CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.–15 July 2008– GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms today confirmed its leadership in bringing the latest technology to its customers with the announcement of the VG6, which features the MPC8640 and MPC8640D low power Power Architecture® processors launched by Freescale Semiconductor of Austin, Texas today.
Many demanding embedded computing applications are deployed in confined spaces where the heat generated by the computer can be hard to dissipate. As heat in the enclosure increases, maintaining reliable operation becomes increasingly challenging. GE Fanuc has been working closely with Freescale, an industry leader in processor technology for embedded applications, to enable the VG6 to offer optional support for the MPC8640 and MPC8640D, providing an alternative solution that is designed to create less heat, thus making it very attractive for this kind of application. According to Freescale, the MPC8640(D) processor consumes up to 27% less power than an equivalent MPC8641(D).
“With the advanced MPC8640 and MPC8640D processors, we are now able to offer our customers the ability to design and build high performance systems that consume less power and dissipate less heat. These are vital characteristics in many military and aerospace applications,” said Peter Cavill, General Manager, Military & Aerospace Business at GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “With its range of processor options, the VG6 delivers significant price/performance flexibility, enabling customers to choose the precise amount of processing power required for the target application, as well as choosing the appropriate degree of ruggedization for the planned environment.”
“The VG6 is one of a range of Power Architecture single board computers GE Fanuc can offer customers, giving them even further assurance of an exact fit with their needs,” he continued. “It is also compelling to existing VG5 customers, for whom it represents a natural upgrade path.”
The VG6 also supports the Freescale™ MPC8641 and MPC8641D processors based on Power Architecture technology. The 6U VME VG6 is available as a dual node/single node, dual node/single node single board computer, and is designed for high performance in harsh environments such as military/aerospace and industrial automation and more benign environments such as medical and scientific applications.
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms also announced that its DSP220 6U VXS quad MPC8641/MPC8641D multicomputer and DS230 6U VPX quad 8641/8641D multicomputer will also be made available with the MPC8640 and MPC8640D processors.
“The announcement of the MPC8640 and MPC8640D brings an exciting performance/power paradigm to the market, and fulfils customer requirements for solutions that offer high throughput but with lower power dissipation – a key requirement in the military/aerospace sector,” said Glenn Beck, marketing manager for Freescale Semiconductor. “GE Fanucs VG6 platform brings attractive new options to those customers.”
The VG6 can be configured as a single MPC8640 single core, single MPC8640 D dual core, dual MPC8640 single core and dual MPC8640D dual core solution, with x8 PCI Express™ adapter between the nodes: the same options are available for customers choosing the 8641 and 8641D options. Each node can be configured with up to 2GBytes of DDR2 ECC memory.
Support is provided for three Gigabit Ethernet ports as well as two 10/100Mbit Ethernet ports. Two SATA ports are provided for optimum disk storage performance, while extension slots are provided for both PMC/XMC (PCI-X® 133 or x8 PCI Express) and PMC (PCI-X 100). Connectivity is further enhanced by the provision of four serial I/O ports (two RS232, two RS422) and six (three per node) USB 2.0 interfaces. Supported operating systems include VxWorks® from Wind River Systems and Linux®: LynxOS® from LynuxWorks™ and INTEGRITY® from Green Hills Software are available on request.
The VG6 is available immediately with the MPC8641 and MPC8641D processors: availability of the MPC8640 and MPC8640D processors will follow availability from Freescale Semiconductor.
About GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms
GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms, a joint venture between General Electric (NYSE: GE) and FANUC LTD of Japan, is a high-performance technology company and a global provider of hardware, software, services, expertise and experience in automation and embedded computing, with products employed in virtually every industry, including manufacturing automation, defense, automotive, telecommunications, healthcare and aerospace. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms is a worldwide company headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, and is part of GE Enterprise Solutions. GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms provides a unique foundation of agile, advanced and ultra-reliable technology that customers can trust to ensure their long-term success. For more information, visit www.gefanuc.com