Motorola PowerPC(TM) Processor Delivers New Power Management Features, Higher Performance
Low-Power, Gigahertz-Class Version of MPC7447A Processor Containing a PowerPC Core Consumes Less Than 10W, Provides Optimal Solution for Power-Sensitive Embedded Designs
AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- System developers can rev up the performance of their embedded applications while staying within tight power budgets by using the MPC7447A processor from Motorola, Inc. . This high-performance, power-efficient 32-bit RISC device, operating in excess of 1.4GHz, is the latest and fastest member of the MPC74xx PowerPC processor family.
The MPC7447A offers developers on-chip power management features, such as the ability to change clock frequencies dynamically. This capability enables users to change CPU clock speed on the fly and significantly reduce processor power consumption to match performance with application requirements. The MPC7447A processor also contains a temperature sensing diode that can be used to monitor die temperature under various operating conditions.
MPC7447A processors are manufactured in Austin, Texas, on Motorola's 130nm HiPerMOS silicon-on-insulator (SOI) copper interconnect process technology, which is designed to enable superior performance and excellent low power capability. When operating at 1.42GHz, the MPC7447A has a typical power consumption of less than 20W. A lower-power version of the MPC7447A, consuming less than 10W at 1167MHz, is available for power-sensitive applications that require gigahertz-class performance.
"There seems to be a fundamental shift in how CPUs are used outside the ordinary server and PC markets," said Eric M. Mantion, senior analyst with In- Stat/MDR. "For system design concepts such as grid computing or embedded computing, developers don't just care about raw computational abilities, but rather the ratio of performance capabilities to power consumption. This new flops-per-Watt metric becomes critical for advanced networking equipment used to handle terabits of data, or for paradigm-shifting computational platforms like Mercury Computer Systems' PowerStream 7000. When developing a system that can perform teraflops of calculations in a refrigerator-size form factor, it is difficult to do this at 100 Watts per CPU. Due to its exceptional performance per wattage ratio, we can expect to see Motorola's MPC7447A PowerPC processor used in a wide number of embedded applications over the next few years."
The MPC7447A offers exceptional price/performance and is an optimal processor solution for a wide range of embedded applications, such as network control plane processing, telecommunications switching, signal processing, high-end printers, and state-of-the art military, healthcare monitoring, and industrial imaging systems.
"Motorola's MPC7447A processor enables Mercury to develop higher- performance products for commercial applications such as semiconductor inspection, while preserving our customers' application investment," said Richard Jaenicke, director of product management at Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. "In defense electronics, the MPC7447A makes it possible to phase into production a backward-compatible upgrade that provides increased performance per Watt, which is critical to airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications."
At the heart of the MPC7447A is a high-speed superscalar PowerPC core that is capable of issuing four instructions per clock cycle (three instructions + branch) into eleven independent execution units. Additional architectural features that distinguish the MPC7447A include 512KB of on-chip L2 cache, full symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support, a 64-bit bus interface, and a full 128-bit implementation of Motorola's AltiVec(TM) Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) vector processing technology.
AltiVec technology is designed to deliver exceptional compute power for controller and signal processing applications. With its vector execution unit, AltiVec technology supports high-bandwidth data processing and computationally intensive algorithms, such as those used in high-end routers and wireless basestations. This advanced approach allows designers to leverage existing PowerPC code and add AltiVec performance as market and customer requirements change--helping speed time to market and increase system performance without upgrading hardware. AltiVec code libraries are available at http://www.motorola.com/altivec .
MPC7447A processors are pin-for-pin compatible with Motorola's MPC7445 and MPC7447 processors. This pin-compatible migration path helps customers reduce their development costs, accelerates time to market, and ensures software compatibility. Like all Motorola processors containing PowerPC cores, the MPC7447A is software compatible with the MPC7xx family of processors from Motorola. The MPC7447A is available in a 360-pin ceramic ball grid array (CBGA) package, an ideal choice for space-constrained designs requiring a smaller embedded CPU footprint.
As with other Motorola processors containing PowerPC cores, the MPC7447A is supported by an extensive suite of software and hardware development tools from Metrowerks, a Motorola company, and from third-party members of Motorola's Smart Networks Alliance.
High Scores on EEMBC(R) Benchmarks
Motorola has measured the performance of the 1.42GHz MPC7447A processor in five different application areas using the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium's (EEMBC) benchmarks. The resulting scores as certified by the EEMBC Certification Labs (ECL) are shown below for the out-of-the-box ANSI C code provided by EEMBC and for the networking and telecommunications benchmarks optimized per EEMBC rules using AltiVec technology. The optimized benchmarks demonstrate the potential performance improvement that is possible through innovative software techniques that take advantage of AltiVec technology.
The 1.42GHz MPC7447A achieved the following benchmark scores in EEMBC's five application areas:
- Automotive/Industrial: 1564.1
- Consumer: 197.2
- Networking: 46.7 (135.0 when optimized with AltiVec technology)
- Telecommunications: 41.4 (500.6 when optimized with AltiVec technology)
- Office Automation: 1793.8
Pricing and Availability
Initial samples of the MPC7447A PowerPC processor are available today to selected customers. Suggested retail pricing for the MPC7447A at 1.42 GHz is $245 (USD) in quantities of 10,000.
About Motorola
Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in wireless, broadband and automotive communications technologies that help make life smarter, safer, simpler, synchronized and fun. Sales in 2003 were U.S. $27.1 billion. Motorola creates innovative technological solutions that benefit people at home, at work and on the move. The company also is a progressive corporate citizen dedicated to operating ethically, protecting the environment and supporting the communities in which it does business. For more information: http://www.motorola.com/ .
MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. The "PowerPC" name is the trademark of IBM Corp. and used under license from IBM Corp.
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Office, +1-512-560-6197 Mobile, dale.weisman@motorola.com , or Kathy
Truesdell, Representing Motorola, +1-512-301-0615 Office, +1-512-633-8620
Mobile, truesdel@onr.com , Europe, Middle East, Africa, Regina Cirmonova,
+41-22-799-1258, regina.cirmonova@motorola.com , Asia Pacific, Gloria Shiu,
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+1 (480) 814-4897, Ruth.Ruiz@motorola.com , all of Motorola
Web site: http://www.motorola.com/
http://www.motorola.com/altivec
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