Source: Arcom
August 02, 2006

Arcom's Extended Temperature IXP425 PC/104 SBC takes secure embedded communications into hostile environments

Kansas City, USA and Cambridge, England –– Arcom has released an extended temperature range version of their well established VULCAN PC/104 compatible single board computer. The VULCAN is based on the Intel 533MHz low power IXP425 XScale network processor, making it ideal for secure embedded communications systems. The extended temperature range of -40 to +85ºC permits deployment into remote unattended installations that can be subject to environmental extremes.

The VULCAN provides two Ethernet 10/100baseT controllers which can achieve a ‘line-rate' of 100MB/s simultaneously. The IXP425 enhances Ethernet communication security by using hardware accelerated encryption (AES, DES, 3DES) and authentication (SHA-1, MD5). Even with encryption the controllers can achieve line-rates of 80MB/s.

The VULCAN has four high speed USB 2.0 ports, four serial ports (RS-232/RS-422/485), battery backed SRAM, RTC and a GPIO port. The combination of 64Mbytes of soldered DRAM and 16 or 32Mbytes Flash memory, along with the high speed local I/O makes this an ideal platform for low power, secure wired/wireless remote terminal units, industrial network gateways and data acquisition systems. The CompactFlash (CF+) port accepts memory and inexpensive WiFi cards while PC/104 bus expansion is provided for custom I/O baseboards or off-the-shelf PC/104 modules. For security sensitive products, VULCAN includes a tamper switch input to detect enclosure intrusion and a unique 48-bit silicon serial number for asset tracking.

A comprehensive embedded Linux Development Kit is available for the VULCAN, featuring a compact and optimized Flash-based implementation of the GNU/Linux operating system based on the proven 2.6 kernel. Included is the 533MHz VULCAN single board computer fitted with 64Mbytes DRAM, 16Mbytes of Flash and 256Kbytes SRAM, along with the VULCAN ICE (Industrial Compact Enclosure), a serial and Ethernet cable set and a Quickstart manual.

Intel and XScale are trademarks or registered marks of Intel Corporation.
ARM is a trademark of ARM Ltd.

About Arcom (www.arcom.com)
Arcom, a Eurotech company, is a leading supplier of embedded computer and communications technology to industry. Founded in 1982, Arcom has developed a broad range of standard embedded hardware and software solutions for control, data acquisition and data delivery systems. From its design centers in Kansas City (US) and Cambridge (UK), Arcom is also able to offer Design Services to meet the needs of high volume OEM and specialized customer requirements