Toshiba Starts Sample Shipping of SpursEngine(TM) SE1000 High-Performance Stream Processor

    TOKYO, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba Corporation today
 announced the start of sample shipping of the SpursEngine(TM) SE1000
 (SpursEngine), a high-performance stream processor integrating four
 Synergistic Processing Element (SPE) cores derived from the "Cell Broadband
 Engine(TM)" (Cell/B.E.(TM)). Sample shipping began today and Toshiba
 expects sales of 6 million units within the first three years of the
 SpursEngine's release.
 
     SpursEngine is a co-processor that integrates a hardware codec for full
 HD encoding and decoding of MPEG-2 and H.264 streams with four SPEs derived
 from Cell/B.E. These advanced processing elements offer high performance
 media streaming capabilities, with a clock frequency of 1.5GHz, while
 achieving a low power consumption range of 10W to 20W.
 
     "We are very pleased to have started sample shipping of the
 SpursEngine," said Yoshio Masubuchi, Director of Toshiba's System LSI
 Division, Advanced SoC Development Center. "The design of this powerful
 co-processor is dedicated to bringing the advanced capabilities of the
 Cell/B.E. to consumer electronics, particularly video processing in digital
 consumer products. We are sure that SpursEngine will accelerate the market
 for full-HD applications."
 
     Toshiba will support developers working on SpursEngine applications
 with a comprehensive reference kit that includes a reference board and
 essential middleware APIs. The reference board has a PCI-Express edge
 connector that can connect to an x1 layer slot in a PC. Toshiba will also
 provide an integrated development environment (SPE compiler, SPE debugger
 and performance monitor) and sample applications that demonstrate how to
 use the provided middleware. With the reference kit, customers can quickly
 and easily construct an evaluation and development environment and
 accelerate product development.
 
     Toshiba will further boost the performance and cut the power
 consumption of the SpursEngine to support further innovation in products
 offering new levels of functionality.
 
     Co-operation between Toshiba and the SpursEngine(TM) SE1000
 Partnerships
 
     Toshiba is developing co-operative relationships with many partner
 companies in order to develop wide scope video solutions that utilize the
 SpursEngine. For example, Toshiba is partnering with Corel Corporation,
 whose headquarters are in Canada, and Taiwan-based CyberLink Corporation
 and Leadtek Research Inc. These companies produce popular video and image
 processing software and hardware, such as graphic boards, and will together
 supply to set manufacturers. By working together with these companies and
 creating a new value chain, many end users can enjoy a comfortable digital
 life by using partner boards and software bundled with the SpursEngine.
 
 

 
 
     Outline of SpursEngine(TM) SE1000
 
 
     Product Number        BXA32110XBGN
     Sample Shipping       April 2008
     Processor             SPE 4 core
     SPE                   Fully compliant with Cell/B.E.(TM) SPE Instruction
                           Set SIMD RISC/Single & double -precision
                           floating-point arithmetic /DMAC/MMU
     Memory Interface      (XDR(TM) DRAM) 128MB(512Mbit x2), Physical
                           Bandwidth of 12.8GB/s
     Hardware Video Codec  Full HD Capable MPEG2 Encoder and Decoder
                           Full HD Capable H.264 Encoder and Decoder
     PCI-Express I/F       x1, x4
                           PCI-Express Compliant with Base Specification
                           Revision
                           1.1
 
 
 
     Outline of SpursEngine(TM) Reference Kit
 
 
                   Product Name         SpursEngine SE1000 Reference Kit
                      Model                    BXK005000
 
                   Main Engine          Processing          Maximum 48GFlops
                   SpursEngine SE1000   Performance         12GFlops/1SPE
 
                                        Element Core        SPEx4
                                        Operating Frequency 1.5GHz
                                        Registers           128bit x 128/1SPE
 
    Hardware                            Internal Memory     Local Storage
                                                            256KB/1SPE
                                                            Endpoint
                   Host Interface                           1 lane link support
                                        Functions           Compliant Base
                   PCI-Express                              specification,
                                                            Revision 1.1
                   Memory               Physical Bandwidth  12.8GB/s
                   XDR(TM)DRAM          Memory Size         128MB
 
                 Basic software, libraries and tool chain for host and
     Software    SPE program development.
                 Sample applications for user programs.
 
 
     *  XDR(TM) DRAM is a trademark of Rambus Inc. in the United States and
        other countries.
     *  SpursEngine(TM) and the logo are trademarks of Toshiba Corporation.
     *  Cell Broadband Engine(TM) and Cell/B.E.(TM) are trademarks of Sony
        Computer Entertainment Inc.
 
 

SOURCE Toshiba Corporation