Marvell took its ARM license and
cranked out the 32-bit Shiva core,
which hits 2 GHz and delivers PCI
Express connectivity. It’s compatible
with ARM’s 16- and 32-bit instruction
sets even though it isn’t part of ARM’s
Cortex push. This lets designers tailor
the core to its requirements.
The initial crop of Shiva chips targets
multimedia applications, including
portable units such as mobile Internet
devices (MIDs). The 2-GHz 88F6281
is at the top of the line (see the figure).
The PCI Express interface can be set
up as a host or device. As a device, the
chip can be a coprocessor augmenting
an existing design such as a set-top box.
The 88F619x and 88F6180 chips run
at 800 MHz, delivering lower power
requirements and slightly fewer peripherals.
All of the platforms include the
security engine, which is critical to many
multimedia and storage applications.
The engine supports AES, DES, 3DES,
SHA1, and MD5. Only the 88F6281
incorporates video support.
MARVELL
www.marvell.com