OnCore Ships Full-Function Support for IBM PowerPC 405.

Business/Technology Editors

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 30, 2001

OnCore Systems Corporation, developer of the OnCore OS(TM), the most powerful embedded OS of its kind, today began shipping full support of IBM's PowerPC 405(TM) embedded processor, Revision D, the latest release of this high-power embedded processor line. "Based on requests from key customers and prospects, whose designs require the full use of the hardware IP, OnCore Systems responded by delivering the most comprehensive 405 processor support in the industry," announced Chip Downing, President and CEO of OnCore Systems.

IBM's 405 line of "system-on-a-chip" RISC processors delivers up to 375 MIPS of processing power, in these configurations:

--The PowerPC 405CR, designed for integrated, cost-conscious embedded applications.

--The PowerPC 405GP, incorporating greater functionality and integration.

Both PowerPC 405s come equipped with an integrated MMU, and both give systems builders a selection of embedded peripherals, including on-chip Ethernet, a code decompression engine, a PCI bus interface, on-chip SRAM, and intelligent multifunction I/O interfaces.

The OnCore OS is the ideal software complement to the 405 hardware IP features. According to Donn Rochette, CTO and VP of Engineering for OnCore Systems, "The OnCore OS is one of the few operating systems available today with integrated Memory Management Unit (MMU) support, and it is the only real-time OS to offer full Virtual Memory Management (VMM) support, which truly leverages the 405's capabilities." In addition, Rochette said, "Complete implementation of VMM and protected memory partitions enables the OnCore OS to host multiple real-time applications, and if desired, a full version of Linux that is fully preemptable--all of which is available today for the PowerPC 405 family of processors."

OnCore OS Optimizes TLB Management Capabilities

The 405's MMU has been optimized for use with embedded designs. An integral element of this design is the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB). For many PowerPC processors, TLB translations are processed using fixed, hardware-enabled algorithms. In contrast, IBM enabled embedded designers to optimize TLB translations for the PowerPC 405 by allowing these functions to be controlled by software. "This is a challenge", states Rochette, "because the exception handling must be fully reentrant and preemptable".

The OnCore development environment taps the full power of 405 by enabling designers to modify the TLB replacement algorithm to match application software requirements. System designers can make three key changes to give their products a competitive edge:

1. Define page sizes to optimize memory allocation.

2. Lock down regions of memory managed by the TLB to give preference to high-priority programs.

3. Extend the TLB replacement algorithm to give preference to real-time programs.

Designers can mix high-priority real-time programs with lower-priority programs (for example Linux) and still maintain high response times for embedded applications by instituting these changes.

The Most Complete Solution for the 405

Extending functionality still further, the OnCore OS PowerPC 405 product enables the use of the SPRG registers unique to the 405 to improve performance. In addition, the internal Ethernet, DMA controllers, PCI Bridge, and other powerful integrated IPs are also fully supported by OnCore OS.

Note:

For a complete list of supported features in the OnCore OS PowerPC 405 product, view OnCore's PowerPC 405 Capabilities Guide on the web at: http://www.OnCoreSystems.com/PPc405.htm.

In summary, this release of the OnCore OS for the very flexible IBM 405 strategically positions OnCore Systems to quickly support all future additions to IBM's 400 family--including all Book E processors, the PowerPC 440 family, and the entire line of upcoming PowerNP NPe405x network processors family.

ABOUT ONCORE SYSTEMS

OnCore Systems Corporation provides hard real-time, highly resilient operating systems for mission-critical applications running on embedded designs, powered by microprocessors from AMD (NYSE:AMD), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), MIPS (NASDAQ:MIPS) and Motorola (NYSE:MOT). The OnCore product line also features embedded Linux solutions that deliver predictable, sub-5 microseconds response times to real-time events, while maintaining 100% binary compatibility with Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT) Linux applications. OnCore's scalable offering of embedded Linux usage models implement standard Linux, Linux OnCall(TM) and Linux OnDemand(TM) products, along with a complete family RTOS APIs that can run simultaneously on top of OnCore's virtual memory-based microkernel. OnCore Systems also offers high-availability solutions, and software development tools and services to assist customers in meeting critical time-to-market demands.

OnCore Systems (http://www.OnCoreSystems.com), headquartered in Half Moon Bay, California, was founded in early 1999.

OnCore, OnCore OS, Linux for Real-Time, Linux OnDemand and Linux OnCall are trademarks of OnCore Systems Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines. PowerPC and PowerPC 405 are trademarks of International Business Machines. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.