May 7, 2012 -- Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. has introduced two 64-bit, multicore QorIQ P5 family control plane processors delivering 2.4GHz of single-threaded performance per core. The new quad-core QorIQ P5040 and dual-core P5021 products feature a mix of accelerators, high-speed interfaces and security features, resulting in embedded solutions ideally suited for power-conscious control plane applications.

The new products complement Freescale's previously announced QorIQ P5020 and P5010 devices based on 2-GHz cores, and round out one of the comprehensive portfolios of embedded control plane processors. With the new products, Freescale will soon offer a range of single-, dual- and quad-core 64-bit devices for a broad array of applications, from single-core solutions for products requiring a sub-15-W profile, to quad-core processors for compute-intensive applications.

Built on Freescale's 64-bit Power Architecture e5500 core, all four QorIQ P5 family products are pin- and software- compatible. Software reuse is further enhanced with hybrid 32-bit mode capabilities, which support legacy software and help ensure a seamless transition to 64-bit computing.

Both products provide optimal performance per watt and are designed for industrial, storage, military/ aerospace and networking applications including core routers and data centers. They feature advanced security capabilities including secure boot of application code, tamper-detect circuitry and secure debug, as well as hardware-assisted acceleration of cryptography protocols. Key to establishing highly secure systems, Freescale's embedded trust architecture prevents cloning and unauthorized cores from running on a system.

Integration of application-specific accelerators and advanced I/O on a single embedded device means users of both new products benefit from reduced system-development cycles and thermal-management costs. Processing efficiency is optimized in part via CoreNet on-chip fabric that is designed to feed accelerators and cores while eliminating bus contention. A RAID 5/6 engine off-loads the processors' cores from parity calculations for storage applications. The devices integrate high-speed connectivity support for PCIe, SGMII, XAUI, SATA, Aurora and multiple 1GigE and 10GigE. Double-precision floating-point support is included to address key industrial market requirements.

Freescale maintains a broad ecosystem of internal and third-party software to simplify product development and speed time to market. 32-bit and 64-bit software solutions are planned from Freescale and third party ecosystem partners.

Availability

Freescale plans to offer initial samples and a P5040 development board in June 2012, with full qualification for both products expected in the first quarter of 2013.