ICs & Semiconductors

To help speed time to market Intel offers its 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor (code-named “Ice Lake”), including new network-optimised N-SKUs along with verified solution blueprints.

Intel says its N-SKUs deliver an average 62 per cent more performance on a range of broadly deployed 5G and network workloads over the previous generation. The company has also started sampling next-generation Intel Xeon D processors designed for space and power-constrained environments at the edge.

The new network-optimised SKUs suit wireless core, wireless access, network edge workloads and security appliances. They are available in a range of cores, frequency, features and power to deliver lower latency, higher throughput and deterministic performance for service provider network transformation requirements.

Intel software guard extensions integrated into the 3rd Gen Xeon processors enable secure channel setup and communication between the 5G control functions. Built-in crypto acceleration can reduce the performance impact of full data encryption and increase the performance of encryption-intensive workloads.

The new processors can be paired with Intel’s suite of platform components and software, including Intel FPGAs, Ethernet 800 series adapters, Optane persistent memory, FlexRAN, OpenNESS, Open Visual Cloud and Intel Smart Edge.

Agilex 10 nanometer FPGAs are being used in wireless core and access segments to provide infrastructure acceleration capabilities to complement core and access workloads running on Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

With 3rd gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Intel says that communications service providers can increase 5G UPF performance by up to 42 per cent. Combined with Intel Ethernet 800 series adapters, they can deliver the performance, efficiency and trust for use cases that require low latency, including augmented reality, cloud-based gaming, discrete automation and robotic-aided surgery.

Intel has also announced updates to its network workload-optimised solutions for vRAN, Visual Cloud Deliver Network and NFVI Forwarding Platform, which offer pre-tested and verified configurations. These solutions were developed with various software partners, including Red Hat, VMware and Wind River. Intel is also working with a number of Intel network builders ecosystem partners to verify their offerings for these solutions, including: ASUS, Advantech, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intequus, Inventec, Lanner Electronics, Lenovo, Nexcom, QCT, Supermicro and ZT Systems.

http://www.Intel.com

From Renesas Electronics comes the RX23W module with full Bluetooth 5.0 low energy support for system control and wireless communication on Internet of Things (IoT) endpoint devices.

Featuring the RX23W 32-bit RX MCU supporting fully integrated Bluetooth low energy communication, the new RX23W module is equipped with an antenna, oscillator and custom-matched circuit.

The module is certified under Radio Law for multiple countries, including Japan and the USA, and is Bluetooth SIG certified which is said to eliminate the need for additional RF design work, tuning, or specialised RF knowledge. This in turn means customers can use the module as it is, shortening new product development time.

The small 6.1 mm x 9.5 mm, 83-pin LGA package makes it possible to design more compact devices with fewer external components, reducing the bill of materials cost, says Renesas which also states that this improves the development efficiency of IoT endpoint devices such as home appliance, healthcare and sports and fitness equipment.

The RX23W MCU incorporated in the module also supports long-range and 2 Mbps data throughput. Its communication characteristics offer reception sensitivity level of −105 dBm at 125 kbps. Built around Renesas’ RXv2 CPU core, the RX23W MCU operates at a maximum clock frequency of 54 MHz suiting it to system control. The RX23W also incorporates Renesas’ exclusive security function, the Trusted Secure IP (TSIP), that the company states provides robust protection against threats to IoT devices such as eavesdropping, tampering, and viruses.

A set of peripheral functions includes touch key, USB, and CAN functions.

The RX23W module uses the same software development environment used for RX MCUs, which means developers can work on both system and communication control at the same time. Smart Configurator enables developers to employ a GUI to generate driver code for peripheral functions and Bluetooth, as well as configuring pin settings. QE for BLE enables developers to generate programs for custom Bluetooth profiles.

http://www.renesas.com

In response to demand for specialised processing, security and artificial intelligence (AI), Arm has introduced the Armv9 architecture.

At the launch, CEO Simon Segars said “As we look toward a future that will be defined by AI, we must lay a foundation of leading-edge compute that will be ready to address the unique challenges to come”.

The new capabilities in Armv9 will accelerate the move from general-purpose to more specialised compute across every application as AI, the IoT and 5G gain momentum internationally.

To secure data, the Armv9 roadmap introduces the Arm Confidential Compute Architecture (CCA). Confidential computing shields portions of code and data from access or modification while in-use, even from privileged software, by performing computation in a hardware-based secure environment.

The Arm CCA will introduce the concept of dynamically created realms, useable by all applications, in a region that is separate from both the secure and non-secure worlds. For example, in business applications, realms can protect commercially sensitive data and code from the rest of the system while it is in-use, at rest, and in transit. Availability of confidential computing could bring down the cost of security, reports Arm.

The ArmV9 confidential compute features were developed in collaboration with Microsoft.  “The increasing complexity of use cases from edge to cloud cannot be addressed with a one-size-fits-all solution,” said Henry Sanders, corporate vice president and chief technology officer, Azure Edge and Platforms at Microsoft. “As a result, heterogeneous compute is becoming more ubiquitous, requiring greater synergy among hardware and software developers.”

The range of AI workloads demands more diverse and specialised solutions, with AI-enable voice assistance as one example.

Arm partnered with Fujitsu to create the Scalable Vector Extension (SVE) technology, which is at the heart of Fugaku, the world’s fastest supercomputer. Arm has developed SVE2 for Armv9 to enable enhanced machine learning (ML) and digital signal processing (DSP) capabilities across a wider range of applications.

SVE2 enhances the processing ability of 5G systems, virtual reality and augmented reality (VR and AR) and ML workloads running locally on CPUs, such as image processing and smart home applications. Arm says it will extend the AI capabilities of its technology with “substantial enhancements” in matrix multiplication within the CPU, in addition to ongoing AI innovations in Mali GPUs and Ethos NPUs.

Armv9 CPUs are expected to increase by more than 30 per cent over the next two generations of mobile and infrastructure CPUs.

To meet the demands of ubiquitous specialised processing, Arm’s Total compute design methodology, together with enhanced specialised processing, will accelerate overall compute performance through focused system-level hardware and software optimisations and increases in use-case performance, says Arm.

Arm will apply Total Compute design principles across the automotive, client, infrastructure and IoT IP portfolios. It is also developing several technologies to increase frequency, bandwidth, and cache size, and reduce memory latency, adds the company.

A unique vision for the next decade of computing

Richard Grisenthwaite, senior vice president, chief architect and fellow at Arm, believes: “Armv9 will enable developers to build and program the trusted compute platforms of tomorrow by bridging critical gaps between hardware and software, while enabling the standardization to help our partners balance faster time-to-market and cost control alongside the ability to create their own unique solutions.”

http://www.arm.com