July 29, 2005 – Raleigh NC and Toulon, France – Continuing its commitment to offer customers the latest technology and fullest array of VMEbus and embedded system solutions, Thales Computers activities is pleased to make the first dual-G5 VME system available to the embedded computer industry.
The EasyG5 System is an industrial version of the IBM Power Architecture technology in a convenient 6U format using dual PPC970 processors on a VME single board computer (SBC). It is 100% compatible with the existing IBM JS20 computer blade (service processor included).
Alain Albarello, General Manager of Thales’ Computers, commented, “By offering products compatible with Power Architecture technology, Thales is helping to establish a reference platform for the VME embedded community.”
The new EasyG5 System processor board has two PPC970 processors operating at 1.6 GHz with a temperature range of 0°C to +55°C. It has up to 1 GB of memory and peak memory bandwidth of 6.4 GB/s, as well as peak PCI memory bandwidth of 850 MB/s.
The PowerPC-based G5 system supports the PPC64 version of Linux (such as RedHat or Novell/Suse for Power Architecture) . One 64-bit PMC site and one USB port, along with 10/100/1000 BASE-T Ethernet, are provided. A compact 2U 19″ rack houses the single board computer for application development.
“Power Architecture products will reduce time-to-market and increase access to new market opportunities,” stated Robert Nègre, Vice President of Engineering.
A turnkey evaluation system is available that includes a 19″ 2U Rack (R2064x), a VME board with two G5 CPUs at 1.6 GHz, Red Hat Enterprise Linux and VxWorks 6.x, plus one year of Hotline support.
About Thales: Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets worldwide. The Group employs 60,000 people throughout the world and generated revenues of 10.3 billion euros in 2004.
Thales’computers involve the development of commercial and ruggedized VMEbus & CompactPCI solutions based on PowerPC and Pentium microprocessors. Thales’ products are optimized for a wide variety of applications in the military, aerospace, transportation, communications and industrial markets and are used by customers worldwide, including Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Bombardier, Toshiba, BAE Systems, Selex, Ericsson, Alcatel, Thales Group and others.