The Intel® IOP321 introduces a powerful combination of technical advancements. The 133 MHz PCI-X interface achieves up to 1GB per second throughput, a two-fold increase over 66 MHz PCI. The internal bus operates at 200 MHz and offers internal bandwidth of up to 1.6GB/second. The Intel IOP321 also features a 200 MHz DDR SDRAM controller with ECC that supports up to 1GB of 64-bit DDR SDRAM, two times that of the previous generation. It contains a 100 MHz, 32-bit local bus that is excellent for embedded applications requiring a connection to non-PCI peripheral components such as ASICs, flash memory, or DSPs.
The Intel IOP321 has additional features that accelerate I/O throughput. A 2-channel DMA controller facilitates increased PCI-to-memory throughput and memory-to-memory throughput. The application accelerator unit contains a hardware-based XOR capability and a 1KB queue to accelerate RAID-related parity calculations. The application accelerator speeds transfer of read and write data to the memory controller and computes data parity across local memory blocks.
The Intel IOP321 features a small 544L PBGA (35mm) package. It also integrates 8 GPIO pins, 4 SDRAM output clocks, enhanced interrupt processing, a watchdog timer, and 2 programmable timers. This integration reduces chip count, saves board space, and simplifies designs. The Intel IOP321 is code compatible with the IOP310 I/O processor chipset and the Intel® StrongARM* microprocessor (SA-110), simplifying code porting from existing designs. It is compliant with the ARM* Version 5TE instruction set (excluding the floating point instruction set).
As system demands rapidly increase, greater I/O throughput becomes a necessity. The Intel® I/O processor family, beginning with the Intel® i960® Rx I/O processors and continuing with the Intel IOP310 and Intel IOP321, aids the developer in accomplishing a significant increase in overall system performance. The Intel IOP321 I/O processor with Intel XScale® microarchitecture provides a highly integrated, cost-effective I/O system on a chip that greatly improves I/O performance on current and new server platforms based on the Intel® Pentium® 4, Intel® Xeon®, and Intel® Itanium® processors.
Single-chip I/O processor based on Intel XScale® technology
The Intel IOP321 I/O processor is Intel's fifth generation I/O processor. It is the first I/O processor to integrate an Intel XScale® microarchitecture core and a PCI-X interface. Many storage, networking, and embedded applications require fast I/O throughput for optimal performance. The Intel IOP321 is a highly integrated, cost-effective I/O system on a chip that delivers a two-fold performance boost over its predecessor, the Intel IOP310® I/O processor chipset, in I/O-intensive applications.
The Intel IOP321 is especially well suited to networked storage applications including RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) adapter cards, ROMB (RAID on motherboard), and other storage applications. Its small package size, high data throughput, and integrated AAU/XOR provide an optimized solution for these applications. In addition, the Intel IOP321 is an ideal choice for applications requiring a high performance I/O subsystem in a tightly-integrated environment.
Intel® IOP321 I/O processor core opens floodgates of I/O throughput
The Intel IOP321 processor is based on the Intel XScale microarchitecture. It integrates Intel® Super-Pipelined RISC Technology with a 7-stage integer, 8-stage memory super-pipelined core that achieves high speed and low power. The Intel IOP321 is available in two speed grades: 400 MHz and 600 MHz.
The Intel IOP321 core integrates 32KB data and instruction caches with write-back, write-though, and hit-under-miss capabilities. These large caches greatly improve performance by preventing core stalls caused by multicycle memory accesses. In addition, a 2KB mini-data cache is also included to help avoid "thrashing" of the data cache for frequently changing data streams.
This combination of high core speed, larger caches, PCI-X, DDR memory, and a fast internal bus enables the Intel IOP321 to achieve greater data throughput. The Intel IOP321 can efficiently handle a broad spectrum of designs involving storage, networking, and embedded applications.
Integrated PCI-X bus and 200 MHz internal bus double in speed and bandwidth
The Intel IOP321 includes an integrated 64-bit PCI-X interface that achieves a two-fold boost in performance over
PCI 2.2 bus technology. This PCI-X interface can be operated at 133 MHz, 100 MHz, and 66 MHz. It is also PCI 2.2
compatible at 33 MHz and 66 MHz (3.3v). The Intel IOP321 internal bus achieves speeds of 200 MHz, offering internal
bandwidth of up to 1.6GB/second. The Intel IOP321 can realize a two-fold performance improvement over the previous
generation I/O processor in I/O-intensive applications.
32-bit local bus offers increased design options
The Intel IOP321 offers a 32-bit local bus that provides an interface to external components that do not reside on the
PCI bus. It is excellent for embedded applications that need a non-PCI-X attach point to the processor such as ASICs,
DSPs, or other peripherals. Six chip selects are available to provide expandability. The local bus is programmable at
8, 16, and 32 bits and functions at 33 MHz, 66 MHz, and 100 MHz speeds.
200 MHz DDR SDRAM improves memory throughput
The 200 MHz DDR SDRAM memory controller acts as an interface between the Intel IOP321 and local memory. It supports
up to 1GB of 64-bit DDR and up to 512MB of 32-bit DDR. It also supports single-bit error correction and multi-bit detection support from ECC, signaling the culmination of a significant effort to improve memory performance.
The Intel IOP321 offers increased I/O flexibility
The Intel IOP321 offers the flexibility to interface with a wide variety of different interconnect technologies, including
SCSI, Fibre Channel, SATA, IB, and Gbit Ethernet. This enables the same code base to be used across multiple
applications, reducing development costs and enhancing time-to-market. For more information see the product brief.
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Intel XScale® technology processor and tightly integrated I/O peripherals in a single chip.
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