Freescale Semiconductor Joins UTM Security Appliance Market

Suite of solutions is based on its VortiQa application-level software

March 10, 2010

6 Min Read

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO (RSA Conference 2010) " March 1, 2010 " Manufacturers of security appliance equipment will soon have a highly scalable suite of turnkey solutions from Freescale Semiconductor, thanks to strong market acceptance from top ODMs, board manufacturers and independent software vendors.

Leading companies including Advantech, BitDefender, Curtiss-Wright Controls, O2 Security, Portwell and Silicon Turnkey, have adopted Freescale multicore processors to establish one of the broadest portfolios of security appliance solutions in the market "

with performance scaling from 4 Gbps up to 20 Gbps.

The solutions are designed to help OEMs quickly and cost effectively create a range of security applications including unified threat management (UTM) appliances, secured routers, IPS/IDS appliances, VPN routers, secured switches and business gateways. Designed to deliver outstanding performance-to-price ratios and dramatically shorten development cycles, the solutions tightly integrate optimized low-level software and production-ready boards with Freescale's VortiQa application software and multicore PowerQUICC and QorIQ processors.

According to analyst Jeff Wilson of analyst firm Infonetics, the security appliance market is valued at $4.3B per year and expected to grow to $5.5B by 2013.

"These offerings deliver substantial value to our customers and demonstrate Freescale's intent to apply our technology, software, ecosystem and networking leadership to provide segment-specific solutions," said Sathyan Iyengar, vice president of Software Products for the Freescale Networking and Multimedia Group. "The solutions offer compelling options for the network security marketplace and underscore the advantages of VortiQa application software, which is specifically designed and optimized for our highly advanced QorIQ and PowerQUICC processors."

The suite of security appliance solutions based on Freescale silicon includes:

  • The Advantech NCP-7560 4U eight-way network processor platform based on Freescale's QorIQ P4080 eight-core processor for high-end enterprise or service provider systems

    • BitDefender antivirus technology with Freescale VortiQa software on QorIQ platforms for comprehensive security solutions

    • The Curtiss-Wright VPX6-187 single board computer based on Freescale's QorIQ P4080 eight-core processor and related devices for embedded, aerospace and military security applications

    • The O2 Security SifoWorksTM 8572 1U Network Security Appliance based on Freescale's MPC8572 PowerQUICC III dual-core processor for mid-enterprise IPS based deployments

    • The O2 Security SifoWorksTM 8540 1U Network Security Appliance based on Freescale's MPC8540 single-core host processor for small- to mid-size enterprises

    • The Portwell CAK-2000 1U UTM security appliance, based on Freescale's QorIQ P2020 dual-core processor for mid-enterprise, low-power systems

    • The Portwell CAK-2000 1U UTM security appliance, based on Freescale's QorIQ P2010 single-core processor for high-performance, low-power small enterprise value systems

    • The Silicon Turnkey GP3SSA Network Security Board with the MPC8541 PowerQUICC III and MPC8555 PowerQUICC III single-core host processors for network security applications

      For more information about the new security appliance solutions based on Freescale silicon please visit www.freescale.com/utm.

      Availability and pricing

      The suite of security appliance solutions is expected to be available through Freescale ODM and software partners. The solutions based on the PowerQUICC III MPC8572 and MPC8540 processors are available now. The QorIQ P2010 and P2020 solutions are available for evaluation and initial development and are planned for ODM production mid-year. Pricing on the silicon and VortiQa software can be obtained through local Freescale sales representatives, and pricing on the suite of security appliances is available from respective ODM partners.

      About VortiQa software

      A large portion of the time required to develop products based on embedded multicore processors is devoted to testing and optimizing application software. VortiQa solutions speed development by providing fully integrated, architecturally compatible application software designed to eliminate or greatly reduce the time needed for these tasks. VortiQa software is optimized to take full advantage of Freescale's QorIQ processor technology, including pattern matching engine, security accelerator, datapath acceleration and other features, thereby boosting performance in embedded systems. It eliminates the time-consuming task of creating application-optimal mapping of functionality and core assignments for asymmetric multi-processing (AMP), symmetric multi-processing (SMP) and hybrid AMP+SMP configurations.

      Freescale's solution-centric approach and VortiQa software products utilize the technology and talent obtained through the October 2008 acquisition of Intoto, Inc., a leading provider of software products for networking and security equipment manufacturers. Freescale combined its PowerQUICC and QorIQ processors with Intoto's broad, application-based products built on modular, scalable software architecture, as well as the deep multicore software engineering expertise of both companies.

      About PowerQUICC processors and QorIQ communications platforms

      Recognized as the premier communications processors in the market today, Freescale's PowerQUICC processors are used widely in a broad range of networking devices. QorIQ communications platforms are Freescale's next-generation evolution of PowerQUICC processors. QorIQ single-, dual- and multicore processors offer superior performance and programmability in a single-core power budget and are designed to take embedded multicore to new levels of adoption.

      About Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial and networking markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations around the world. www.freescale.com.

      Supporting quotes from Freescale partners

      "The new security platforms from Freescale and their integration support for BitDefender's industry-leading anti-malware technologies will allow Freescale and its OEM partners to quickly launch premium antivirus protection and deliver an even more powerful security solution to their customers," said Peter Laakkonen, general manager of OEM and technology licensing at BitDefender. "We are thrilled to be part of the powerful line-up of security appliance solutions Freescale has developed."

      "We are excited about the potential that Freescale's new security appliance features hold for meeting the needs of our defense and aerospace customers," said Lynn Patterson, vice president and general manager of Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing. "They promise to augment our Trusted COTS products by enabling us to add increased security functionality to rugged deployed boards and systems."

      "We pride ourselves in delivering enterprise-level security technology in easy-to-deploy appliances for small- to mid-size organizations, and that means finding top-level partners like Freescale to integrate into our offerings," said Efrem Gonzales, vice president of Sales, Americas for O2Security. "Freescale microprocessors will be an essential component of some of the new products we will launch later this year that will provide customers with a full function security gateway as well as added traffic management, anti-distributed denial-of-service attack and reporting functions. We are looking forward to being part of Freescale's exhibit at RSA to discuss these developments with customers and prospects."

      "Based on Freescale QorIQ P2020 multicore processor, Portwell's new CAK-2000 1U network appliance is equipped with the ideal combination of technologies from Portwell and Freescale," said Mark Huang, product marketing manager for American Portwell Technology. "Freescale's QorIQ P2020 communications processor offers an advanced set of features such as DDR3 support, an outstanding security engine and support for error correction codes in P2020 L2 cache, which is a baseline requirement for any high-reliability system. All in all, combining Portwell's expertise in the design and manufacturing of security appliances with the advanced feature set of the QorIQ P2020 multicore processor, the CAK-2000 delivers the ideal solution with dual-core performance in single-core budgets for a great variety of applications in the networking and telecom markets."

      "The ability to quickly prototype new security appliance products based on Freescale QorIQ processors and VortiQa software, and to provide extended life cycle management with subcontract manufacturing to customers, has been one of the fastest growth segments for Silicon TurnKey," said Robert Applebaum, president of Silicon TurnKey. "This partnership between Freescale and Silicon TurnKey gives customers the opportunity to substantially reduce the cycle time needed to get products to market."

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