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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Kontron launches Core i7 VME card with four levels of ruggedisation

Hyperthreading Intel Core i7 6U VME single-board computer launches at Paris Air Show
By Nick Flaherty www.flaherty.co.uk


Showing there's still plenty of life in VME, Kontron has launched a 6U VME single-board computer (SBC) VM6050 with an Intel Core i7 processor at the Paris Air Show today.
The VM6050 combines extremely high x86 computing and graphics performance with flexible and modular expansion possibilities in four different ruggedization levels so that OEMs can tailor the board to the individual requirements of new and existing applications and benefit from a reduced time-to-market. In addition, with Kontron's long-term supply program with availability of 10 years or more, OEMs can further optimize the life cycle and total cost of ownership (TCO) for applications.
With hyperthreading and Intel Turbo Boost, the VM6050 speeds up multi-processing tasks and processes single-threaded tasks more efficiently by increasing the processor cycle on demand by up to 40%, without exceeding the defined TDP. OEMs can increase the performance of existing single-threaded applications without having to extensively adapt the software. Demanding graphics applications, such as those found in control centres, benefit from Open GL 2.1 support and accelerated DirectX 10 capabilities through better and faster visual display on up to two monitors. These features make the Kontron 6U VME SBC VM6050 an ideal fit for a broad range of applications in markets such as the aerospace industry, military technology, traffic and safety technology as well as video and image processing in medical technology. It supports VxWorks, Fedora Linux and Windows and is available starting immediately.

Closing the silicon architecture migration gap

The VM6050 is fully compatible with all Kontron's 6U VME products so OEMs can easily use the card in their existing designs based on the current line of both Intel and PowerPC based Kontron 6U VME SBCs without adjustments to the backplane. Designing systems around Kontron 6U VME boards allows the final product to span across different CPU architectures, which helps reduced development times as well as improve time-to-market and TCO of new applications.

Feature set 

The Kontron 6U VME SBC VM6050 with Intel Core i7 processor and Intel QM 57 controller hub offers up to 8 GByte of soldered ECC memory. It can be expanded via two mezzanine sockets for up to two XMC/PMC or one FMC (VITA 57 FPGA I/O) cards. In the left mezzanine slot, 2x DisplayPort, VGA, USB, high-definition audio and additional GPIOs can be implemented via corresponding modules. This modular concept allows the board to be configured to the most varied applications. This modular COTS approach further minimizes implementation efforts and thus the time-to-market.
It has on-board USB flash support for extremely secure and reliable performance and a system design without vulnerable storage media. In addition, the 128 KB NOVRAM guarantees the highest data security and provides a back-up of critical data in case of a power outage. Dedicated interfaces at the front include 2x Gigabit Ethernet and 1x USB 2.0 at dedicated interfaces and 1x serial port (SR-232/422/485). There are 2x Gigabit Ethernet, 2x SATA II, 2x USB 2.0, PCI Express x4, SRIO, GPIO and 32 I/Os for PMC 1 implemented on the backplane via the PO plug (VITA 31.1). In addition, Kontron's latest VME board also supports the double-edged source synchronous transfer (2eSST) which allows a data throughput of up to 320 Mbytes via P1, along with the 64-bit VME bus (VME64x). P2 routes 64 I/Os from the FMC and PMC 2 slot and 32 I/Os from the PMC 1 slot to the backplane.

Evaluation system

With the EZ1-VM6050 system, Kontron provides a solution for quick entry into evaluation and development of VME applications. In the compact (1U) air-cooled 6U VME rack system, developers get the Kontron 6U VME SBC VM6050 pre-integrated along with the associated rear transition module (RTM), so that they can immediately begin with application development.

For further information see http://www.kontron.com/products/boards+and+mezzanines/6u+vme/processor/6u+x86/vm6050.html
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