ORLANDO, Freescale Technology Forum, June 22, 2005 - Leveraging its longstanding alliance with Freescale Semiconductor and proven support for the Freescale PowerQUICC III processor family, QNX Software Systems today announced that the QNX® Neutrino® RTOS runs on Freescale's highly integrated MPC8548E PowerQUICC III communications processor based on a PowerPC core.A high-performance system-on-a-chip optimized for 3G wireless base stations, telecom transmission and switching, and security applications, the MPC8548E processor supports the serial RapidIO specification, which brings the speed and reliability of RapidIO technology to the communications backplane. By combining this RapidIO support with QNX Neutrino's patented distributed processing, system designers can seamlessly connect multiple MPC8548E processors, creating fault-tolerant systems of massive scalability and throughput.
"Together, Freescale and QNX have a long history of collaboration in building off-the-shelf software/hardware solutions for manufacturers of networking and communications equipment," said Lakshmi Mandyam, PowerQUICC III product marketing manager at Freescale. "QNX's early support of the Freescale MPC8548E is a direct product of this collaboration, and will provide our joint customers a jumpstart on their next-generation designs."
"Independent benchmarks confirm that the QNX Neutrino RTOS delivers unparalleled realtime performance on Freescale processors based on PowerPC cores," said Romain Saha, networking segment manager, QNX. "Moreover, QNX's distributed processing eliminates the high CPU utilization associated with traditional forms of interprocessor communication, enabling developers to realize the exceptional multiprocessing capabilities of RapidIO technology."
In addition to RapidIO, QNX plans to support several other advanced features of the MPC8548E. These include an onchip security engine, which provides hardware acceleration for IPsec, SSL, 3G wireless, and other security protocols; four enhanced triple-speed Ethernet controllers (eTSECs), which offer speeds up to 1 Gbps and introduce support for priority queuing; a double-precision floating point unit, which offers greater performance for applications that involve large mathematical operations; and support for additional high-speed interfaces, including PCI-e and PCI/PCI-X.
More about the MPC8548E processor
A recent addition to the PowerQUICC III family of communications processors, the Freescale MPC8548E combines CPU clock speeds of up to 1.3GHz with an integrated security engine and onchip support for multiple interconnects, including serial RapidIO, PCI, PCI-X, PCI-Express, and Gigabit Ethernet. With its RapidIO interconnect support, the MPC8548E is ideal for control plane processing, protocol processing, and other compute-intensive applications that require high-speed, peer-level communications with a low pin count.
More about the QNX Neutrino RTOS
Designed for high availability network elements, the QNX Neutrino RTOS is built on a memory-protected microkernel architecture, providing dynamic upgrades, fine-grained fault isolation, and rapid error recovery. With native support for both symmetric multiprocessing and transparent distributed multiprocessing, QNX Neutrino offers massive scalability, allowing networking elements to handle increases in network traffic or services without the need for forklift upgrades.
Availability
QNX Software Systems is currently developing a board support package for the PPCEVAL-CDS-8548 development system, a reference board for the MPC8548E processor. The BSP is slated for commercial release in Q4 2005.
About QNX Software Systems
With millions of installations worldwide, QNX Software Systems is the global leader in realtime, microkernel operating system technology. Companies like Cisco, DaimlerChrysler, Lockheed Martin, Panasonic, Siemens, and General Electric rely on QNX technology to build ultra-reliable systems for the networking, automotive, medical, military, and industrial automation markets. Founded in 1980, QNX Software Systems maintains offices throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
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