When cellular networks were first conceived they were simply a copycat version of the established voice network, but without the wires. For many years mobile voice remained the primary traffic carried, however, over the last few years data has exhibited dramatic growth that shows no signs of abating. Many believe we will see close to 100x increases over the coming years. Driven by today’s ever present smartphone with an “app” for everything, the mobile internet is sucking up as much bandwidth as it can get. To cope with this, 3GPP’s Long Term Evolution or LTE was devised with the associated all-IP Evolved Packet Core (EPC) managing the mobile access network. From a relative standing start forecasters are suggesting that by 2012 the EPC will be worth nearly $2 billion.

LTE really represents the RAN (Radio Access Network) or E-UTRAN with eNodeBs supporting the end user device connections. Evolving from the legacy core network the EPC is comprised of three subcomponents: 1) The Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN GW) that manages the connectivity from the UE/devices to external packet data networks, 2) The Serving Gateway (SGW) which routes and forwards user data packets, and 3) The Mobility Management Entity (MME). The MME is the key control-node for the LTE access-network. It is responsible for many crucial functions including:

•Idle mode UE (User Equipment) tracking and paging procedure including retransmissions
•A significant part of the bearer activation/deactivation process
•User authentication through interaction with the HSS
•Selection of the SGW and PDN GW
•Replication of the user traffic for lawful interception applications
•Mobility and interaction between the LTE and 2G/3G access networks

Depending on the size of the network, the MME and other elements need to be scalable to meet a multitude of capacities, performance levels and price points.

Flexible, powerful, processing nodes are key elements required when constructing an MME platform. Adherence to open standards linked to the availability of the latest and most powerful silicon makes AdvancedTCA® the ideal architectural choice. Advantech can provide multiple choices when it comes to matching processing blades to the needs of the specific network element. Single or dual Intel® Xeon® based boards are available, such as Advantech’s MIC-5320 and MIC-5322, which can be populated with 2-, 4- or 6-core processors and delivering the flexibility to create multiple MME variants. For higher performance requirements, the MIC-5332 based on the Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 Series provides the next step up with latest generation silicon and up to 16 processor cores.

12and 16-Core Intel® Xeon® 5600 / E5-2600 Series ATCA Blades for Mobility Management Entity (MME) Integration

MIC-5332 DUAL INTEL® XEON® E5-2600 SERIES PROCESSOR BLADE

Advantech’s MIC-5332 is a dual processor ATCA blade based on the Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 series processors. It enables the highest performance available in ATCA form factor with up to 16 cores and 32 threads of processing power, fast PCI Express gen. 3 lanes running at up to 8Gbps, and best in class virtualization support. Two QPI interfaces between the CPUs improve memory and I/O access throughput and latencies when one processor needs to access resources hosted by the other socket. With four DDR3 DIMMs per socket in a quad channel design running up to 1600MT/s, the MIC-5332 not only offers superior memory bandwidth over 3-channel designs, but can also support memory densities up 256GB using latest LR DIMM technology. It outperforms previous generation dualsocket designs while keeping similar thermal characteristics with balanced airflow resistance.

•Two Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 Processors
•Intel C600 Series PCH server class chipset with integrated SAS controller
•8 DDR3 VLP DIMMs up to 256 GB with ECC support
•Up to four XAUI ports on Fabric interface
•Two 1000BASE-T ports on Base interface
•Three 1000BASE-T front panel ports
•One Fabric Mezzanine Module support with front I/O support (type II)
•Two CFast / one 2.5" SSD storage Device
•Fully managed, hot swappable RTM


MIC-5322 DUAL INTEL® XEON® 5600 SERIES PROCESSOR BLADE

The MIC-5322 is a dual processor Intel® Xeon® 5500/5600-basedATCA blade. It enables the highest performance available in ATCA form factor with 12 cores and 24 threads of processing power, low DDR3 memory latency, fast PCI Express 2.0 and accelerated virtualization. The Intel® 82599 10 GbE controller plays a key role in end-to-end network performance and throughput, including a 5 Gbps PCI Express 2.0 interface to improve the entire data path as well as multi-core optimized queue support. For fast and secure database applications, the blade supports up to 48 GB of triple channel DDR3 with ECC. The flexibility of the Intel® Xeon® 5500/5600 Series allows tremendous upgradeability, scalability and cost efficiency options with two-, four- or six-core processors fully supported.

•    Two 2-, 4- or 6-Core Intel® Xeon® 5500 or 5600 processors
•    Intel® 5520 IOH36D/ICH10R server class chipset
•    6 DDR3 VLP DIMMs up to 48 GB with ECC support
•    Two XAUI ports on Fabric interface
•    Two 1000 Mbps ports on Base interface
•    Two 1000 Mbps front panel ports
•    Two USB2.0 front panel ports
•    Fully managed, hot swappable RTM


“Offering the highest available AdvancedTCA performance envelope, network throughput   fueled by a 10GbE controller and database performance assured through the 48GB of triple channel DDR3, Advantech’s Intel® Xeon® 5600-based ATCA blades are the perfect choice for core network element design.”