Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs Successfully Adopted by Extreme Engineering Solutions, Enabling Company to Provide Advanced Security Features


Requested by Customers, Unique New Device Leverages Microsemi Technology as Root of Trust in Rugged Single Board Computers



ALISO VIEJO, Calif. - Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor and system solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced its customer, Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. (X-ES), is offering a selection of rugged, Intel® processor-based VPX single board computers (SBCs) leveraging Microsemi's SmartFusion™2 system-on-chip (SoC) field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) as root of trust. X-ES is experiencing great success in serving the needs of its customer base as a result of SmartFusion2's unique capabilities.



As implemented on these SBCs, the power-on control and boot path is entirely controlled and monitored by Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA to provide authentication and detection against many types of attacks. SmartFusion2's integrated Physically Unclonable Function (PUF), protection against Differential Power Analysis (DPA) attacks, flash-based FPGA fabric and advanced cryptographic processing elements make it an ideal platform for implementing security throughout the supply chain in military, aviation, communications and industrial environments.



"SmartFusion2 was selected because of its low power, low cost and advanced security features that rival the more expensive, higher power competitors. More importantly, our customers requested it," said Andrew Eley, senior embedded engineer at X-ES. "Future products from X-ES will continue to fill market demand with the latest SoC FPGAs from Microsemi's SmartFusion2 product line."



Intent to Continue Usage

X-ES has used Microsemi's Fusion, SmartFusion and now SmartFusion2 in many of its standard product and custom designs, bringing its team extensive knowledge of this product family's distinct technology features. Integration of SmartFusion2 into X-ES products has become an efficient and effective way to support X-ES SecureCOTS™ technology. Its low power and advanced security features make it an optimal choice where reduced size, weight and power (SWaP) is required at a low cost. It is also an ideal entry point for implementing anti-tamper (AT) and information assurance (IA) technology across many industries. X-ES' collaboration with Microsemi demonstrates a commitment to developing and improving this technology.



Increased Adoption for SecureCOTS Technology

X-ES SecureCOTS technology is a design methodology from X-ES that provides enhanced levels of security for X-ES' products. The 3U VPX-REDI XPedite7572 with a fifth generation Intel Core™ i7 (formerly Broadwell-H) processor, and the 3U VPX-REDI XPedite7672 with an Intel Xeon® D (formerly Broadwell-DE) processor are the latest 3U VPX cards to incorporate Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGA at the center of this technology. 



SmartFusion2's FPGA fabric and integrated ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor allow great flexibility for implementing custom intellectual property (IP), monitoring or manipulating data paths, monitoring system health and detecting tamper events, and providing tools to extend run-time trust into the OS, application or system. SmartFusion2's subsystem design on the XPedite7572 and XPedite7672 includes 1 GB of ECC DDR3 and up to 64 MB of SPI NOR flash in addition to a high-speed x4 PCI Express Gen2 interface to the Intel CPU, which makes SmartFusion2 ideal as an encryption/decryption coprocessor. Advanced IP can be developed to implement system penalties appropriate to the program needs.



These features, in addition to advanced PCB fabrication techniques and heatframe design, encompass X-ES SecureCOTS technology to provide a sophisticated set of features for securing a critical application or securing an entire system and the information within it, while also providing best-in-class processing performance with Intel processors. Flexible backplane input/output (I/O), such as high-bandwidth PCI-Express Gen3, 10GBASE-KR, 1000BASE-BX, SmartFusion2 GPIO, SATA and USB allow these cards to fit perfectly wherever high security and reliability are needed.



"Adoption of Microsemi's SmartFusion2 devices by X-ES for its SecureCOTS technology clearly demonstrates SmartFusion2 offers the highest level of security and can be trusted to provide root of trust for secure system," said Tim Morin, director of marketing for Microsemi. "SmartFusion2 combined with Secure Boot reference designs can offer a root of trust for both processors and FPGAs in a secure system."



About Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs

Microsemi's SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs deliver more resources in low density devices, with the lowest power, proven security and exceptional reliability. The devices offer 30-50 percent more power efficiency and are ideal for general purpose functions such as Gigabit Ethernet or dual PCI Express control planes, bridging functions, input/output (I/O) expansion and conversion, video/image processing, system management and secure connectivity. Microsemi SoC FPGAs are used by customers in communications, industrial, medical, defense and aviation markets. PCIe Gen 2 connectivity starts at just 10K logic elements (LEs). SmartFusion2 SoC FPGAs offer 5K-150K LEs with 166MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor with up to 512KB of embedded flash, Triple Speed Ethernet, USB 2.0 OTG, CAN controllers and general purpose peripherals, with the highest max I/O per LE density. Microsemi also offers a broad range of military, automotive and space grade FPGAs and SoC FPGAs. For more information visit: http://www.microsemi.com/products/fpga-soc/soc-fpga/smartfusion2.



About Microsemi

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for communications, defense security, aerospace and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., and has approximately 4,800 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.



Microsemi and the Microsemi logo are registered trademarks or service marks of Microsemi Corporation and/or its affiliates. Third-party trademarks and service marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.



Source 

Microsemi Corporation



Contact: Farhad Mafie, VP Worldwide Product Marketing, 949-356-2399, or Beth P. Quezada, Director, Corporate Communications, 949-380-6102, press@microsemi.com



Web Site: http://www.microsemi.com


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