to come in March 2009.
OKI plans to offer the drivers necessary
to configure network equipment and
other software such as middleware,
which should help users shorten the
development time for products using the
ML7240. An evaluation board is now
available.
LOUIS FRENZEL
OKI ELECTRIC INDUSTRY CO. LTD.www.oki.com