Advantech Now Sampling 64-bit ATCA Blade Based on Texas Instruments' TMS320C66x Multicore DSPs with Key Customers


Broader DSP portfolio adds ATCA to Advantech's C66x-based AdvancedMC(TM) and PCI Express product lines to attain unprecedented levels in DSP core density, boosting voice call capacity and increasing video transcoding throughput and quality

Irvine, California, : Advantech continues its recent spree of DSP product announcements with the introduction of its latest generation DSP blade in ATCA form factor based on Texas Instruments Incorporated's (TI's) TMS320C66x digital signal processor (DSP) generation. Advantech's ATCA node blade, DSPA-8901E with its twenty onboard TMS320C6678 DSPs running at 1.25 GHz core frequency provides 160 cores of processing power to reach the higher levels of performance density needed to build the highest capacity media gateways in the network. The blade significantly reduces overall system cost and frees up valuable slots in gateway elements for additional subscriber capacity and throughput.

The new blade includes a high-performance Freescale dual-core QorIQ P2020 processor managing a Broadcom BCM56321 4-port 10 GbE + 24-port gigabit Ethernet switch which terminates the dual 10 gigabit Ethernet fabric interface connections and distributes gigabit Ethernet traffic to the twenty DSPs, in turn coupled to 64-bit wide DDR3 memory giving the blade unrivaled packet and media processing capabilities.

Coupled with a scalable system platform, the ATCA blade adds outstanding image processing performance for compression and decompression, image analysis, filtering and format conversion. Advantech stated that customer interest is strong with solution providers in Mobile TV, Web TV and IPTV markets and expects to see increasing demand in high end video conferencing, broadcasting and telepresence fields.

Media Excel, a leading transcoding company with a long history in delivering the highest quality video encoding and transcoding solutions for content owners, aggregators and broadcasters, announced today their intent to expand current product lines to include an ATCA form-factor product, leveraging Advantech's high-density 64-bit DSPA-8901E DSP blades.

"We are excited to see products such as Advantech's DSPA-8901E blade entering the market," said Nikos Kyriopoulos, Product Director at Media Excel. "The new Advantech blade gives us the DSP density and performance we need to future-proof our product portfolio. Over the next 6-24 months we are launching some truly innovative products. Advantech's experience in NEBS-compliant ATCA form factors and their ongoing success in service provider and telecom markets aligns with our commitment to supply high-quality, carrier-grade transcoding solutions to those same markets."

"Our OEM customers building high density wireline and wireless media gateway equipment are eager to upgrade to the new ATCA blade to respond to the dramatic surge in bandwidth for voice and video services"." said Rt Lu, VP at Advantech's Embedded Media & Smart Technology Group. "We're also pleased to have been chosen by TI to design and manufacture two of TI's Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) EVMs based on the C6678 and TCI6616 devices developed on their new KeyStone multicore architecture. 4G wireless infrastructure designers are keen to integrate them into MicroTCA systems and ATCA carrier blades to evaluate and test the DSPs' higher speed interfaces and new feature set."

"These timely advances by Advantech and Media Excel in the development of C66x-based multicore platforms should result in highly effective solutions for accelerating video traffic and responding to the increasing high capacity transcoding needs in the wireless network," said Rajesh Pal, marketing manager, multicore and multimedia infrastructure business, Texas Instruments.

Software support for the blade will be available from TI and Advantech Ecosystem Alliance software partner ENEA. ENEA provides a comprehensive suite of optimized multicore support for TI DSPs, including their ENEA OSEck® RTOS, the ENEA LINX® scalable and reliable messaging layer, plus ENEA dSPEED® data plane management framework, as well as other runtime and development tools support.

An overview of the products announced in this release can be found at
http://www.advantech.com.tw/nc/newsletter/eDM/TMS320C66x_DSP_Blade/index.html

The DSPA-8901E DSP blade is available for general sampling in 2Q 2011.

About the Texas Instruments Developer Network

Advantech is a member of the TI Developer Network, a community of respected, well-established companies offering products and services based on TI analog and digital technology. The Network provides a broad range of end-equipment solutions, embedded software, engineering services and development tools that help customers accelerate innovation to make the world smarter, healthier, safer, greener and more fun. http://www.ti.com/dspdevnetwork

About Advantech - Founded in 1983, Advantech delivers trustworthy industrial computing solutions that enable intelligent applications. Our operation is divided into two segments: Branded & Solution Business and Embedded Design-In Business. We cooperate closely with solution partners to provide products and customized solutions in a wide array of applications. Advantech operates an extensive support, sales and marketing network in 18 countries and 39 major cities to deliver fast time-to-market services to our worldwide customers. (Corporate Website: www.advantech.com). For Telecom and Networking markets, Advantech provides mission-critical hardware to the leading telecom and networking equipment manufacturers. Advantech's standard and customized products are embedded in OEM equipment that the world's communications infrastructure depends upon. Website: www.advantech.com/NC

About Media Excel, Inc

Media Excel is the Next-Generation Transcoding Company for MobileTV, WebTV, IPTV & Digital Media, recipient of the Frost & Sullivan 2008 Award for Product Innovation. Its scalable, low power product line is enabling any content to be displayed on any device through its affordable, high‐performance next‐generation transcoding technologies targeted at Telecom, Cable, Satellite, Web and Media Broadcasters. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Media Excel is a privately held company founded in 2000. To contact Media Excel, write to sales@mediaexcel.com or visit www.mediaexcel.com.

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