New QorIQ LS1 multicore processors with datapath acceleration and forthcoming QorIQ LS2 processors with ARM® Cortex®-A72 cores provide depth and scale to industry’s broadest networking processor portfolio

AUSTIN, Texas — (BUSINESS WIRE) — June 22, 2015 — As the world’s networks become increasingly virtualized, intelligence is being driven to the network’s edge, making access to personal data faster, more secure and more available. Implementation flexibility and ease of performance, delivered by the right mix of hardware/software processing resources and datapath offload, is paramount to enabling service providers and OEMs to deliver specialized equipment required for dynamic and flexible networks that are the backbone of the evolving Internet of Things.

To address these needs, Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) today introduced the QorIQ LS1088A octal and LS1048A quad multicore processors based on the performance-optimized and power-conscious 64-bit capable ARM Cortex-A53 cores. The devices integrate Freescale’s second-generation datapath acceleration architecture (DPAA2), delivering datapath offload with software developers in mind, and providing networking engineers with the processing resources to deliver low power, flexible and cost-efficient solutions for new virtualized networks as envisioned by ARM and others.

Further expanding the industry’s broadest ARM portfolio of multicore networking SoCs, the QorIQ LS1088A and LS1048A processors feature Cortex-A53 cores running up to 1.5 GHz. The devices deliver exceptional integration, incorporating DDR4 memory controllers and up to two 10 Gb/s and eight 1 Gb/s Ethernet interfaces with L2 switch capabilities. These ultra-low-power processors are specifically designed for intelligent edge access equipment, NFV and virtual CPE solutions, industrial control systems and intelligent NIC applications.

“Last year we announced the QorIQ LS2 family for the new virtualized network, and today we are in full execution mode and are uniquely positioned for even greater portfolio expansion with the upcoming integration of Cortex-A72 core technology,” said Tareq Bustami, vice president of Freescale's Digital Networking group. “Continuing this momentum, we’re making the network more personal by bringing data closer and more accessible to consumers. The QorIQ LS1088A processor pairs our offload datapath with ARM’s most advanced 64-bit capable Cortex-A53 core, providing an excellent balance of low power and high performance, and bringing an advanced architectural solution to the value tier and the intelligent edge.”

The products are the first ultra-low power communications processors targeting access and vCPE applications to leverage Freescale’s second-generation programmable datapath architecture (DPAA2), which enables extreme performance and ease of use through sophisticated accelerator sharing and a simplified, secure networking interface. DPAA2 incorporates a range of powerful acceleration engines, including an advanced I/O processor to offload software running on the CPUs. The next-generation datapath’s high-performance also powers a range of proven Freescale network security engines. The result is the introduction of two highly secure communications processors featuring extreme value, power efficiency and processing power.

Another Freescale first: ARM Cortex-72 for networking

Freescale continues to extend its vast portfolio of ARM-based communications processors by being the first to announce plans to use the ARM Cortex-A72 core in a forthcoming communications processor. Planned for integration into an upcoming QorIQ LS2 processor product line, the Cortex-A72 core is the highest-performance and most advanced ARMv8-A processor core. Cortex-A72 technology simultaneously reduces overall power consumption while delivering best-in-class performance.

“Freescale’s datapath acceleration technology and ARM Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A72 cores can help deliver an Intelligent Flexible Cloud with the agility and efficiency needed for evolving mobile and IoT connectivity,” said Charlene Marini, vice president of embedded segment marketing, ARM. “As data traffic and management complexity grow we must address network power, cost and latency challenges. Freescale’s QorIQ LS1088A and LS1048A products enable this by combining highly-efficient general purpose compute with DPAA2 acceleration technology for robust and efficient packet processing.”

Development ecosystem and software for ease of use

Development support for the QorIQ LS1088A and LS1048A processors is planned to include a comprehensive software toolkit that provides high levels of hardware abstraction and streamlines software development. This combination balances ease-of-use with high performance processing in a familiar Linux^® environment. With this toolkit, customers can fully exploit the underlying hardware and easily adapt to network changes for real-time ‘soft’ control over the network.

Freescale’s comprehensive enablement ecosystem supports further ease of use with APIs for Linaro and OpenDataPath (ODP) technologies, as well as management software for easy setup, initialization and teardown of interfaces, accelerators and networking functions. Additionally, performance-optimized functional datapath libraries, Freescale VortiQa software solutions and an array of development tools and open source software are also planned.

Availability

Freescale’s QorIQ LS1088A and LS1048A devices are planned for availability in Q1 2016. In addition, Freescale will show new demonstrations based on the QorIQ LS1 and LS2 family processors this week at FTF Americas, showcasing the power and performance of Freescale’s advanced datapath technology.

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