New Single Board Computer Confirms Abaco Systems Commitment to Minimizing Long Term Cost of Ownership

Oct. 18, 2016

  • PowerXtreme      PPC11A provides cost-effective, low risk upgrade opportunity
  • Choice of high      performance (100% improvement) or low power consumption (50% of previous) for      optimum application fit
  • Flexible I/O options      deliver maximum flexibility

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.— October 18, 2016  Continuing to demonstrate its unswerving commitment to maximizing the long term value of customer investments, Abaco Systems today announced the PowerXtreme PPC11A 6U VME rugged single board computer.

Based on Power Architecture™, it is form-, fit- and function compatible with its predecessors (PowerXtreme PPC4A, PPC7A, PPC9A and PPC10A) stretching back well over a decade, providing a straightforward, low risk, cost-effective upgrade path/technology insertion opportunity for existing users. Many thousands of PowerXtreme family single board computers have been installed, including by the US Navy’s MK-48 ADCAP/ACOT program.

Uniquely for a new VME single board computer based on the latest Power Architecture processors, the PPC11A is available in two versions, providing customers with the ability to choose the best power/performance match for the planned application.

The high performance option is based on the NXP (formerly Freescale™) QorIQ™ T2081 processor, operating at up to 1.8GHz, which brings the benefits of AltiVec™ co-processing to a 4-core platform, each of which is dual threaded, offering eight virtual e6500 cores.  Customers can expect to see a 2x improvement in performance compared with the predecessor board.

The version designed for applications that need to prioritize low power consumption is based on the NXP QoriQ T1042 processor, operating at up to 1.4GHz, offering four single-threaded e5500 cores and consuming less than 7.5W of power. This enables the PPC11A to consume better than half the power of the PPC10A.

Designed specifically for harsh environments and available in five ruggedization levels for optimum price/performance, the PPC11A is ideal for applications – such as command and control - where high reliability and survivability are a must.

Incremental system resource expansion is provided by two mezzanine sites, both of which are XMC/PMC capable, and offer the option of having XMC I/O and/or PMC I/O routed to the VME backplane connectors. The PPC11A features an extensive and flexible range of I/O options, including Gigabit Ethernet, serial COM ports, USB 2.0, SATA and GPIO, the PPC11A is ideal for a wide range of mil/aero applications.

“Many programs that have been deployed for years are looking for a step up in performance to meet more challenging application requirements – but any upgrade needs to be low risk and low cost,” said Mrinal Iyengar, VP of Product Management at Abaco Systems. “The PPC11A responds to those needs, and once again demonstrates our commitment to our customers to provide them with the industry’s best long term support.”

PPC11A customers will also benefit from its support of Abaco’s recently-announced Vivo FPGA-based VME bridging solution which offers long term assurance against obsolescence. This IP-based solution is hosted on a long term supported FPGA, but is also readily portable to new FPGA platforms if needed.

PPC11A initial software support includes comprehensive Deployed Test Software (BIT and BCS), VxWorks® , VxWorks653, and Yocto Linux® , with further operating system support planned.

For more information:

Product page: https://www.abaco.com/products/ppc11a-rugged-6u-vme-single-board-computer

Datasheet: https://www.abaco.com/download/ppc11a-datasheet

About Abaco Systems

Abaco Systems is a global leader in open architecture computing and electronic systems for aerospace, defense and industrial applications. Spun out of General Electric in 2015, we deliver and support open modular solutions developed to upgrade and enhance the growing data, analytics, communications and sensor processing capabilities of our target applications. This, together with our 700+ professionals’ unwavering focus on our customers’ success, reduces program cost and risk, allows technology insertion with affordable readiness and enables platforms to successfully reach deployment sooner and with a lower total cost of ownership. With an active presence in a significant number of national asset platforms on land, sea and in the air, Abaco Systems is trusted where it matters most. www.abaco.com 

For more information, contact: 

Ian McMurray

Communications Manager

Abaco Systems 

[email protected] 

Freescale and QoriQ are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor Inc. Power Architecture is a trademark of Power.org. AltiVec is a trademark of Motorola Inc. VxWorks is a registered trademark of Wind River Systems.  Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Military Aerospace, create an account today!