Power.org Blog

Power.org is providing a special incentive where members can have their admission fees waived if they get 2 additional participants to register for the Power Architecture Developer Conference. For more information on participating in the program, go to:
http://www.power.org/devcon/07/register/mbr_incentive/

Power Architecture Developer Conference
September, 24-25, 2007
Austin, Texas
www.power.org/devcon

I just returned from the Freescale Technology Forum (June 25-28,2007) and can report that it was an excellent example of Power Architecture’s scalability and pervasiveness in major computing markets.  The Freescale event attracted a record 2,300 developers to Orlando for over 380 hours of technical training sessions including 93 unique sessions covering aspects of Power Architecture processors, software, systems and tools.  These sessions broadly covered Power Architecture in automotive, industrial, consumer and networking applications. 
The 28,000 square-foot Technology Lab included numerous examples of Power Architecture in action.  There is an enormous ecosystem around Power Architecture products and as expected, they were out in full force: MontaVista, Wind River, GDA, Green Hills, Tundra, LynuxWorks, MEN, QNX, and many more.  It is interesting to see how each of the enabling building blocks comes together to form a solution.
For example, the Freescale MPC8360E-RDK development platform featuring the PowerQUICC® II Pro processor in a COM Express form factor board targets industrial automation and monitoring equipment.  The MPC8360E-RDK illustrates some of the key features of the Power Architecture value proposition: support for a Power Architecture ISA with integrated peripheral controllers (Ethernet, ATM, TDM, serial interfaces, etc, …), on-chip hardware assist (integrated security), and ecosystem support for application-specific protocols (IEEE 1588  and PROFIBUS which is used in discrete manufacturing and process control) and finally, a choice of software platforms (CodeWarrior® tools, VxWorks and Linux).
Freescale’s  Power Architecture portfolio scales 32-bit computing from the small-footprint 40 MHz MPC533, used in real-time control, to the 1.5 GHz dual-core MPC8641D targeted at high-performance embedded computing.  Perhaps most exciting was the technology announcement of Freescale’s future high-end Power Architecture roadmap which will come to market in late 2008 in 45 nm.  The new architecture will scale from 2 to 32 1.5 GHz e500-mc cores connected by an on-chip, non-blocking fabric called CoreNet.  A full year before silicon, engineers will be able to write software on a virtual application development platform from Virtutech.
All in all a great event from Freescale, and I look forward to the Power Architecture Developer’s Conference in September. 
-Eran Strod, Freescale Technology Forum 2007 Attendee

Because Power Architecture technology is used across one of the broadest markets of any microprocessor in the industry, engineers have the opportunity to innovate and customize for their unique designs.  Faced with increasing design challenges, customers depend on MontaVista to not only lead the development of commercially available embedded Linux, but to do so with feature-rich and quicker time-to-market capabilities.  MontaVista’s collaboration with the Power.org community will significantly contribute to the global issues impacting Power Architecture technology and open standard hardware development.

–Jim Ready, CTO and founder of MontaVista Software

At 4.7 GHz, the dual-core POWER6™ processor doubles the speed of the previous generation POWER5™ while using nearly the same amount of electricity to run and cool it. The new server based on the POWER6 chip is the first ever to hold all four major benchmark speed records for business and technical performance. A The processor speed of the POWER6 chip is nearly three times faster than the latest HP Itanium processor that runs HP’s server line. Even more impressive, the processor bandwidth of the POWER6 chip – 300 gigabytes per second — could download the entire iTunes catalog in about 60 seconds – 30 times faster than HP’s Itanium.

Tundra is pleased to join Power.org and the vast ecosystem which it supports. Tundra has a long history in providing system controllers for PowerPC-based applications. We continue to invest in this market place with the recent introduction of the Tsi110 host bridge and see Power.org as another means to add value to the PowerPC ecosystem.

–Benny Chang, Tundra Semiconductor, Chief Technology Officer

At the recent Embedded Systems Conference, visiting the Power.org booth was one of the highlights of the show for me. Among the largest booths on the show floor, Power.org seemed to have spared no expense in getting the word out about the organization and its goals. I began my tour by speaking with Glenn Beck, Marketing Committee Chair for Power.org and also the Industrial/Storage Market Segment Manager of Freescale’s Networking and Computing Systems Group. He filled me in on certain aspects of the organization’s efforts including development of a common debug interface and a high-level API and the fact that the group will be hosting a developer’s conference in Austin, Texas in September.
After we finished our conversation, Phyllis Grabot from Corridor Communications, encouraged me to take a look around the booth. My first stop was at a table that had a Sony Playstation 3 with keyboard and mouse connected. I purchased one of these game systems a month or so ago, not because I am a game player, but because I had read an excellent article in IEEE Spectrum magazine and was duly impressed with the engineering that went into the system. The system was running a version of Linux called Yellow Dog Linux. Since I am a Windows guy, I didn’t realize that the Linux guys were taking advantage of this high-powered $600 PC (sounds cheap when you think of it this way). I picked up of Yellow Dog Linux, which was available free in the booth. I also spoke with Chris Ng from IBM’s Microelectronics Division. He warned me that installing Linux would not be as easy as installing Windows. I figured that, but I think I’m up for the challenge.
As I continued around the booth, I noticed a Ninteno Wii. Two guys were getting a workout playing a game of tennis on the system. So, the Power Architecture has locked down the two hottest game systems of the past holiday season—quite impressive. 
Joe Desposito
Editor-in-Chief
***********************
EEPN

As Jesse previously posted, our first Power.org Software Summit will happen tomorrow 19 April. Thanks to Nina Wilner’s leadership and her core team of contributors, everything is set. Looking forward to having a productive dialog with those who will be joining in person in Austin or via the conference call. We are pretty much out of space for our in person meeting room (could potentially squeeze in a few more people). We can still accommodate participants on the conference call. So, if you haven’t signed up, last chance to do so is today. See you there!

On April 19, 2007 Power.org will be hosting a Software Summit. The event will be in person in Austin TX, as well as live over the web. The Summit will focus on identifying solutions to challenges associated with software development on Power Architecture.

Join fellow software developers and development managers refine Power.org’s software strategy.

Visit the Software summit page to find out how to participate.

April 1-5, 2007, McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, California, USA
Come see Power.org™ and over 20 companies exhibiting a wide variety of Power Architecture solutions, including the organization’s technical work at the 2007 Silicon Valley Embedded Systems Conference. Visit us in booth #1216 for hands-on play with some of the popular game platforms based on Power Architecture technology and find out how to enter to win one.

Learn more about Power.org at ESC

For all those that missed the free T-shirt promotion but still want to get your hands on “Power gear” We have good news, the brand eStore is finally open.

Power.org has partnered with Global Identity to bring you not only Power shirts, mugs and more, but Global Identity has a vast catalog of items which can be special ordered with the Power logo. They also have the opportunity to co-brand Power stuff with your logo, perfect for promoting your Power based solutions at trade shows etc.

You can get to the brand eStore via the Brand Center section of the Power.org web site or you can go directly there at power.global-id.com