Multicore move for GE Fanuc

GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is to use Freescale’s multicore QorIQ processors in forthcoming products. QorIQ processors feature up to eight cores for maximum performance, and allow GE Fanuc to develop new platforms that will be form-, fit- and function compatible with their PowerPC predecessors and enable existing customers to take advantage of exciting new levels of performance at minimal cost. These new platforms will also allow lower power consumption and heat dissipation per unit of performance.
The QorIQ technology will be used in GE Fanuc’s VME-based, 3U VPX-based, 6U VPX-based and 3U CompactPCI-based families of single board computers. Support for both the eight core P4080 QorIQ processor and the dual core P2020 processor is also planned. All products based on QorIQ technology will be available in five ruggedization levels – including full conduction cooling over the -40°C to +85°C range - to meet the demanding requirements of military customers.
“We have been developing Power Architecture products since the early 1990s,” said Peter Cavill, General Manager, Military & Aerospace Products, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “Since then, we have followed up with a growing family of Power Architecture platforms that have enabled our customers to take advantage of the latest processing technologies, keeping their systems at the leading edge of performance with minimum integration effort, and minimizing long term cost of ownership.”
“One of the QorIQ-based products we will introduce will be pin-compatible with the PPC2A – a product we announced in 1997,” he continued. “That’s a powerful demonstration of how we help protect our customers against obsolescence. We expect that this new generation of single board computers will also provide compelling price/performance advantages for new customers.”
The P4080 processor is rated at less than 30 watts and combines eight Power Architecture e500mc cores operating at frequencies up to 1.5 GHz. The P2020 core operates at up to 1.2GHz and Freescale believes this is ideal for applications that have tight thermal constraints.