Support for 2nd generation Intel Core
starts rolling out
Phil Ling 1/10/2011 10:13 AM EST
Following Intel’s introduction of its 2nd generation Core processors at CES 2011, embedded computing manufacturers are already announcing new products that will feature the enhanced processors. Additional features that target the laptop PC could find their way in to industrial applications and embedded devices faster than any previous product launches.
Emerson Network Power has announced its latest series of Mini-ITX form factor embedded motherboards will support the new 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2710QE and Intel Core i5-2510E processors.
The MITX-CORE-800 series targets makers of intelligent kiosks, digital signage, medical clinical equipment and gaming machines and promises an improved power/performance ratio compared to previous generation embedded motherboards.
It will also offer improvements in graphics processing, PCI Express and on-board storage interfaces, says the company, as well as enhanced software support.
Featuring up to 8GB DDR3 memory, dual display capability from multiple physical display connections and Intel vPro technology, the new embedded motherboards should appeal to the rapidly growing market for connected consumer portals.
The MITX-CORE-800 series features a PICMG standard Extended Application Programming Interface (EAPI) to simplify the control of essential hardware functionality such as the backlight inverter and the watchdog timer. Emerson Network Power says it has also simplified the way in which developers can customise and configure the motherboards’ BIOS to speed integration and accelerate time-to-revenue.
Also, congatec has announced new COM Express small form factor module based on the 2nd generation family.
The conga-BM67 features the Intel® CoreTM i7-2710QE processor (2.1 GHz, 45W, PGA), one of Intel’s latest mobile quad-core processors supported for the embedded market.
The conga-BM67 is a two chip solution that utilises the QM67 Express chipset.
The processor graphics supports the Intel Flexible Display Interface (FDI), which allows for two independent video channels on the VGA, LVDS, HDMI, DisplayPort or SDVO interfaces.
The major highlight of the Type 2 pinout COM Express Basic (95x125mm) module is the boost in graphics performance. The 3D performance has been increased substantially when compared to Intel’s previous generation of processor-graphics. The Intel HD graphics supports Intel Clear Video Technology and DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA) for accelerated video processing.
Paired with the additional computing performance of the 2nd generation Intel Core processor family, the conga-BM67 targets intense graphics applications that are often found in gaming, medical, automation or digital signage applications.
Six PCI Express lanes, eight USB 2.0 ports, four SATA with RAID support, one EIDE and a Gigabit Ethernet interface allow for fast and flexible system extensions.
Fan control, LPC bus for slow speed extensions and Intel High Definition Audio complete the feature set.
All conga-BM67 modules are equipped with an embedded UEFI and board controller, said to enhance embedded features such as system monitoring, watchdog timer and the I²C bus.
The board controller has the ability to isolate itself from the main x86 processor
and therefore can provide these features even when in stand-by mode,
which in turn offers further power saving functionality.
In addition to enhanced power management,
the congatec embedded UEFI also supports ACPI 3.0 battery management.
This story originally appeared on EE Times Europe.
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