Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Tue, March 31, 2009
Mon, March 30, 2009 Mindspeed Technologies: Mindspeed(R) Introduces a New Generation of Low-Power and High-Performance Packet Processors for Multi-
NEWPORT BEACH, CA--(Marketwire - March 30, 2009) - Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. (
The Comcerto 1000 family is based on a field-proven system-on-chip (SoC) multi-core architecture using ARM's industry leading embedded processor technology and application specific hardware acceleration engines. The devices include a powerful security engine capable of delivering scalable virtual private network (VPN) performance from 100 Mbps to full-duplex 1 Gbps symmetric Internet protocol security (IPSec) data rates.
Additionally, programmable quality of service (QoS) engines completely offload the central processing unit (CPU) from cycle intensive and time sensitive packet processing functions thus minimizing latency and reducing overall power consumption. The QoS engines features include per-port ingress congestion management, admission control, queuing, rate limiting, traffic shaping and scheduling. As an example, the Comcerto 1000 is capable of sustaining a short-packet gigabit line-rate denial-of-service (DoS) attack while guaranteeing the execution of mission critical applications.
Mindspeed's companion software is built around an innovative functionality partitioning across multiple cores. This modular solution includes an extremely efficient fast packet forwarding package and a carrier-class feature-rich voice package. These modules are delivered as part of the complete Linux reference standard development kit (SDK) and are simple to integrate with customer applications. The new processors' SDK is backward compatible with the Comcerto 100 series. In addition, the processors are supported by industry-standard application software and operating systems.
"Our new Comcerto 1000 family of pin-compatible processors provides best-in-class performance, power and cost profile allowing customers to meet various product requirements across low-, mid- and high-end market ranges," said Marco Bello, director of marketing and product management of Mindspeed's enterprise and customer premise equipment. "Mindspeed's mature software offering along with the reference hardware platform and the OpenMind™ ecosystem program combine to deliver quality turnkey solutions helping system designers to substantially shorten time-to-market and lower development costs for VPN/SSL SMB routers, broadband home gateways and enterprise access point manufacturers."
The Comcerto 1000 multi-core architecture with dedicated QoS hardware engines is particularly valuable to service providers. The new devices ensure the delivery of revenue-generating multimedia content such as IPTV and VoIP, while simultaneously providing large computing headroom capacity for future deployment of "runtime" services using the open services gateway initiative (OSGi) framework.
The new family of SoC devices leverages ARM's energy efficient processor core technology to achieve some of the lowest power consumption in its class. Coupled with advanced power management modes and substantial packet processing capabilities, the Comcerto 1000 allows service providers to deploy next-generation fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) gateways incorporating new technologies such as 802.11n Wi-Fi and wideband digital enhanced cordless telecommunications (DECT) voice while minimizing the energy footprint.
The Comcerto 1000 is ideally suited to address low-cost and high-performance SMB VPN routers and unified threat management (UTM) products. The family of devices integrates a state-of-the-art non-blocking security engine that frees the main CPU(s) from cryptographic, hashing and key generation functions. Consequently, the SoC is capable of delivering 2 Gbps of VPN/IPSec throughput with extremely low CPU load.
The Comcerto 1000 features and characteristics meet or exceed the requirements of vendors in the EAP market space. The processor family's high-performance and low-power profile enables designers to address next generation EAP product challenges such as dual concurrent 802.11n and the resulting higher data rates, power over Ethernet (PoE) deployment, security, reliable voice and video distribution over wireless.
Technical Details
Comcerto 1000 leverages ARM's energy efficient core technology and Mindspeed's low-power design process to achieve the lowest power consumption in its class ( < 2W typical @ 650MHz). Additionally, the companion board support package software provides a rich set of power management features to address the energy saving goals of service providers and product manufacturers worldwide.
Comcerto 1000 I/O interfaces in conjunction with Mindspeed's innovative multi-layer bus architecture allows non-blocking concurrent transactions across all data interfaces, thus minimizing on-chip packet processing latency. Moreover, the SoC data interfaces deliver a system bill of materials cost reduction by simplifying and minimizing PC board design requirements.
The Comcerto 1000 family provides customers a scalable solution of single- and multi-core processors with various speed ranges to address the specific needs of low-, medium- and high-end products. The SoC is based on the ARM®11 core running at 450, 533 or 650MHz. The family incorporates a very high-speed, multi-layer bus architecture that allows six concurrent simultaneous direct memory access (DMA) operations thus substantially reducing congestion risk and optimizing packet transfers from an interface to another.
Moreover Comcerto 1000 integrates the latest peripherals, notably a USB2.0 PHY, two peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) lanes, two gigabit Ethernet ports and a 4-port DDR2 controller with power management modes supporting memory speed grades up to DDR2-800. The PCI express interface allows OEMs to take advantage of the latest low-cost, small form-factor 802.11n Wi-Fi modules as well as providing easy, low-cost bridging to SATA enabled devices typically used in high-speed storage products.
The Comcerto 1000 OpenWRT Linux-based SDK is optimized for both single- and dual-core operation.
Pricing and Availability
The Comcerto 1000 family is sampling now in three speed grades with an extensive set of feature options. Volume production is scheduled in the third calendar quarter of 2009. Prices range between $10 and $22 per unit in OEM quantities.
About Mindspeed Technologies®
Mindspeed Technologies, Inc. designs, develops and sells semiconductor networking solutions for communications applications in enterprise, access, metropolitan and wide area networks.
The company's three key product families include high-performance analog transmission and switching solutions, multiservice access products designed to support voice and data services across wireline and wireless networks, and WAN communications solutions including T/E carrier physical-layer and link-layer devices as well as ATM/MPLS network processors.
Mindspeed's products are used in a wide variety of network infrastructure equipment, including voice and media gateways, high-speed routers, switches, access multiplexers, cross-connect systems, add-drop multiplexers and digital loop carrier equipment.
To learn more, visit us at [ www.mindspeed.com ]
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements include statements relating to product features and their benefits, product production schedule, product prices and certain projections and business trends. Actual results, and actual events that occur, may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: cash requirements and terms and availability of financing; future operating losses; worldwide political and economic uncertainties, and specific conditions in the markets we address; fluctuations in the price of our common stock and our operating results; loss of or diminished demand from one or more key customers or distributors; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; constraints in the supply of wafers and other product components from our third-party manufacturers; doing business internationally; pricing pressures and other competitive factors; successful development and introduction of new products; our ability to successfully and cost effectively establish and manage operations in foreign jurisdictions; industry consolidation; order and shipment uncertainty; our ability to obtain design wins and develop revenues from them; lengthy sales cycles; the expense of and our ability to defend our intellectual property against infringement claims by others; product defects and bugs; possible future impairments because our stock market capitalization is lower than our stockholders' equity; and business acquisitions and investments. Risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ from those set forth in any forward-looking statement are discussed in more detail under "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended January 2, 2009, as well as similar disclosures in the company's subsequent SEC filings. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
