14 DAY TRIAL // Considering what's going on at the moment, it's not so shocking that Advanced Micro Devices would choose this day of all days to make this announcement about its stake in the embedded industry.
After all, Intel's Developer Forum is now underway, taking place from September 10 to September 12 at Moscone Center West in San Francisco.
So, with Chipzilla launching things like the SSD Pro 1500 enterprise solid-state drive line, AMD has to make an announcement of its own.
Well, it doesn't have to, exactly, but it's the routine between rival companies, to always have something to bring out whenever the other is putting on a show.
Anyway, what AMD has revealed in its new announcement is the roadmap for the embedded market in 2014.
First off, the "Hierofalcon" CPU SoC family will be released, powered by theARM Cortex-A57 architecture. That's right, as said all those months ago, AMD is seriously entering the ARM SoC industry.
It will run at up to 2 GHz and have 64-bit DDR3/4 channels with error correction code (ECC), 10 Gb KR Ethernet, PCI-Express Gen 3, support for ARM TrustZone technology (for security) and a dedicated cryptographic co-processor (also for security).
After Hierofalcon (which will debut in the second quarter of 2014 and be mass-produced in the second half of the year), or perhaps at the same time, will come "Bald Eagle" APU and CPU offerings.
These are powered by the x86 architecture and have up to four Steamroller CPU cores, a 35W TDP, and, in the case of APUs, Radeon Graphics Core Next GPU architecture and HSA enhancements as well.
Following "Bald Eagle," there is the "Steppe Eagle" APU SoC, with up to 2 GHz enhanced "Jaguar" CPU performance (Bald Eagle will be faster, probably), low power draw and AMD Graphics Core Next GPU architecture. The ETA is first half of 2014.
Finally, the "Adelaar" discrete GPU will use a multi-chip module (MCM) with 2 GB of graphics memory, 3D graphics, multi-display support and support for DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2 and both Windows and Linux operating systems. Again, availability is set for the first half of 2014, with seven years of planned supply as MCM, mobile PCIe module (MXM) and standard PC graphics card form factors.
The product categories where some or all of the platforms above can be used are the following:
Industrial Control & Automation Digital Gaming Communication Infrastructure "Visual Embedded": – Digital Signage – Thin Client – Medical Imaging – Auto Infotainment Set-top-Box/Internet-enabled smart TV Printing/Imaging Digital Surveillance Storage Military/Aero