Highly Scalable, the Tsi578(TM) Switch Advances the Integration of Serial RapidIO in ATCA(R) and MicroTCA(TM) Architectures DALLAS, TX, Feb. 28 /CNW Telbec/ - Texas Instruments Developers Conference 2006 - Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (TSX: TUN), the leader in System Interconnect, today announced the Tundra Tsi578 Serial RapidIO Switch, a high-performance switch with patent-pending technology that delivers the performance, power and configurability that designers of embedded designs need to build reliable, high-performance RapidIO-based systems for a wide range of applications such as wireless base stations and video infrastructure. The Tundra Tsi578 features: - Maximum Scalability, port flexibility supports mixed port widths and speeds to deliver a single solution for mesh, fabric and aggregated systems - Hardware Multicast for improved distributed processing performance - Supervised Traffic Flow for increased performance and fabric management - Enhanced SerDes for the lowest power solution "We continue to leverage our extensive RapidIO experience and expertise in delivering the Tsi578, our third-generation Serial RapidIO switch," said Rick O'Connor, chief technology officer at Tundra. "With multiple high- performing Serial RapidIO switches in our portfolio combined with commercially- available development platforms and a strong roadmap for next-generation switches, our customers can design their next-generation RapidIO-based systems with confidence." Highly Scalable Serial RapidIO Switch Based on the most recent release of the Serial RapidIO Specification v1.3, the Tsi578 Serial RapidIO Switch sets industry benchmarks for high- performance and low power consumption through an innovative feature set supported by world-class design support. Ideally suited for ATCA and MicroTCA backplane or processing connectivity, these platforms will benefit from the switch's ability to route packets to over 64,000 endpoints, independent unicast and multicast routing mechanisms, and error management extensions that provide proactive issue notification to the fabric controller. This switch interconnects Serial RapidIO-enabled processors and peripheral devices, supporting an aggregate bandwidth of 80 Gbits/s. Scalable for a broad spectrum of networking, wireless and video infrastructure applications, designers can take advantage of configuration options to efficiently manage power requirements for high-performance. The Tsi578's port flexibility supports up to eight 4x mode ports or sixteen 1x mode ports, with each port configurable to 1.25 Gbits/s, 2.5 Gbits/s or 3.125 Gbits/s. All of the switch's ports are completely independent and will support mixed configurations of width and speed. "The momentum behind Tundra's expanding portfolio of Serial RapidIO Switches is a strong indicator of the increasing growth of the market for RapidIO-based products," said Tom Cox, executive director of the RapidIO Trade Association. "Tundra's commitment to leveraging its RapidIO expertise to advance the RapidIO System Interconnect is a reflection of its on-going product leadership." "Our TMS320TCI6482, the industry's first high-performance RapidIO-enabled DSP, is optimized for 3G and WiMax. We expect the high-performance multicast capability within the Tsi578 Serial RapidIO Switch to enhance performance and simplify system design for wireless applications," said Alan Gatherer, chief technology officer for Texas Instruments Communications Infrastructure Group. "Base station designers will recognize the combined value proposition of these two Serial RapidIO products which provide higher performance, greater scalability, better cost and accelerated time to market." "Tundra's Tsi578 Serial RapidIO Switch is a strong addition to a RapidIO ecosystem and an excellent companion device to Freescale's PowerQUICC processors that support Serial RapidIO," said Robert Gohn, director of strategy of Freescale Semiconductor's Networking and Computing Systems Group. "For customers seeking high-performance solutions for their communications infrastructure applications such as AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA, - the Freescale and Tundra Serial RapidIO combination is a very attractive option." Serial RapidIO Switch Enables High-Performance Systems The Tsi578 integrates several features that allow the switch to leverage the high-performance capabilities of the Serial RapidIO interconnect protocol. The switch has low latency between ports and each port has optional store and forward or cut-through modes providing peek performance in any configuration. In addition, there is extensive traffic management through three fabric scheduling algorithms and programmable buffer depth for guaranteed bandwidth. Fabric performance monitoring enables supervised and managed traffic flows that result in real-time fabric optimization. "With the addition of the Tsi578 to their RapidIO switch portfolio, Tundra provides a Serial RapidIO solution with a strong set of features that are ideally-suited for high density, compute intensive systems and standard- based architectures including, VPX, VPX-REDI, and VXS applications such as radar, imaging, and various Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) applications," said Lynn Patterson, vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, Modular Systems. "We welcome the addition of the Tsi578 with its high-performance multicast capability. Mango's DSP cards combine ten or more processors and the Tsi578 enables high bandwidth communications between all the devices," said Joel Rotem, director of Technical Sales, Mango DSP. "The Tsi578 is a core component in our high-performance product line, making applications such as high definition H264 broadcast, multi-channel media gateways and high resolution industrial machine vision possible." "The introduction of Tundra's third generation RapidIO switch validates Serial RapidIO as a leading technology for embedded applications," said Jag Bolaria, senior analyst at The Linley Group. "Tundra's latest switch is highly scalable and with its multicast, traffic management and fabric performance monitoring capabilities will give designers a high degree of confidence to architect their next-generation systems with RapidIO." AVAILABILITY AND DESIGN SUPPORT TOOLS The Tsi578 Serial RapidIO Switch will be sampling in August 2006. Volume pricing for the Tsi578 is under $99USD. The Tsi578 is implemented in 0.13 micron CMOS technology and is forward compatible with the Tsi568A(TM) and packaged in a 27mm x 27mm, 675-ball FCBGA package. The device requires 1.2V and 3.3V power supplies and is rated for industrial and commercial temperature operations. The switch also supports IEEE 1149.6 JTAG standard for high speed interconnects. For more information on product features and benefits, go to www.tundra.com/tsi578 With the combination of accessible applications engineering support and the Tundra Serial RapidIO Development Platform, designers can execute flexible and rapid prototyping, which saves time and resources, and results in faster time to market for their systems. ABOUT TUNDRA RAPIDIO(R) SWITCHES Tundra switches provide chip-to-chip interconnect between RapidIO end- points and can replace existing proprietary backplane fabrics for board-to- board interconnect. As a founding member of the RapidIO Trade Association and long-time Steering Committee member, Tundra continues to provide leadership in the development of the RapidIO standard and was the first semiconductor vendor to bring Parallel and Serial RapidIO switches to market. RapidIO is the leading serial interconnect standard for embedded systems and is supported by industry leaders such as, Alcatel, AMCC, EMC Corporation, Ericsson, Freescale Semiconductor and Lucent Technologies. The Tundra family of RapidIO switches includes the Tsi578, Tsi568A, Tsi564A(TM) and Tsi500(TM). ABOUT TUNDRA Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (TSX:TUN) is the global leader in System Interconnect providing world-class support and leading edge semiconductor solutions to the world's foremost communications, networking, storage system, and information technology vendors. Consistently delivering on system level performance promises that reduce time to market, Tundra System Interconnect ensures market advantage in wireless infrastructure, storage networking, network access, military, industrial automation, and information technology applications. For more information, please visit www.tundra.com. Attachments: For Product Photos visit: http://www.tundra.com/pics/products/Tsi578-web.jpg For Block Diagrams visit: http://www.tundra.com/pics/diagrams/80B803A_BK001_01.gif Tundra Semiconductor Products: http://www.tundra.com/Products/ProductsListing.cfm Tundra Semiconductor Webinars: http://www.tundra.com/NewsRoom/Webcasts/index.cfm Tundra Semiconductor White Papers: http://www.tundra.com/InMailBox/download.cfm TUNDRA is a registered trademark of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (Canada, U.S. and U.K.). TUNDRA and the Tundra logo are registered marks of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation (Canada - registration in the United States, European Union, and People's Republic of China pending). Tsi578, Tsi568A, Tsi564A and Tsi500 are trademarks of Tundra Semiconductor Corporation. Other registered and unregistered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Development of the Tsi578(TM) was made possible in part with the assistance of the Technology Partnerships Canada Program. (C) Copyright 2006 Tundra Semiconductor Corporation. All rights reserved. Information subject to change without notice.