Freescale QorIQ P1012 and P1021 processors

Freescale has introduced its first processors based on its QorIQ communications platform that also incorporate QUICC engine multiprotocol technology.

The QorIQ P1012/P1021 product family offers a high-performance, low-power migration path to all-IP environments for users with legacy multiprotocol interfaces.

Most embedded multicore processors integrate general-purpose CPUs not optimised for data-plane tasks, thus requiring more or faster CPUs to deliver the same level of performance for multiprotocol processing.

The QorIQ P1012 and P1021 processors deliver multiprotocol processing by integrating the latest QUICC engine technology alongside one or two 800 MHz cores based on Power Architecture.

The combination of the QorIQ and QUICC engine technologies enables the devices to provide both data- and control-plane processing, which eliminates the need for separate FPGAs or ASICs.

The devices are pin compatible with existing QorIQ P1 and P2 products, as well as software compatible with several PowerQUICC II Pro and PowerQUICC III processors, including the MPC8323, MPC8358, MPC8360 and MPC8569 devices.

In addition, the P1012 and P1021 processors can be paired with VortiQa application software to create performance-optimised SMB gateway products.

The processors support legacy interfaces and protocols such as T1/E1, xDSL, ATM, HDLC and 10/100/1000 ethernet for applications including multiservice routers, SMB gateways and IP-PBX equipment.

The programmability of the QUICC engine also enables industrial interfaces and protocols, providing the flexibility to support additional applications with a common platform.

Based on 45 nm process technology, the processors incorporate large, high-performance L2 cache memories and feature support for power-efficient DDR3 memory. The devices also integrate SGMII, USB 2.0 and PCI Express interconnect.