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Mar 6, 2012 at 12:00 AM EST

Mercury Computer Systems Announces New Levels of Embedded Performance With Server-Class OpenVPX Blade Based on the Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor E5-2600 Family

Mercury Computer Systems Announces New Levels of Embedded Performance With Server-Class OpenVPX Blade Based on the Intel(R) Xeon(R) Processor E5-2600 Family

CHELMSFORD, Mass., March 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:MRCY) (www.mc.com), a trusted provider of commercially developed application-ready ISR and EW subsystems for defense prime contractors, announced the server-class Ensemble® Series 6U OpenVPX™ HDS6601 rugged compute blade based on the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 family (formerly codenamed Romley-EP). Utilizing two of the new 8-core Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2648L, the HDS6601 is a 16-core Intel® architecture-based module, configured as an easy-to-program symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) cluster. This is the embedded computing industry's first 16-way, 32-thread SMP server blade compliant with the OpenVPX standard, enabling new levels of rugged subsystem performance with deployed systems.

Mercury's new Ensemble® Series 6U OpenVPX™ HDS6601 rugged compute blade based on the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 family.

With the server-class HDS6601, applications can be easily developed to target the high-performance SMP operating environment. Any of the SMP cluster's CPUs can access any region of the very large, 64 Gbyte on-board memory directly, eliminating the need to program explicit data movement. Subsystems can be easily scaled to multiple boards with Mercury's OpenMPI/OFED software, industry-leading switch fabric modules and Protocol Offload Engine Technology (POET™). Together, these enable an easy-to-use, high-performance open architecture platform, available with Serial RapidIO® and 10 Gigabit Ethernet-based OpenVPX dataplane configurations.

"Key to enabling our sever-class rugged processor module are Mercury's mechanical packaging innovations for the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2648L and the development of new rugged large memory packaging methods," said Steve Patterson, Vice President of Defense Product Management at Mercury Computer Systems. "And when the server-class processing capability is configured with Mercury's GPGPU blades and mobile Intel® processor-based products, our customers can configure solutions that quadruple the SWaP performance of currently deployed applications," Patterson continued.

"The Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 family is ideal for high-end processing due to the SMP model supported across multiple devices and enabled by Intel® QuickPath Interconnect chip-to-chip bus technology," said Steve Price, Director of Marketing, Communications Infrastructure Division, Intel. "Combined with the Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions processing capability on each SMP core, this creates a high-performance SMP cluster that performs well in ruggedized servers for high-end embedded real-time applications."

The server-class HDS6601 delivers new levels of performance for both large and small 6U OpenVPX systems. Small subsystems are typically configured with one or two HDS6601 modules for up to 32 cores, while larger systems of up to 10 HDS6601 modules can be configured with up to 160 cores. For extreme computing needs, these larger systems can be augmented with multiple Mercury GPGPU modules and high-performance switch modules to fill a standard 19" rack mountable OpenVPX chassis. The server-class HDS6601 delivers the defense industry's best size, weight and power (SWaP) optimized solutions for both large and small footprints in radar, ISR, EW and EO/IR applications.

Utilizing the new Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2648L with Intel® Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel® AVX), the HDS6601 delivers nearly half a teraflop in a single standard OpenVPX slot, more than four times what was possible with prior generation products. To create a balanced memory design matching the high performance of the server-class Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2648L, Mercury developed high-capacity, rugged memory packaging that enables the HDS6601 to support four times more memory per processor than traditional Intel-based OpenVPX boards – up to 64 GBytes per board. For applications that demand the fastest inter-core communications, such as radar beam-forming, the two 8-core Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2648L are connected with two link pairs of the Intel® QuickPath Interconnect (Intel® QPI) Bus, quadrupling the inter-processor bandwidth over previous designs, while providing a balanced system of I/O, memory and processing performance.

Building on the success of the previously announced HDS6600 module, the HDS6601 is Mercury's second generation of signal processing modules based on the server-class Intel® Xeon® processor family. It is supported by Mercury's MultiCore Plus® software development environment, which delivers high-performance data movement interfaces and processing libraries with industry-standard open interfaces. Users can migrate code seamlessly from Mercury's workstation-based Virtual MultiComputer simulator (VMC) to the HDS6601, enabling quick deployment of lab-based algorithms.

The HDS6601 is available now and can be configured in air-cooled or conduction-cooled rugged versions.

For more information on the HDS6601, visit www.mc.com/HDS6601, or contact Mercury at (866) 627-6951 or info@mc.com.

Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. – Where Challenges Drive Innovation®

Mercury Computer Systems (www.mc.com) (Nasdaq:MRCY) is a best-of-breed provider of open, commercially developed, application-ready, multi-INT subsystems for defense prime contractors. With over 30 years of experience in embedded computing, superior domain expertise in radar, EW, EO/IR, C4I and sonar applications, and more than 300 successful program deployments including Aegis, Global Hawk and Predator, Mercury's Services and Systems Integration (SSI) team leads the industry in partnering with customers to design and integrate system-level solutions that minimize program risk, maximize application portability, and accelerate customers' time to market.

Mercury is based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and serves customers worldwide through a broad network of direct sales offices, subsidiaries and distributors.

Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the products and services provided for the products and services described above. You can identify these statements by the use of the words "may," "will," "could," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," "likely," "probable, "and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company's markets, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, continued funding of defense programs, the timing of such funding, changes in the U.S. Government's interpretation of federal procurement rules and regulations, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions and divestitures or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses and achieving anticipated synergies, changes to export regulations, increases in tax rates, changes to generally accepted accounting principles, difficulties in retaining key employees and customers, unanticipated costs under fixed-price service and system integration engagements, and various other factors beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties also include such additional risk factors as are discussed in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made.

Challenges Drive Innovation, Ensemble, Echotek and MultiCore Plus are registered trademarks and Application Ready Subsystem and ARS are trademarks of Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. OpenVPX is a trademark of VITA. Other product and company names mentioned may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

A photo accompanying this release is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11888. The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.

CONTACT: Robert McGrail, Director of Corporate Communications
         Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
         +1 978-967-1366 / rmcgrail@mc.com
 
Source: Mercury Computer Systems, Inc.
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