To most technologists, cloud computing is about applications, servers, storage and connectivity. To Texas Instruments Incorporated it means much more. TI is unveiling a BETTER way to cloud with six new multicore System-on-Chips (SoCs). Based on its award winning KeyStone architecture, TI's SoCs are designed to revitalize cloud computing, inject new verve and excitement into pivotal infrastructure systems and, despite their feature rich specifications and superior performance, actually reduce energy consumption.
To TI, a BETTER way to cloud means:
- Safer communities thanks to enhanced weather modeling;
- Higher returns from time sensitive financial analysis;
- Improved productivity and safety in energy exploration;
- Exceptional video on any screen, anywhere, any time;
- More productive and environmentally friendly factories;
- An overall reduction in energy consumption for a greener planet.
TI's new KeyStone multicore SoCs are enabling this – and much more. These 28-nm devices integrate TI's fixed-and floating-point TMS320C66x digital signal processor (DSP) generation cores – yielding the best performance per watt ratio in the DSP industry – with multiple ARM® Cortex-A15 MPCore processors – delivering unprecedented processing capability combined with low power consumption – facilitating the development of a wide-range of infrastructure applications that can enable more efficient cloud experiences. The unique combination of Cortex-A15 processors and C66x DSP cores, with built-in packet processing and Ethernet switching, is designed to efficiently offload and enhance the cloud's first generation general purpose servers; servers that struggle with big data applications like high performance computing and video processing.
TI's six new high-performance SoCs include the 66AK2E02, 66AK2E05, 66AK2H06, 66AK2H12, AM5K2E02 and AM5K2E04, all based on the KeyStone multicore architecture. With KeyStone's low latency high bandwidth multicore shared memory controller (MSMC), these new SoCs yield 50 percent higher memory throughput when compared to other RISC-based SoCs. Together, these processing elements, with the integration of security processing, networking and switching, reduce system cost and power consumption, allowing developers to support the development of more cost-efficient, green applications and workloads, including high performance computing, video delivery and media and image processing.
| KeyStone Multicore SoC | Features | Application |
|
66AK2E02 66AK2E05 |
1 Cortex-A15 processor 1 C66x DSP
4 Cortex-A15 processors |
Enterprise video, IP cameras (IPNC), traffic systems (ITS), video analytics, industrial imaging, portable medical devices |
|
66AK2H06
|
2 Cortex-A15 processors 4 C66x DSPs
|
High performance computing, media processing, video conferencing, off-line image processing & analytics, video recorders (DVR/NVR), gaming, medical imaging |
|
AM5K2E02 AM5K2E04 |
2 Cortex-A15 processors
4 Cortex-A15 processors |
Cloud infrastructure, routers, switches, wireless transport, industrial sensor control |
Availability and pricing
TI's 66AK2Hx SoCs are currently available for sampling, with broader device availability in 1Q13 and EVM availability in 2Q13. AM5K2Ex and 66AK2Ex samples and EVMs will be available in the second half of 2013. Pricing for these devices will start at $49 for 1 KU.
