Freescale Teams with Software Suppliers on New Communications Platforms

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Freescale Semiconductor Inc. unveiled a pair of new communications processor platforms this week, and said that it is already partnering with suppliers to provide embedded software for the new products.

The two new platforms, part of the company's QorIQ processor lines, include 64-bit and quad-core products. Markets for the new platforms include high-end control and data plane applications in aerospace and defense, robotics, routers, switches, networking, enterprise storage and data centers.

Freescale engineers said that implementation of the new communications processors would be made simpler for engineers by the rollout of software from such companies as Green Hills Software, Enea, Mentor Graphics, Wind River, CodeSourcery, Curtiss-Wright Controls, Emerson Network Power, GE Intelligent Platforms, Mercury Computer Systems and QNX. The availability of development tools for multi-core and 64-bit products, along with operating systems and virtualization tools, is critical to enabling engineers to bring products to market faster, Freescale said.

"Some customers find it difficult to move to 64-bit because it's an investment for them," said Katie Butler, a product marketing engineer in Freescale's Networking Systems Div. "Having an ecosystem of third-party software simplifies it."

Freescale's new processors, introduced at the Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) held in Orlando this week, will include the single-core 64-bit P5010, the dual-core 64-bit P5020 and the quad-core P3041. The QorIQ 64-bit platform features the company's e5500 core, which is said to deliver twice the performance of Freescale's earlier e500 core, reaching frequencies up to 2.5 GHz.

Software vendors at FTF this week said they would supply development tools and operating systems for the P5010, P5020 and P3041 platforms.

"We're providing the foundation elements that allow them to develop and execute the code," said Dan Mender, vice president of business development for Green Hills Software Inc., which offers tools for code cogeneration, execution and debug for the QorIQ family. "This delivers a part of what's required to take people to 64 bits, or from single-core to multi-core."