San Francisco; Intel Developer Forum — (press release excerpt) — RadiSys Corp. unveiled the industry's first “processor PMC” (PrPMC) CPU module based on Intel's 800 MHz Low Voltage Pentium III processor with 512K cache. Designated the EPC-6315, the highly compact (2.9 x 6.0 in.) computer module is targeted at high density, high performance applications like protocol stack processing, controllers for… network storage arrays, and ultra-dense server arrays. The EPC-6315 supports Linux and several other popular embedded operating systems.

Historically, single-board computer designs included the processor, supporting chipset and memory, and all I/O on a single board. This approach required a complete board redesign to account for any processor change, such as increasing speed, upgrading to a new processor or any change in the I/O. The EPC-6315 breaks this paradigm by modularizing the CPU complex of an embedded design on an easily replaceable and upgradeable mezzanine card and all the I/O on the main board. This allows OEMs to enhance the processing power and memory size without redesigning the complex I/O — thus preserves the significant investment in high speed I/O for a much longer time.

View of EPC-6315 showing the Pentium III and other ICs

A large copper heat sink permits fanless operation

In addition to its 800 MHz Low Voltage Pentium III processor with 512K cache, the EPC-6315 features up to 512MB of PC133 SDRAM with ECC, a 10/100 BaseT Ethernet port with a RJ-45 connector on the front panel, and a compact flash socket with front panel access. The EPC-6315 also supports 32 bit/66 MHz PCI bus connectivity.

The EPC-6315 automatically detects the insertion slot and adapts its personality to either the PCI bus master or slave mode, allowing it to function as either a system master or an auxilliary processor. When installed in a “Monarch” (master) PrPMC socket, the EPC-6315 enumerates the PCI bus and services interrupts from this bus. When installed on a “Non-Monarch” (slave) socket, the EPC-6315 accepts enumeration from the bus and generates PCI bus interrupts as required by the application.

The EPC-6315 will be available in the second quarter of 2002. Pricing for a typical configuration with 256MB memory in OEM quantities is $1,252.

 
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