Multicore CPUs: 2010 Offering
March 11th, 2010
By Eric Carmes – 6WIND Founder and CEO
I think it could be useful to summarize the availability of multicore CPUs in 2010. I expect comments from readers to complement the list. Processor suppliers are listed in alphabetical order.
- Cavium Networks: The second generation of MIPS-based multicore processors from Cavium Networks (Octeon II) was announced in April 2009 (Press release) and it should be available in Q2 2010. The first processor to be available will be a 6-core processor. It complements the previous generation of Octeon processors that ranges from 2 to 16 cores.
- Freescale: QorIQ (Web page) based on the e500 Power Architecture is now available. The QorIQ family includes 2, 4 and 8 cores products.
- Intel: The Intel Xeon Processor EC5549 (Web page), former code name Jasper Forest, is now available. The EC5549 features 4 cores and 8 threads. The Intel multicore embedded processor family is going to be extended in 2010 with more powerful processors.
- LSI Logic: LSI’s ACP (Axxia Communication Processor) was introduced in February 2010 (Press release). It is based on the LSI asymmetric multicore architecture and features up to 4 Power PC cores.
- Netlogic: Netlogic’s XLP MIPS-based processor was announced in May 2009 (Press release) and it should available in 2010. This family of processors will feature up to 8 multithreaded cores with the XLP 832 expected to become available in mid 2010. The XLP family is going to complement the existing XLS and XLR families.
- Netronome: Netronome’s NFP-32xx Network Flow Processor (Web Page) based on the former Intel IXP technology is now available.
- Sun: The Ultra-Sparc T2 processor (Web page) including up to 8 cores (up to 64 threads per core) has been available since 2009.
- Tilera: Tilera announced a 100-core processor with the New TILE-Gx Family (Press release) in October 2009. The first processor from the family is expected to be the TILE-Gx36 processor (36 cores) sampling in Q4 2010 (to be confirmed). This family complements the existing TilePro64 and Tile64 families.
Thanks for your comments….
More information about 6WINDGate architecture can be found here.
You can download more detailed documents here.
You can check 6WINDGate FAQ here.
Posted in 
Tags:
To complete the review I posted a few days ago, I think it is also interesting to have a look at TI’s recent announcement about their new System-on-a-Chip (SoC) architecture. It is always difficult to define strict categories for sophisticated technical products and it can be argued that this is a DSP processor. However, it implements 4 or 8 C6x cores that can also handle efficient packet processing.
Products will begin sampling in the second half of 2010.