Hundreds of Millions of Gates and Billions of MIPS: Sundance Records 20 Multiprocessing Years

Earlier this month Sundance was the first to market with the industry’s first off-the-shelf multiprocessor, multicore solution - the Sundance EVP6472 - which features dual Texas Instruments (TI) TMS320C6472 Digital Signal Processors (DSPs).

Sundance Multiprocessor Technology Ltd traces its roots back to 1989 when the founding team of Flemming Christensen and David Milsom set out to harness the benefits of closely coupling digital signal processors (DSPs) with nascent field programmable gate array (FPGA) technology. Twenty years on and hundreds of products later, Sundance stands as an industry leader and boasts an impressive array of corporate and technology partnerships, commercial presence in established and emerging markets and world class customer brands.

Reflecting on this anniversary announcement Flemming Christensen, managing director of Sundance Multiprocessor Technology Ltd said, “I would like to thank our customers, old and new, for their faith, support and trust. When we shipped our first customer product, FPGA gate counts were measured in the thousands and DSP performance was a shadow of what is available today. We were using Inmos Transputer technology and exploring how to best connect and deliver multiprocessor solutions. We also laid down the foundations for our modular design philosophy and a commitment to forward and backwards compatibility, values that remain as the cornerstone of our product development strategy.”

Today, Sundance ships multiprocessor products through offices across Asia, Europe and the US. They feature the very latest high density FPGAs from Xilinx, and the company’s most recent product announcement, the EVP6472, features dual C6472 multicore DSPs from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI), that lead the industry in power consumption efficiency. The 500MHz C6472 is the best power performance multicore DSP with 0.15 mW/MIPS at 3 GHz performance.

“Sundance has proven to be a key member of TI’s Developer Network whose solution, coupled with TI technology, has helped improve the design process for manufacturers,” said Tom Kelly, director of software partner network, TI. “Together we continue to provide products that drive innovation, keep cost low and more importantly, provide the flexibility for developers to easily adapt to and accommodate evolving technology standards and requirements.”

Sundance is also a member of The MathWorks Connections program and Sundance has worked hard to drive efficiencies and capabilities in the multiprocessor design ecosystem. By constantly delivering innovative products that feature the most advanced processing architectures, interconnect standards and memory configurations, a formidable array of joined-up design solutions now support the Sundance family of multiprocessor platforms:

· Code Composer StudioTM Integrated Development Environment from TI

· 3Ls Diamond multiprocessor software development systems

· RTW-EC and HDLCoder from The MathWorks™

· The PARS design tool that automatically generate targets code from Simulink® models for distribution across multi-DSP/FPGA hardware

· Co-Developer from Impulse

· Comprehensive VHDL and Verilog support from EDA vendors

“The development and progress made by Sundance over the past 20 years is testament to the dedication, creativity and commitment of our staff,” said Christensen. “By working with, and listening to our customers, it is our employees who bring the tremendous wealth of ideas, innovation and drive to the organization.”