V3 Semiconductor Delivers Linux Support For Pmc-Sierra's Mips Processors In Embedded Pci Applications - Company Business and Marketing

EDP Weekly's IT Monitor, Nov 6, 2000

V3 Semiconductor Inc. (NASDAQ: VVVI), the Embedded Intelligence Company, a provider of high-performance interconnect and controller solutions for the rapidly expanding Network and Internet infrastructure markets, has announced that it offers Linux operating system support for developers of MIPS(R) processor based embedded PCI applications.

V3 offers the Linux Board Support Package (BSP) on the Hurricane Platform. This platform features the RM5231 Embedded MIPS Processor from PMC-Sierra, Inc. (NASDAQ: PMCS) (formerly QED, Inc.), and the V320USC Universal PCI System Controller from V3 Semiconductor. The release of the Linux BSP will enable PMC-Sierra's and V3's customers to immediately begin development of new MIPS applications based on the Linux operating system.

Linux is becoming popular as an open operating system for the large, powerful computers and servers that run websites and corporate or enterprise networks. Some market researchers suggest that Linux has captured up to 30% of the market for high-end operating systems. Many industry watchers believe that Linux is a viable alternative to Microsoft.

Linux is a royalty-free, open-source, community-based operating system (O/S) that is rapidly gaining popularity in the electronics design community. Embedded systems' designers are embracing Linux due to the lower product life cycle costs this platform offers. Linux is a modular platform, enabling designers to extract only the elements of the Linux kernel required for their product design. As a result, smaller O/S images can be attained; therefore, lower density and cheaper memory components can be used in the system design.

Linux is a complete and robust operating system that is delivered in a familiar format for many embedded systems' designers. The Linux platform is ready to run and it doesn't require significant development of new IP for specific applications; therefore, using the Linux platform offers the advantage of lower system development costs.

The V3 Linux Board Support Package offers everything a systems developer needs in order to begin the development of a MIPS embedded PCI application. The Linux BSP enables the creation of a Linux image capable of supporting the RM5231 and V320USC devices. In addition, the V3 Linux BSP offers software driver support for a variety of standard I/O peripherals, such as ethernet, video, USB, IDE, and other devices. The BSP is delivered with complete documentation, including a readme file and an installation guide.

The Linux Board Support Package is compatible with the Hurricane Platform and is available for free from V3 Semiconductor. Please check the V3 website at www.vcubed.com.

With the Hurricane platform and Linux Board Support Package, V3 and PMC-Sierra customers can begin their critical software development effort immediately, even before their hardware has been prototyped.

The Hurricane Platform is V3's popular MIPS embedded PCI Evaluation and Reference Platform. The Hurricane Platform includes the PMC-Sierra RM5231 MIPS RISC processor and the V3's V320USC Universal PCI System Controller. The board comes in a half-size PCI host bus adapter form factor, and is fully compliant with the PCI Local Bus Spec, Rev 2.2. The Hurricane Board can be configured to work in the following modes: system master, PCI bus master and PCI bus target. The board also contains serial ports, parallel ports, 32 MB memory, Boot EEPROM, Flash, and a custom prototyping connector.

The V320USC includes an integrated SDRAM Memory Controller, 32-bit PCI Controller, 32-bit MIPS SysAD local processor interface, DMA Engines, an Interrupt Controller, Timers, and Serial Interfaces. The unique 3-bus architecture interconnecting the processor, the memory and the PCI buses achieves high performance, while allowing low-cost system expansion capability.

For systems developers, additional system connectivity and expansion is provided by a variety of intelligent PCI peripherals and components that are now available on the market. For example, the V320USC provides PCI expansion capability, providing users with a wide range of functionality at the lowest possible component cost.

The Hurricane Platform, the Linux BSP, and the V320USC are available now from V3 Semiconductor, while the RM5231 32-bit MIPS RISC processor is available from PMC-Sierra.