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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / OCTOBER 6, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 40

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Breaking News - Security:

Motorola Launches PowerQUICC Processor Families

Motorola Inc has introduced two new PowerQUICC families of communications processors that include security acceleration, answering today's market imperative for network security. The new MPC885 PowerQUICC I and MPC8272 PowerQUICC II families with integrated security engines are designed to drive down the cost and complexity of delivering virtual private network (VPN) services through secure wired and wireless communications and networking equipment.

The PowerQUICC secure communications processors leverage Motorola's extensive encryption technology and deep experience in secure communications. The security engines are based on proven cores used in Motorola's popular S1 family of security co-processors. Motorola integrated these cores with the PowerQUICC architecture to help equipment manufacturers reduce system-level costs and simplify board layout. On-chip security also provides an economical solution for accelerating cryptographic throughput tand eliminating encryption bottlenecks in applications that support Internet Protocol Security (IPSec), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and other security protocols.

The MPC885 and MPC8272 families provide cost-effective, high-performance security and communications processing solutions for a wide range of applications, such as VPN routers, small office/home office (SOHO) and small- to-medium enterprise (SME) routers, residential gateways, integrated access devices (IADs), wireless access points, network attached storage equipment and industrial control equipment. Many of these applications are not only cost-sensitive, but also require a high degree of integration to support multiple modes of communications, such as Fast Ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), full/low-speed universal serial bus (USB), high-level data link control (HDLC), and a variety of security algorithms and protocols.

"Integrating security functions into communications processors leads to lower system cost and improves system efficiency, so it is natural for Motorola to introduce secure versions of its popular PowerQUICC communications processors," said Sanjay Iyer, a senior analyst at The Linley Group. "Motorola's secure PowerQUICC devices are more efficient than two-chip solutions in moving data through crypto cores, leading to higher system throughput. The integrated packet-processing capabilities of PowerQUICC processors suitably complement the embedded crypto functions while still addressing traditional communications functions. Motorola's secure PowerQUICC processors will help eliminate the market for low-cost standalone encryption chips."

"The increasing demand for network security is driving the widespread use of IPSec and other security protocols across the network, and Motorola is addressing this need by integrating robust security engines within the PowerQUICC communications processor architecture," said David Perkins, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's Networking and Computing Systems Group. "Software encryption doesn't deliver the kind of throughput our customers want. Our hardware-based encryption technology solves that problem, and since this technology is integrated into a single communications processor, we can provide security at a lower bill-of-materials cost."

MPC885 PowerQUICC I Processor Family

The MPC885 processor family is the next-generation extension of Motorola's popular PowerQUICC I family, offering integrated security in a cost-effective communications processor architecture. The family supports core frequencies scaling from 66 MHz to 120 MHz and external bus speeds of up to 80MHz. Like all PowerQUICC I processors, the MPC885 family devices integrate two processing blocks: an embedded 8xx PowerPC core (with an 8KB instruction cache and an 8KB data cache) and an on-chip Communications Processor Module (CPM).

The MPC885 family includes four devices:

  • MPC885 -- Integrated security engine, ATM and HDLC via three serial communications controllers (SCCs), two serial management controllers (SMCs), two 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports, universal serial bus (USB) full/low-speed compatible and an I2C interface
  • MPC880 -- ATM and HDLC via two SCCs, two SMCs, two 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports, USB and an I2C interface
  • MPC875 -- Integrated security engine, HDLC via one SCC, one SMC, two 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports, USB and an I2C interface
  • MPC870 -- One SMC, two 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports, USB and an I2C interface.

The MPC885 and MPC880 devices are available in a 357-pin ball-grid array (BGA) package, and the MPC875 and MPC870 devices are available in a 256-pin BGA.

MPC8272 PowerQUICC II Processor Family

Designed to reduce system-level cost, power and board space, the MPC8272 processor family offers exceptional integration with features optimized for cost-sensitive designs. MPC8272 devices incorporate the high-performance embedded PowerPC 603e core available in speeds of 266MHz, 300MHz and 400MHz, with bus speeds up to 100MHz. The 603e core includes a 16KB instruction cache and a 16KB data cache, a floating point unit, and memory management units. The devices also feature a 200MHz, 32-bit RISC-based CPM to handle communications tasks.

The MPC8272 family includes four devices:

  • MPC8272 -- Integrated security engine, Fast Ethernet and ATM via two fast communications controllers (FCCs), three SCCs, USB, an I2C interface and a 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI interface
  • MPC8271 -- Fast Ethernet, ATM via two FCCs, three SCCs, USB, an I2C interface and a 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI interface
  • MPC8248 -- Integrated security engine, Fast Ethernet via two FCCs, three SCCs, USB, an I2C interface and a 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI interface
  • MPC8247 -- Fast Ethernet via two FCCs, three SCCs, USB, an I2C interface and a 32-bit 33/66 MHz PCI interface.

MPC8272 family devices are available in a 516-pin PBGA package and are manufactured in Motorola's 0.13-micron process technology, enabling 1.5V core voltage and 3.3V I/O.

About Motorola's Integrated Security Technology

Motorola's history in security technology spans more than 35 years involving governmental, military and commercial applications. In recent years, Motorola's security technology has been applied to wireless handsets, wireless infrastructure, wired Internet networks and cable set-top boxes. Motorola brought its security technology to the commercial semiconductor market in 2000 with the introduction of its S1 security co-processor family. S1 family devices were designed to work in tandem with PowerQUICC processors to accelerate encryption and authentication performance in networking applications.

The MPC885 and MPC8272 PowerQUICC families feature security engines based on the security processor core of the MPC185, a member of Motorola's S1 co- coprocessor family. The integrated security engines offer the same direct- memory access (DMA) and parallel processing capabilities available in Motorola's security co-processors and are software compatible with the co- processors. They also are able to perform single-pass encryption and authentication as required by widely used security protocols such as, IPSec and 802.11i. Both PowerQUICC families support the DES, 3DES, MD-5, SHA-1, and AES encryption algorithms. The MPC8272 family also supports ARC-4 encryption, Public Key acceleration and on-chip Random Number Generator (RNG) technology.

Comprehensive Ecosystem Support

The MPC885 and MPC8272 PowerQUICC families are supported by a comprehensive ecosystem of development tools from third-party vendors working through Motorola's Smart Networks Alliance Program. Metrowerks, a Motorola company, also supports the MPC885 and MPC8272 families with a wide range of development solutions, such as low-cost reference boards, channel-ready evaluation boards, the PowerTAP PRO ICE board bring-up tool and the CodeWarrior Development Studio, PowerPC ISA Edition. In addition, the PowerQUICC ecosystem includes optimized peripheral integrated circuits from Motorola, such as QUICCsupply power management ICs and QUICCclock timing solutions.

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