American Portwell Technology has launched the PCOM-B217VG-VI-ECC embedded computer module to add Intel's second-generation quad-core and dual-core Intel Core i7/i5 processors to its Type 6 COM Express(tm) product portfolio. The Type 6 connector pin assignment is the successor to Type 2, adding the DisplayPort and high-speed USB 3.0 peripheral support contained in the latest high performance processors and chip sets in place of parallel PCI and IDE interfaces that are no longer present in most new chip sets.

This announcement means that medical OEMs using Portwell COM Express modules can either continue to follow Portwell's Type 2 product roadmap or migrate to Type 6. Both pinout types are provided by Portwell for the second-generation Core i7/i5 with 7-year life cycles (through 2018).

The PCOM-B217VG-VI-ECC module features an error-correcting ECC memory controller for higher system and data reliability, and Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, which dynamically increases the operating frequency of processor cores beyond baseline levels (even beyond 3GHz) according to workload and real-time power and temperature measurements. This frequency increase is complementary to hyper-threading, which raises the performance of multithreaded and single-threaded applications. The processor-integrated graphics engine supports high-end media/graphics capabilities. According to the company, the module is well suited for medical imaging devices.

Onboard PCIe x1 Generation 2.0 technology doubles the I/O data rate between the COM Express module and the PCIe 2.0 add-on cards that plug into the COM Express carrier board, while SATA 3.0 increases the data rate from the chip set to hard drives.

Expansion options on the developer PCOM-C210 COM Express Type 6 carrier board include: More PCIe 2.0 add-on cards and devices are supported with one PCIe x16 2.0 (configurable as two x8 or two x4 and one x8), and six PCIe x1 2.0 (configurable to one x4); LPC interface; SMBus/12C interface; and high-definition audio interface. The faster x16 interface improves the performance of imaging applications.

Portwell's extensive COM Express product portfolio now includes every high-performance Intel Core(tm) and Atom(tm) processor platform available for embedded market longevity support with Type 2 pinout, and both Core i7 generations:  QM57 with ECC RAM and now QM67 with ECC RAM.

American Portwell’s facilities in the United States and Taiwan are ISO 13485:2003 certified.