Freescale targets storage market with new PowerQUICC

TOKYO: Manufacturers of storage and printing equipment for consumer and small/medium business (SMB) markets now can leverage the high performance, exceptional integration and industry-leading security of the newest additions to the PowerQUICC II Pro product line from Freescale Semiconductor.

Freescale’s storage family blends outstanding performance, integration, security and power management capabilities in a range of price and performance configurations. The processors integrate a broad array of technologies essential for success in storage markets, including SATA, PCI Express, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet, XOR acceleration and high-performance security functionality.

“Every connection matters, especially when storing, sharing and protecting your most valuable personal and business data,” said Chekib Akrout, vice president and general manager of Freecale’s Networking Systems Division. “Content-rich interaction, network-enabled media distribution and the desire for private content repositories continue to drive storage within residential and SMB markets. Freecale’s family of storage processors addresses these trends and positions Freescale well for success in these markets.”

The storage family’s MPC837xE product line targets SMB markets, supports RAID 5 and is designed for Network Attached Storage (NAS) applications. It also meets market requirements for other SMB technologies such as access points, gateways and printing/imaging equipment.

The storage family’s MPC8314E and MPC8315E products target consumer and SOHO markets. They support RAID 0-1, and enable the creation of digital media server and consumer NAS devices, as well as consumer and SOHO products such as residential gateways, 802.11n access points and industrial control products.

"Freescale’s new processors integrate the technologies required for success in the SMB, SOHO and consumer storage markets, which are growing rapidly,” said Linley Gwennap, principal analyst for The Linley Group. “Leveraging Freescale’s strength in performance, security and power management, these highly integrated devices should be welcomed by manufacturers and systems designers."

Affordable, secure network storage systems for SMB markets

NAS is a fast-growing market segment for small- and medium-sized businesses – especially organizations limited to minimal IT support. In addition to dealing with disaster recovery requirements and ever-increasing amounts of business content such as e-mail, Web content, video and e-business transaction records, these businesses require increasingly sophisticated storage capabilities driven in part by government regulations such as notification and retention policy changes.

Freescale addresses SMB market requirements with the MPC837xE product line, consisting of the MPC8379E, MPC8378E and MPC8377E processors. The MPC8379E integrates four SATA controllers and PHYs that reduce overall system chip count and bill-of-material (BOM) costs for four-drive NAS devices. The MPC8378E supports PCI Express and SGMII for wireless access points, and the MPC8377E enables next generation multi-functional printers with the integration of two SATA controllers and two PCI Express controllers for direct hard disk drive and I/O connectivity.

SOHO/consumer and the connected home – secure storage at a consumer price

Many consumers today manage, store and share personal content in the form of photos, video and digital music using networked personal computers and entertainment devices. The growing volume of personal content is driving rapid adoption of connected, dedicated, non-PC-based home NAS products. These devices increasingly incorporate media server features in addition to traditional data backup functionality, resulting in highly advanced networked media hub appliances. Freescale’s storage family addresses this market with a line of highly integrated, high performance, BOM-optimized solutions.

The MPC8314E and MPC8315E products enable sophisticated, feature-rich devices that make the digital home experience easier, richer and safer. With these processors, OEMs and ODMs can now create NAS appliances for the sub-$300 market featuring multiple hard drives for the SOHO and connected home markets. The MPC8315E integrates SATA, PCI-Express and USB with PHY technologies to help lower BOM cost and speed time-to-market for customers. The cost-effective MPC8314E is designed to meet the requirements of several SOHO applications including residential gateway, WLAN access point, printing, IP services and industrial control applications.

Security

Freescale’s storage processors are available with or without hardware encryption capabilities. The company’s encryption technology offloads security algorithm processing tasks, freeing the CPU to run additional applications.

Ecosystem of enablement

Freescale’s PowerQUICC processors, built on Power Architecture technology, are supported by a strong ecosystem of third party hardware and software partners offering development tools and systems, as well as robust middleware and software stacks. For developers, this ecosystem means faster board bring-up, more rapid application development and more accurate performance benchmarking.