The new Type 7 is a complementary specification to the existing Type 6 pin out. While the focus of Type 6 is on graphics-oriented applications supporting audio and video interfaces, the Type 7 pin out definition is for headless platforms w/o graphics support. Additionally, by introducing four 10G Ethernet ports, an NC-SI interface and a maximum of 32 PCI Express lanes, the Type 7 is an ideal definition to design server-grade platforms for applications requesting high data and network throughput.
This latest COMe introduction extends Kontron’s product family of server-class COM platforms after the successful launch of its COMe-bBD6 Type 6 module last year. The new application-ready COMe-bBD7 module features data centre-grade CPU performance with up to 16 cores. This robust performance is combined with support for two 10GbE ports making it ideal for network performance-hungry implementations. In addition, the COMe-bBD7 offers high-speed connectivity from configurable PCIe lanes with an up to PCIe x24 implementation for high I/O performance demands such as those required in medical applications. Offering a well-balanced multi-core CPU versus memory-size approach, it supports up to 32GB of ECC/non-ECC DDR4 memory.
The Kontron COMe-bBD7 is also available in industrial-grade versions making it an excellent solution for applications that operate in harsh environments. The module provides broad operating system support including Linux, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 / 2012, /2012 R2 Windows 7 and 8.1 and VxWorks.
Peter Müller, Head of Portfolio Management, Standard Products, Kontron, commented: “Compute-intensive and space-constrained applications now have a formidable and flexible solution that delivers critical network infrastructure high performance to the edge with the advanced features needed for today’s connected IoT systems. A powerful plus is that the COMe-bBD7 embeds Kontron’s Approtect that offers full end-to-end security. Developers will appreciate the broad scalability of CPU performance grades from 2 to 16 cores so they can select the most advantageous performance option to specifically match multiple customer operational requirements from a single design.”
The Kontron COMe-bBD7 COM Express module will be available in late Q4 2016.