Express Logic’s NetX™ Achieves Near Wire Speed on Freescale Kinetis

TCP/IP performance critical for connected devices

ESC Boston 2011

BOSTON--()--Express Logic, Inc., the worldwide leader in royalty-free, real-time operating systems (RTOS), announced that its NetX™ TCP/IP stack has achieved 94 Mbps, an outstanding 94% wire speed on Freescale’s ARM Cortex-M4-based Kinetis processor. The Kinetis has a 100-Mbps Ethernet port, which enables transfers at up to wire speed. Generally, TCP/IP stacks are less than 100% efficient, leading to performance well below wire speed. To facilitate rapid data transfer, the closer to wire speed, the better.

Not only did NetX achieve 94% of full wire speed on the Kinetis processor, but it achieved it while using less than 50% of the processor’s cycles. This frugal use of CPU cycles is equally outstanding, as it allows many other product functions to run during TCP/IP activity without slowing network performance.

“Today’s devices demand not only connectivity, but high throughput to meet the needs of advanced consumer, medical device, and industrial control products,” commented Dr. Jerry Krasner, Ph.D., founder and principal analyst at Embedded Market Forecasters (EMF). “High-performance hardware cannot achieve this alone. It must be complemented by high-performance software in order to realize the full benefits of the device.”

NetX performance was measured using the open-source, industry-standard network throughput benchmark tool, “iperf.” Wikipedia describes the iperf test as “a commonly used network testing tool that can create TCP and UDP data streams and measure the throughput of a network that is carrying them. It is open-source software and runs on various platforms including Linux, Unix and Windows. It is supported by the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iperf).

“Not all TCP/IP stacks are equal,” confirmed William E. Lamie, President of Express Logic. “Not only do some stacks perform better than others, but they can help achieve lower development costs and faster time to market, as well. Developers are advised to select the best stack for their needs, in order to get the most out of their hardware. NetX delivers outstanding performance on Freescale’s Kinetis, warranting consideration by the performance-conscious developer.”

Shipping and Availability

NetX TCP/IP is available for ThreadX, in full source code form, royalty free, with project licenses starting at $12,500.

About Express Logic and ThreadX

Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Express Logic offers the most advanced run-time solution for deeply embedded applications, including the popular ThreadX® RTOS, the high-performance NetX™ TCP/IP stack, the FileX™ embedded MS-DOS compatible file system, and the USBX™ Host/Device USB protocol stack. All products from Express Logic include full source code and have no run-time royalties. For more information about Express Logic solutions, please visit the Web site at www.expresslogic.com, call 1-888-THREADX, or e-mail inquires to info@expresslogic.com.

ThreadX, BenchX, TraceX, and FileX are registered trademarks, and Certification Pack, NetX, CANX, USBX, StackX, PrismX, preemption-threshold, picokernel, and UDP fast path are trademarks of Express Logic, Inc. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.

Word Copy of release:

The release and background information can be downloaded from the Express Logic Press Room on www.hughescom.net.

Contacts

Hughes Communications, Inc.
Janice Hughes, 705-549-8952
Cell: 705-774-8686
janice@hughescom.net
or
John Carbone, 858-613-6640, Ext. 202
Vice President of Marketing
jcarbone@expresslogic.com

Release Summary

Express Logic excels in iperf network test, achieving near-wire speed with its NetX TCP/IP stack on Freescale’s Kinetis, an ARM Cortex M4 processor while using less than 50% of the processor cycles.

Contacts

Hughes Communications, Inc.
Janice Hughes, 705-549-8952
Cell: 705-774-8686
janice@hughescom.net
or
John Carbone, 858-613-6640, Ext. 202
Vice President of Marketing
jcarbone@expresslogic.com