Advantech Delivers 6 and 12 Core ATCA Blades based on the Intel(r) Xeon(r) Processor 5600 Series

Advantech's MIC-5322

The MIC-5320 and MIC-5322 AdvancedTCA Blades with 10GbE connectivity combine single or dual processor computing performance with high-speed I/O flexibility in power efficient designs for Network Equipment Providers (NEPs). Several Tier-1 NEPs have been developing and deploying both blades since 2009 and will now be able to drop in the new processor to these existing designs with minimal to no impact on application software. These Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 series CPUs, based on Intel's latest 32nm process technology, are pin-compatible with the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series. They allow OEMs to add higher performance platforms to their offerings or migrate to the new 6-core devices.

The new processors bring significant improvements in core density, performance and power consumption, as well as adding new instructions to accelerate encryption and reinforce security. With up to 6-core operation (up to 12 threads per socket with Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology), 12 MB of shared cache, and support for lower voltage DDR3L DIMMs, the capabilities of the new processors will facilitate further blade consolidation, liberating slots for additional blades without increasing the power budget.

The latest CPUs include Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) that help free up valuable processor cycles for more virtualization and application processing. Intel® AES-NI consolidates sequences of existing instructions to improve performance of specific math operations, and accelerates the performance of AES applications. In addition, Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT) performs SHA-1 hash measurements for RSA decryption key exchanges as part of the code authentication process. This means greater security in server transactions without loss in processing power.

“Advantech is focused on tuning its ATCA blade designs so that the new processor cores get fed with maximum I/O subsystem bandwidth and benefit from innovative rear I/O connectivity and storage. From a software perspective, we work closely with ecosystem partners like Wind River to accelerate development cycles and help ourcommon customers get the best out of multicore,” said Peter Marek, Director of the Blade Computing Division of Advantech's Network and Telecom Group.

Mike Langlois, General Manager of the Networking and Telecom business at Wind River added, “The use of multicore technologies is quickly becoming a game changer for all suppliers of networking systems and elements. Fully taking advantage of the performance benefits of multicore requires the right combination of optimized hardware, runtime software, virtualization, and development tools. Wind River and Advantech are fully engaged with our mutual customers to tune their multicore applications on the latest Advantech hardware to accelerate design cycles and deployments, and achieve desired performance results.”

The MIC-5320 and MIC-5322 demonstrate Advantech's ability to design, manufacture and deliver; all on time mission-critical products for the core of the network. Focused on high bandwidth networking and data plane applications, the blades are key building blocks for media gateways, application servers and media servers as well as 3G and 4G network elements.

For more information, visit Advantech networks and telecom at www.advantech.com/NC or E-mail to NCG@advantech.com.