World’s Lowest-Cost Ethernet AVB End-Point Solution Eliminates Barriers for New A/V Standard

Bristol, UK and Sunnyvale, Calif. – Oct. 27th, 2010– XMOS® and Attero Tech today announced a joint reference design for audio/visual bridging (AVB) applications, featuring the industry’s lowest cost solution for Ethernet AVB endpoints. The low-cost XCore® XS1-L2 dual-core processor is at the heart of the new reference design.

The development of new standards, such as AVB, needs technology that can be adapted quickly. XCore processors allow the AVB standard to be implemented entirely in software, which shortens development times and reduces risk for A/V designs. In addition, XCore processors reduce the cost for AVB endpoints by more than 50 percent compared to alternative solutions, such as expensive FPGA implementations.

Attero Tech’s deep experience in developing OEM networked AV endpoints can be leveraged to help manufacturers bring their own products to market quickly, from idea to production, on a wide variety of AVB enabled products.

“The key to widespread deployment of any networked AV technology is the availability of a low-cost endpoint solution,” said Mike Sims, director of marketing and sales at Attero Tech. “AVB endpoints are evolving into cost-sensitive, high volume devices, and the current available solutions, such as FPGAs, are simply too slow to design with and not cost-competitive for endpoint development in today’s market. XMOS technology and this new reference design removes those time and cost barriers.”

“A main goal in creating this reference design was to provide the lowest risk route to AVB endpoints, and this was achieved with a flexible solution,” said Joerg Bertholdt, VP of marketing at XMOS. “By using the flexibility of XMOS processors, changes to an evolving technology, right down to the MAC layer, require a software change only, not a new chip. Because of this, changes can be made very late in the design process – even for devices that are already deployed in the field.”

Key Features

Reference Design: a low cost Ethernet AVB endpoint solution, supporting very fast turnaround to commercial product
Software Stack: complete Ethernet AVB protocol support with ongoing interoperability testing in AVnu plugfests
AVB Standards support: 802.1as, 802.1Qav, 802.1Qat, IEEE P1722, IEC61883-6, IEEE 1722.MAAP

Availability

The reference design will be demonstrated in private meetings at the AES Convention in San Francisco, Nov. 4-7, 2010. Please contact either XMOS or Attero Tech to schedule a demonstration. The reference design will be generally available from both XMOS and Attero Tech in December.

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