VersaLogic Announces Embedded Server Available on Turnkey Evaluation Program

One of our longest running partnerships is with VersaLogic Corp. VersaLogic is a leading provider of rugged industrial computers to OEMs for embedded control and industrial control applications, and has a diverse range of form factors, processors and expansion options in their range.

VersaLogic is constantly innovating, which is great news for our UK customers who are always looking for cutting edge technology. We are very pleased to announce that their “Grizzly” 16-core embedded server product is now available as part of their Turnkey Evaluation Program loaner program, in which they offer their popular board-level products as boxed, turnkey systems, complete with an installed OS, for quick and easy testing and evaluation.

The Grizzly embedded server features an Intel 16-core processor, up to 128 GB of ECC RAM, two SFP+ 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, M.2 socket for data storage, and operation over the full -40° to +85°C industrial temperature range. The evaluation systems come pre-loaded with either Windows Server or a Linux OS, and a 250 GB solid state drive installed in the M.2 socket. SPF+ modules for 10 GbE Fibre and copper are included.


Len Crane, VersaLogic's President, points out how these eval systems can save time and effort; “These ready-to-power-up systems save a ton of time during initial testing. Just turn it on, load your software, and see how it performs. These Turnkey Eval Systems eliminate 95% of the setup required to test board-level products.”



Find out more 
The Grizzly evaluation systems are available now, and the program is very easy to access. To find out about the Grizzly, or the Turnkey Evaluation program, contact info@sarsen.net.

Source: Press Office, VersaLogic Corporation, 08/12/20

VersaLogic Corporation Receives AS9100 Certification

Tualatin, Oregon – February 19, 2020

Our long-standing manufacturing partner VersaLogic is one of the embedded industry’s most trusted computer companies, and today they proudly announce their AS9100D certification.

With this certification, VersaLogic surpasses their existing ISO 9001 certification, and now joins an elite group of companies also registered to this aerospace standard.

“VersaLogic is proud to announce certification of our Quality Management System to AS9100D.” says Bruce McKinnon, Chief Operating Officer. “This achievement reflects our long-standing commitment to maintaining a world-class quality management system and producing best-in-class embedded computer products. Managing product and service quality per AS9100D assures that we will continue to meet or exceed our aerospace customers’ requirements.”

Enhancing Quality and Customer Satisfaction

The audit was conducted in accordance with the requirements of SAE AS9104/1:2012-01 by PRI RegistrarSM which is accredited by ANAB and IAF.

The standard certification aims to enhance customer satisfaction, something that VersaLogic has long held at the forefront of their business. It contains requirements related to quality, safety, risk management, and evidence-based decision making – all important factors that the aerospace and defense industries demand and uphold themselves.

What's New?

The latest addition to VersaLogic's embedded product line is the Grizzly - a rugged embedded server featuring an Intel 16-core processor, -40°C to +85°C operation, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ ports, and up to 128 GB of ECC memory.

 It is ideal for high performance/high data bandwidth applications. Two Mini PCIe sockets and an M.2 site provide for expansion and on-board storage.

Grizzly is covered from the date of shipment by a five-year warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, and VersaLogic’s 10+ year product life support ensures long-term availability.

For more information please contact one of the engineers at Sarsen Technology.

Wiltshire Firm Celebrates 20 Successful Years

Cast your mind back to the turn of the millennium. Y2K was about to cause chaos, Westlife were riding high in the UK charts and a new company was about to enter the world of embedded technology.

On 4th January 2000 Sarsen Technology began life in a small office above a shop in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Unfortunately, that was before we had smart phones and digital cameras, so there is little to no evidence of the questionable fashion or hairstyles sported by the Sarsen team at the turn of the century...

Our very first order in February 2000 was from Thomson Marconi (now Thales Underwater Systems) for an Analog Devices Blacktip PCI card, and 20 years later we’re talking to some of the UK's biggest prime manufacturers about a wide range of technology; from embedded single board computers and FPGA based solutions to rugged MIL-STD-1553 hardware and high performance computing COTS technology.

It’s certainly never boring…

The portfolio of manufacturers we represent has also changed over the years. Aside from allowing us to expand our product line, our carefully selected partners have given us the opportunity to support applications in new sectors. We now successfully supply a range of solutions into markets that we had very little experience of back in 2000, including financial trading and cyber security.

Great relationships with customers, suppliers and colleagues have led to some great friendships too. Alongside the unique challenges that come with running a small business, there have been many opportunities to celebrate and share a lot of fun together over the last two decades.

We are extremely proud of our achievements over the last 20 years. Thank you to all Sarsen Technology staff, past and present, to all our loyal customers, and to the manufacturers we represent, for your highly valued support over the years.

We are really looking forward to the next exciting chapter in 2020!


Rogues Gallery **

**Not in chronological order (in case you couldn't tell)!

DSEI 2019 - What to See on Stand N7-268

DSEI 2019 - 10-13 September 2019

Sarsen Technology will be exhibiting in the dedicated Security Zone at DSEI 2019, showcasing the some of the worlds highest-performance computing hardware supported by a number of software options.

Our fastest growing market sector is niche computing systems for government and defence security applications, and the products we supply can be used in a wide range of security sectors, from UAVs and electronic countermeasures to surveillance cameras, secure storage and deep packet inspection.

This year we are highlighting technology from a number of our manufacturing partners. Here's a sneak peek at what you might see at the show...

Manufacturer	Overview	Image	Key Product
EIZO Rugged Solutions	The Condor XMC/VPX video capture products offer high resolution video capture, both in raw and H.264 formats. AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, including the new Quadro P2000 Pascal architecture, supporting OpenCL and CUDA are available for GPGPU applications.		NVP2102xX NVIDIA Quadro Pascal P2000 (GP107) XMC Graphics & GPGPU Card More Info
VersaLogic	VersaLogic's embedded computers are designed for the most demanding applications. From ultra small (credit card size) to industry-standard PC/104- and EBX-sized boards, their x86 compatible computers are used whenever reliability counts. They thrive in the harshest environments including temperature extremes (-40° to +85°C), shock, vibration, and humidity.		Grizzly Embedded Server Unit with Intel Server-Class Processor  More Info
DAVE Embedded Systems	DAVE Embedded Systems provides solutions based on CPU modules and System On Module (SoM) featuring the latest technologies including Multi-Core ARM Cortex, PowerPC and X86 based on NXP and Texas Instruments. Their products are typically used in demanding industrial markets such as medical and automotive.		MITO NXP i.MX8M Dual/Quad Core CPU Module More Info
Annapolis Micro Systems	Considered the leader in reconfigurable computing systems, Annapolis designs and manufactures embedded Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) systems and products for digital signal processing and high performance embedded computing for the military and commercial markets.		GM60 COTS FMC + Mezzanine card with Xilinx Zynq RFSoC More Info

We will also have hardware on the stand from REFLEX CES, X-ES, ECRIN Systems and Alta Data.

To arrange a meeting please get in touch, otherwise Nigel, Christos and Stuart will be on the stand all week if you have time to stop by.

Stand N7-268, DSEI 2019.

Sarsen Technology Welcomes New Business Development Manager to the Team

We are very pleased to announce the appointment of Stuart Main as Business Development Manager.

Stuart will be responsible for managing and developing key accounts in the cyber security, government, defense and aerospace sectors across the whole of the UK.

He says, “The move to Sarsen Technology is a great opportunity for me to bring my 20 years of sales & engineering experience to this already very successful and established organisation. The prospect of working with Nigel and his team to develop the business is one I am very excited about and the knowledge I have of the defence and aerospace industry will be a valuable addition to the company.”

Stuart is an established BDM with two decades of experience developing/managing sales teams, suppliers & customers within the defense and embedded IOT market space.

Nigel Norman, MD, is pleased to be expanding the team during a period of growth for the company. “I am delighted that Stuart Main is joining the Sarsen Technology team. I am certain that his technical skills and industry experience will greatly enhance our company performance.  It is an exciting time for Sarsen Technology as we introduce innovative, high performance embedded computing & FPGA technology solutions from our new principals Annapolis Micro Systems, Netcope Technologies and Reflex CES.””

For more information about the Sarsen Technology team or any of the products we supply please visit the website – www.sarsen.net or send us an email – info@sarsen.net .

Brand New Small Form Factor (SFF) System Features 10 Gb/s Optical Links for High-Bandwidth Embedded Computing

The latest 3U VPX embedded system from Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) sets a new standard for high-bandwidth data acquisition and signal processing in harsh environments.

With multiple high-speed optical links, an Intel® Xeon® D-1500 processor, and a Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA, the XPand6215 offers uncompromising performance and reliability in a SWaP-optimised two-slot system.

High-Speed, Fibre Optic Communications
The XPand6215 is a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) rugged chassis hosting two conduction-cooled 3U VPX modules. One slot contains the XPedite2570, a reconfigurable fibre-optic I/O module based on the Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ family of FPGAs.

The XPedite2570 supplies 12 protocol-independent optical transceivers operating at up to 10.3125 Gb/s, along with 8 GB of DDR4 ECC SDRAM in two channels capable of up to 38 GB/s aggregate bandwidth. The transceivers utilise 50/125 μm multi-mode fibre with MT connectors and are qualified over the full -40°C to +85°C industrial temperature range for reliable performance in extreme environments.

These optical links are paired with a user-programmable Xilinx Kintex® UltraScale™ FPGA, which provides a blend of performance and cost-effectiveness that is ideal for packet processing and DSP-intensive processing in embedded applications.

Unparalleled, Multi-Core Processing Power
The other slot of the XPand6215 contains the XPedite7670, a 3U VPX Single Board Computer based on the Intel® Xeon® D-1500 family of processors (formerly Broadwell-DE). Available with up to 16 Xeon®-class cores in a single, power-efficient System-on-Chip (SoC) package, this processor puts the XPand6215 in the upper echelon of embedded system performance. Xeon® D processors with up to 12 cores offer native extended temperature support with an operating temperature range of -40⁰C to +85⁰C.

The XPedite7670 also provides up to 16 GB of DDR4-2133 ECC SDRAM, while an XPort3305 10 Gigabit Ethernet XMC module installed on the XPedite7670 provides a rugged 10GBASE-SR Ethernet port.

Industry-Leading Functional Density in a Small Form Factor (SFF) Enclosure
The XPand6215 makes the most of every pound and square inch, packing maximum functionality into a streamlined two-slot design. Its integrated 28 VDC power supply eliminates the need for an additional power supply slot. It also includes a memory bay for a removable 2.5 in. solid-state drive (SSD), adding the option for up to 1 TB of storage. Fully loaded, the system weighs approximately 4kg, making it ideal for cutting-edge military and industrial applications that require small, lightweight solutions.

Qualified to the MIL-STD-461E/F, MIL-STD-810, and MIL-STD-704F standards, the XPand6215 has passed a battery of tests to ensure reliable operation in even the most challenging environments.

The XPand6200 Series of rugged, embedded systems are available in a diverse range of configurations, making them uniquely-suited to a variety of processing-intensive applications.

Please contact Sarsen Technology to discuss your requirements.

7 Festive Things You Didn't Know About Team Sarsen...

A little festive fun from the team. Merry Christmas!

NIGEL
1. Christmas must-see movie.   
I do love “Wizard of Oz” but “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is our family favourite. I have never seen “The Sound Of Music” and I never will.
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?   
Free range, organic, local turkey
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
A themed Boxing Day for a big family get together. The food, costumes, drink, music, decoration are all themed – this year it’s all gone Greek.
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.  
“In The Bleak Midwinter” & “Coventry Carol” (I was a choir boy but now I now sing bass – But I still try to sing the descant on the last verse of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”.)
5. What makes you feel festive? 
Spiced rum
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
Remember to smile when happy
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
World Peace or a book called “David Bowie: A Life” by Dylan Jones
       
ANGELA
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
The Grinch
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?  
Turkey, free-range of course and without the trimmings, but lots of roast potatoes, vegetables and lashings of gravy
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.
We always have a themed Boxing Day with our extended family.  Every year we dress up, decorate, play music and eat a menu based around a chosen country.  In recent years we have been to Mexico, Cuba, Italy, Sweden (even hired a hot tub for that one!), and Hawaii (musically challenging). This year we are off to Greece for the day – looking forward to Calamari, Sea Bass, veggie Moussaka, and Greek Salad with plenty of Feta cheese of course!
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.
Away in a Manager – precious memories of nativity plays when the children were small.
5. What makes you feel festive?   
Marlborough High Street on Saturday mornings in December.
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
I am waiting to be told by my family – I’ll let you know!
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
Honestly? Headway on a global scale on the use of and disposal of plastics, especially into our oceans.
       
CHRISTOS
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
Home Alone
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?    
Thick Pork bacon slices, Sausages, Roast turkey, Salad, Roasted Potatoes, Rice, Bulgur Wheat, and possibly game of some sort. And for dessert Melomakarona and Kourabiedes
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
Getting to the church in the morning, then going to the local football club “house” to have a coffee and participate in raffle, Then go to my grandfathers named Christos, so we celebrate our nameday with the whole family and at night go out to Bouzoukia.
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.  
White Christmas by Bing Crosby – Holiday Inn 1942
5. What makes you feel festive?   
The Christmas lights, the Christmas movies combined with bad weather outside, and the fireplace at my favourite café in the area I live in Cyprus.
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
Live a day like a lion rather 100 days like a sheep. I am kidding. To get back to exercising, learn a language, go somewhere I have never been before.
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
I truly hope for love, well-being and peace.
       
LYNN
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
Our annual Christmas season movie is Moulin Rouge! Heavens knows why – we just love it.
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?  
This year we are steering away from ‘traditional’ and having duck confit.
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
For the kids in the family and when I was a child we planted a ‘magic’ seed on Christmas Eve together with a Christmas Carol singalong and the magic tree grew overnight. Such great excitement on Christmas morning!
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.  
O come all ye Faithful!
5. What makes you feel festive?  
Lovely glowing golden Christmas lights and candles.
6. New Year’s Resolution.    
Cut out biscuits, sweets and chocolates!!
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year. 
 A log burner!
       
LAURA
1. Christmas must-see movie.  
Love Actually. To me, it's perfect.
2. What are you having for Christmas dinner?  
Turkey, all the trimmings (including yorkshires, pigs in blankets and stuffing) and 'Delightful'. Which in our family is trifle without the revolting soggy sponge. And Angel Delight instead of blancmange. We win at desserts.
3. A Christmassy family tradition in your house.  
When we were kids we'd all open our stockings sat at the foot of Mum and Dad's bed. Now I do the same but with our cats. Yes, they have stockings too.
4. Favourite Christmas song/carol.   
All Alone on Christmas by Darlene Love. And it's not Christmas until 'The Buble' has been on at least 15 times.
5. What makes you feel festive?    
Twinkly lights and cinnamon.
6. New Year’s Resolution.  
Convince Nigel that The Sound of Music is a wonderful film.
7. A present you’re secretly hoping for this year.  
Unbelievably, socks. Big, fluffy knee length socks. With pom poms.

Sarsen Technology Christmas Bake Off - The Results!

Once again the Sarsen Technology team has been putting their artistic and creative skills to the test, this time with the Christmas staple, the chocolate Yule Log. Baking experience varies throughout the team, but everyone had a go and the results were quite spectacular.

We asked our friends at Sema4 to judge, and they assured us they were well versed in extreme cake eating, which was great news as there were 5 completely different offerings to taste.

Christos - Chocolate salami with cognac and dark chocolate
Lynn - Chocolate log with peppermint cream and gingerbread figures
Laura - Chocolate log with spiced rum and ginger buttercream
Nigel - Chocolate log with glace fruits and chocolate ganache icing
Angela - Well, we'll come to Angela later.

L-R: Lynn, Christos, Nigel & Laura (bottom)

Judged by James and Tony from Sema4, (or Mary and Paul as we like to call them) who took their roles very seriously, there were 3 awards to be won. Master of Flavours, for the person who made the most delicious cake, Expert Cake Decorator, for they who made their log look the most beautiful, and the Overall Winner, given to the person who combined both good looks and taste.

Our expert judges - Tony and James from Sema4

There was some debate between the judges about which log deserved the Master of Flavours accolade, it was a close call for Laura's boozy spiced rum filling but in the end Christos was victorious, with his traditional Greek Mosaiko, or chocolate salami. Filled with delicious biscuits and twice as much cognac as the recipe demanded, Christos knew he was on to a winner before the judging even started.

Lynn's beautifully decorated log, complete with holly and gingerbread animals took the Expert Cake Decorator award. The time and effort put into the finished cake was clear to see and the prize was well deserved.

Considering Nigel has never really baked before, his log was really tasty, even if Tony thought the icing looked like it was moving!!

Now, the Overall Winner was initially awarded to Angela, based on how beautifully put together and delicious her chocolate log was. I'm sure you'd agree, it would normally be a very worthy winner.

Angela's beautiful cake!

Then the bombshell was dropped that the cake we'd been admiring was actually bought whole, from a shop. Not lovingly baked and decorated by hand as everyone else's was. You can imagine our horror when this was revealed, and so unfortunately the whole thing had to be disqualified. In Angela's defence she did blame her daughter for putting the idea in her head and she was very busy so it's not entirely her fault.

This left the door open for Laura to swoop in and take the Overall Winner title, with the cake that was actually James' favourite from the beginning.

Thank you very much to James and Tony for their expertise today, and for (almost) everyone for putting in such a wonderful effort.

Merry Christmas to all!

A Walk Down Christmas Memory Lane...

There are only 13 sleeps to Santa, and here at Sarsen we do like to celebrate Christmas. This year we have a beautiful tree from Val and the lovely elves at Nature at Work, and Angela has planned a cracker (get it!?) of a Christmas do.

We've done a lot of different things over the last 17 years, from fancy dress parties to burlesque nights, extraordinary gastronomic experiences to cosy pub lunches. There are always plenty of photos/evidence to remember them by and there's normally a silly hat or two involved!

 This year we are taking a trip to Salisbury Plain to see the Great Bustards, which have been reintroduced back into the wild thanks to the hard work of The Great Bustard Group.

We'll be ready for a good feed after spending time in the bird hide, so we're stopping off for a festive feast at The Red Lion in East Chisenbury where all the Secret Santa fun and games will commence!

If you have any photos of your Christmas parties we'd love to see them! Ours will be posted here next Friday for your festive viewing pleasure :)

Best wishes to all friends and colleagues, old and new (especially to those who managed to avoid being in any photos!!).
Thanks for the memories!
Team Sarsen

Trenton Systems Introduces New Purley Platform Skylake-SP Host Boards

Intel's next-generation Xeon Gold and Silver processors (formally known as Skylake-SP) developed under the family code name 'Purley' have now been released and Trenton Systems is pleased to be  launching a range of new products based on this architecture.

The Intel Xeon Gold and Silver processors are supported on the new SEP8253 system host board (SHB). The SEP8253 is the latest module in Trenton Systems’ HDEC Series® High Density Embedded Computing family of backplanes, host boards and rugged aluminium 19” rackmount chassis.

A drop-in replacement for the popular HEP8225, the SEP8253 brings support for dual Intel Xeon Gold and Silver processors and 8 DDR4-2666 memory DIMMs for up to 1TB of memory to the HDEC platform. 

It delivers 88 lanes of PCI Express 3.0 to an HDEC Series backplane, delivering the ultimate in flexibility when designing COTS PCIe embedded computing solutions that take advantage of FPGA and GPU co-processors, fabric interfaces like 50 or 100GbE, Infiniband or NVMe storage. 

Onboard interfaces include 4 USB 3.0, 2 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 2, 10GbE interfaces, VGA and Serial COMM support, with 6 additional USB 3.0, 6 SATA/600 and various serial, USB 2.0, GPIO, fan speed monitoring and I²C bus signals passed to the backplane.

The SEP8253 single board computer is designed, built and integrated by Trenton Systems in the USA to exacting quality and longevity standards. All Trenton's board products with a 5-year warranty, 15 years of processor availability, and free, in-house, lifetime technical support.

Please visit the Trenton Systems website for more information: www.trentonsystems.com.

Join us at the next FPGA Network meet-up on Tuesday 11th October in Swindon!

FPGA experts who care about tools and methodologies can’t afford to miss the next meeting of the NMI FPGA Network... You will find this meeting especially compelling if you are an architect, designer, verification specialist, project manager or engineering manager.

We know how important design tools and methodologies are in creating better FPGA designs and FPGA systems-based, this is why we are excited to be sponsoring this event and would be delighted to see you there too!

On the day we will contribute to the debate with a discussion on ‘FPGA Platform Development Kit Enables Fast TTM’ delivered by Chad Hamilton, VP of Intellectual Property (IP), Software and Support at BittWare.

Chad will join the discussion along with FPGA specialists from other Industry leaders.

Confirmed Speakers 
Synopsys: Flexible debug and visibility techniques to enhance all FPGA design and deployment cycles
BittWare: FPGA platform development kit enables fast TTM
Mentor Graphics: Staying competitive by evolving your FPGAverification methodologies
Bitvis AS: A game changer for VHDL verification: advanced VHDL verification – made simple for anyone
Telexsus: FPGA real-time debug with vastly increased operational capture time – live demo
Cadence: 100M gate designs in FPGAs – fact or fiction?
Altera now part of Intel: Zen and the art of high-speed design
Xilinx: Vivado HLx Design Methodology
ITDev: Static code analysis using Blue Pearl software

See full details (pdf)

We are also very pleased to have Manuele Papais from DAVE Embedded Systems with us, showcasing their Xilinx Zynq based hardware and talking to engineers about Asymmetric Multi Processing on Cortex-A CPU: system integrity and reliability on Linux and RTOS cores.

Find out more and book your place here.

We look forward to seeing you at the FPGA Network Event ‘Design Tools and Methodologies’!

Alta Data Technologies Announces the Appointment of Sarsen Technology Ltd as its Distributor in the UK and Ireland

Sarsen Technology is very excited to announce that they have been selected to represent Alta Data in the UK and Ireland.

Based in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, Alta Data specialises in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products for MIL-STD-1553 and ARINC avionics network systems. Alta Data offers industry leading technology to provide 1553 and ARINC connectivity for almost any standard computer platform and Ethernet based networks.

See all Alta Data Products

Nigel Norman, Managing Director of Sarsen Technology Limited says, “Providing high-performance embedded computing platforms for avionics applications to the leading UK OEMs is key to our business strategy, and the Sarsen Technology team is passionate about providing the best possible technology for mission critical applications in the mil-aero market. Alta Data’s extensive range of MIL-STD-1553, EBR and ARINC interface cards are the perfect addition to our product line and will further enable us to supply powerful COTS solutions for the most demanding environments”.

Harry Wild, VP of Sales at Alta Data says, “Alta is delighted to have the Sarsen Technology team represent the Alta products. It is a privilege to work with such a talented group of experienced professionals as Sarsen Technology. Sarsen’s product offerings compliment the Alta Product line and help to bring the customer a single point contact for test and embedded products in the UK marketspace.”

Alta has experienced rapid growth from its 2007 start to become one of the leading providers in the industry – all backed with a market-leading 5 year limited warranty.

For more information about the new relationship and how it could benefit your avionics and networking applications please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166, or email info@sarsen.net.

Rugged, conduction cooled XMC Graphics card with two 3G-SDI video outputs and 3G-SDI video capture based on AMD E8860 GPU

New XMC Video Capture Card from EIZO Rugged Solutions

Following their rebranding in April, EIZO Rugged Solutions has announced a new member of the high performance Condor video capture card product family.

The Condor product line offers high performance COTS XMC or VPX form factor graphics and video solutions for millitary /avionics and aerospace markets. Air or rugged conduction cooled variants offer Open GL/3D, H.264, video windowing plus GPGPU capabilities. Linux, Windows and RTOS drivers are supported.

Condor 4107xX XMC Video Capture Card

 Based on the AMD Embedded Radeon E8860 GPU the Condor 4107xX is the latest rugged, conduction cooled addition to the Condor line. The XMC format Condor 4107xX has been designed for seamless integration with VPX single board computers, and offers two 3G-SDI video outputs and 3G-SDI video capture. The board supports video inputs and outputs on the rear XMC I/O connector (Pn6 VITA 46.9, x12d+x8d+24s), and can capture two simultaneous 3G-SDI, HD-SDI or SD-SDI video inputs. The board captures the incoming video data and sends it over PCIe to the host machine as raw data with low latency.

Condor 4107xX is available in various ruggedisation levels, and has been specifically designed to withstand environments with high temperature, shock or vibration (MIL-STD-810g). This makes the board an ideal consideration for defense, command and control, training and simulation, surveillance and radar display environments.

Main Features

• XMC Form Factor
• Rugged XMC Graphics Card with Video Capture
• AMD Embedded Radeon™ E8860 GPU
• 2GB GDDR5 Memory
• 640 Shader Processor, 608/38 GFLOPs Single/Double Precision Performance
• Two 3G-SDI, HD-SDI or SD-SDI Video Outputs
• Two 3G-SDI, HD-SDI or SD-SDI Video Inputs
• DisplayPort, VGA, STANAG 3350 and RGB Sync-on-green Video Outputs
• OpenGL 4.2, DirectX® 11.1, Shader 5.0
• OpenCL™ 1.2, DirectCompute 11 (GPGPU Computing)
• Rugged - MIL-STD-810g Vibration, Shock, Humidity and Temperature as needed
• Rear XMC I/O (VITA 46.9)
• Conduction Cooled
• Comprehensive Customer Support
• Long Term Product Availability
• Windows/Linux (provided by default)
• Real-time Operating System (RTOS) support including VxWorks & Integrity (optional)

For more information on the new board, or any of the products in the Condor line please get in touch with the Sarsen Technology engineering team on +44 1672 511166, or send us an email - info@sarsen.net

3rd DAVIng Event - Learn, Discuss, Eat, Repeat!

Last week Nigel and Christos made the short hop across the continent to spend a couple of days with the DAVE Embedded Systems team in Porcia, Italy.

Following the success of last year's DAVing event the distribution network once again got together to meet and take part in a number of active training sessions as well as share their thoughts and ideas on how they can help DAVE Embedded Systems develop the business over the next 12 months. Sarsen Technology participated alongside Cynetis Embedded, Smart Embedded Systems DAVE Embedded Systems Germany and Digimax S.r.l.

As we know, all work and no play makes one very dull, so although the event was packed with training and interactive discussions there was still a little time for some sightseeing. Pordenone is a town about 15 minutes from the DAVE Embedded Systems offices, and the team enjoyed a tour of the town followed by a beautiful meal at La Ferrata.

Thanks to Eleonora and everyone at DAVE Embedded Systems for organising such an informative and motivating event! We're looking forward to working on some exciting new projects with you all this year.

X-ES Now Offering NXP QorIQ ARM Processor-Based Boards with Up to Eight ARM Cortex®-A53 64-bit Cores

Once again, our friends at Extreme Engineering Solutions (X-ES) are at the cutting edge when it comes to new technology releases.

The latest announcement from the X-ES team is the introduction of their first NXP QorIQ ARM-based boards: the XPedite6401 XMC/PrPMC mezzanine module and the forthcoming XPedite6370 3U VPX Single Board Computer (SBC).

Read full press release

Introducing the NXP QorIQ ARM Processor

The NXP QorIQ ARM processors, built on the revolutionary Layerscape architecture, provide next-generation processing performance and an array of I/O, including multiple Gigabit Ethernet ports, multiple PCI Express ports, USB, and SATA.

The LS10xx and LS20xx processor families on X-ES ARM-based single board computers and processor mezzanines are available in two, four, and eight-core configurations for scalable processing power and minimal power consumption, offering the most advantageous blend of performance.

XPedite6401
The XPedite6401 XMC/PrPMC is the first ARM-based processor module from X-ES. It features the latest NXP QorIQ 64-bit multicore ARM processor, targeting the LS1043A quad-core ARM A53 processor. The board has been designed with a focus on long life cycle support and future compatibility with the recently announced NXP LS1088A octal-core A53 and LS1046A quad-core A72 processors. The XPedite6401 will provide a scalable processing solution to meet a range of project needs and thermal requirements.



Coming Soon - XPedite6370
The XPedite6370 is a 3U VPX-REDI single board computer based on the NXP (formerly Freescale) QorIQ LS2088A processor. The LS2088A offers eight ARM® Cortex®-A72 CPUs, running at up to 2.0 GHz and integrates a 128-bit NEON™-based SIMD engine for each core. Wind River VxWorks, Linux, and Green Hills INTEGRITY Board Support Packages (BSPs) are available.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on 01672 511166, or send us an email - info@sarsen.net

BittWare Announces OpenPOWER CAPI DevKit for Xilinx FPGA-Enabled Accelerator Cards

FPGA platform supplier provides CAPI enabled FPGA accelerator cards for POWER8 processors.

April 2016

BittWare, an industry-leading board supplier for over 25 years, announced today an OpenPOWER CAPI Developer’s Kit for its Xilinx FPGA-enabled accelerator cards. Providing a fast, efficient way to connect the Xilinx All Programmable FPGA to a CAPI-enabled IBM POWER8 system, the developer’s kit includes the FPGA accelerator card, IBM Power Service Layer (PSL) IP to provide the connection to the POWER8 chip, CAPI host support library, and an example CAPI design.

The FPGA accelerator card included in the kit is BittWare’s XUSP3S, which is a ¾-length PCIe board featuring the Xilinx Virtex® UltraScale™ VU095, four QSFPs for 4x 100GbE, and flexible memory configurations with up to 64 GBytes of memory and support for Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC).

Most FPGA accelerators use PCIe to connect to the host processor unit. IBM has developed CAPI (Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface) as an alternative that takes some of the overhead and complexity out of the I/O subsystem by providing a direct interface between the host and the FPGA. Developers can run their specific FPGA solutions as a peer to the IBM POWER8 cores, enabling higher system performance with less programming complexity.

“BittWare is pleased to work with Xilinx and IBM to offer CAPI enabled FPGA acceleration platforms for POWER processors,” said Ron Huizen, VP of Systems and Solutions at BittWare. “Our XUSP3S board is a compelling option for data center applications, and with the addition of CAPI will now allow our customers to develop their applications even more quickly and efficiently.”

“CAPI on POWER8 systems provides a high-performance solution for implementing customer-specific, computation-heavy algorithms on an FPGA,” said Sumit Gupta, VP, High Performance Computing & Data Analytics at IBM. “The IBM solution enables higher system performance with a much smaller programming investment, allowing hybrid computing to be successful across a much broader range of applications. BittWare’s CAPI support brings this innovation to an even wider range of customers.”

“The demand for FPGA acceleration in data centers is increasing, and with that the need for innovative, high performance accelerator solutions,” said Curtis Pulley, data center business manager at Xilinx. “The CAPI-enabled Xilinx FPGA-based offerings from BittWare are a great addition to the OpenPOWER ecosystem and extend our efforts to deliver industry-leading solutions for IBM POWER systems.”

Availability
BittWare’s OpenPOWER CAPI Developer’s Kit will be available in early Q2 2016. Contact Sarsen Technology for details.



About OpenPOWER

BittWare is a member of the OpenPOWER Foundation, an open development community based on the POWER microprocessor architecture. The Foundation includes a growing roster of technology organizations working collaboratively to build advanced server, networking, storage, and acceleration technology as well as industry-leading open source software aimed at delivering more choice, control, and flexibility to developers of next-generation, hyperscale, and cloud data centers. The group makes POWER hardware and software available to open development for the first time, as well as making POWER intellectual property licensable to others, greatly expanding the ecosystem of innovators on the platform.

To learn more about OpenPOWER and to view the complete list of current members, go to www.openpowerfoundation.org.

About BittWare, Inc.

For over 25 years, BittWare has designed and deployed high-end network processing, signal processing, and high performance computing platforms that significantly reduce technology risk and time-to revenue for our OEM customers. Our products utilize the latest FPGA technologies on industry-standard COTS form factors, including PCIe, and are available either as boards or in systems. We also provide a great deal of value-add with IP, software, support, and services. When customer requirements make it difficult to use industry-standard boards, BittWare can provide modified solutions and/or licensed designs. For more information on BittWare and its innovative FPGA platform solutions, visit www.bittware.com/xilinx.

Learn more: Find your solution... Built on BittWare.

Embedded Design Show 2015

We had a great time at the Embedded Design Show again this year, where we spent two days showcasing the latest technology from DAVE Embedded Systems.

The Embedded Design Show has been running alongside the Electronics Design Show and Engineering Design Show at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry for the last few years, with 2015 looking like the most successful year to date.

If you didn't get the chance to visit the show don't worry, just get in touch with the sales team to request a datapack, which will give you a great overview of the DAVE Embedded Systems' product line, covering FPGA technology, ARM Cortex-A architecture, Freescale and Texas Instruments processors and the new Xilinx 'Zynq' SoC.

If you'd like to know more about DAVE Embedded Systems, or the Embedded Design Show, please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166

Hello and Goodbye - A new Sales Engineer for Sarsen Technology

Author - Laura Biddiscombe

Today is a sad day.

We are saying “adiós y buena suerte” to Alberto, who is leaving us for a new life in California with his wife, Cristina.

We’ve all really enjoyed working with Alberto (who, even after all this time, hasn’t succumbed to a nickname), and the team is sad to see him go. I will particularly miss having to explain who’s who in any British TV program since time began.

Alberto bought culture to the Sarsen office, as well as an abundance of enthusiasm and generosity, especially when it comes to turrón and polvorónes.We will miss you!!



 
But all is not lost.
As one door closes another one opens. We’d like to welcome Tony Seal to the Sarsen gang. Tony is taking over from Alberto, and will be providing engineering and technical support, primarily for United Electronics Industries solutions, to key accounts in the military, instrumentation, transportation and aerospace sectors.

Good luck to both Tony and Alberto as they start their new adventures. I’m not sure who needs it most….!

Sarsen Technology Christmas Opening Hours

author - Laura

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The Sarsen Technology offices will be closed over the festive period, so if there is anything we can help you with before the end of the year please let us know.

We will also be wearing our Christmas jumpers on December 22nd, just for fun, so if you want to send us any pictures of you and your team in all your Christmas finery please email them to me at laurab@sarsen.net.

X-ES Recognised by Brigadier General L. Neil Thurgood for Outstanding Support

Author - Laura Biddiscombe

We'd like to wish everyone at Extreme Engineering Solutions a huge congratulations on their recent visit from Brigadier General L. Neil Thurgood, in recognition of their support for the Army’s Missiles and Space program.

General Thurgood and his staff traveled to Middleton, Wisconsin to personally thank X-ES and present eight individual certificates of appreciation, recognsing the employees directly involved with the delivery and outstanding support of the rugged Intel® Core™ i7-based Single Board Computers (SBCs) used for his program.

Read Full Press Release

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X-ES supports the Intel® Core™ i7 processor for a number of different form factors and rugged systems. These include:

• 3U VPX XPedite7570
• 6U VPX XCalibur4540
• 3U cPCI XPedite7530
• 6U cPCI XCalibur4500
• 6U VME XCalibur4530
• COM Express XPedite7450

See Full Product List
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About Extreme Engineering Solutions, Inc. 
(X-ES)is a 100% U.S.A.-based company, designing and manufacturing Intel® and Freescale-based single board computers, networking products, power supplies, and system-level solutions for embedded computing customers. X-ES offers cutting-edge performance and flexibility in design, plus an unparalleled level of customer support and service.