Date: 15/07/2012

ARM Cortex-A9 powered mini-ITX motherboard for Mini PCs

Kontron has unveiled first embedded ARM processor based motherboard in the Mini-ITX form factor (170mm x 170 mm), a first step as part of its strategic entry into ARM processor technology. The Kontron KTT30/mITX is equipped with NVIDIA's Tegra 3 super processor and ultra low-power GeForce GPU. The ARM Cortex-A9 900MHz Quad-Core processor board offers 3D graphic performance and consume only less than 7 watts of power. The application of this motherboard target graphics- and video-oriented embedded applications like thin clients, Panel PCs and Mini-Box PCs, which are to be found in nearly all embedded computing vertical markets. The board which has a long-term availability of at least seven years is also predestined for markets such as medical, rail traffic and public safety.

Due to the board's low height of just 15.2 millimeters, extremely flat systems can be built and mounted directly onto the back of monitor and video panels, i.e. for HMIs or cost-efficient digital signage players. In addition, the board supports Full-HD (1080 p) video for both playback and recording purposes - making it an ideal platform for video conferencing systems or security applications.

The other features:
An additional core with up to 500 MHz clock speed reduces power consumption to less than 1 watt in phases, when just media playback or background services are running.
Offers HDMI 1.4a and 24 bit LVDS video interfaces. Thanks to the integrated video encoder and decoder, as well as high resolution video playback it offers real time video compression, which can, for example, be supplied via the CSI/DSI camera port.
Peripheral devices can be connected via three USB 2.0 ports and two RS232 ports.
Operating system and application data can be hosted on the bootable eMMC.
Two PCIe slots, one of which can also be used as an mSATA port, are available for application-specific extensions. An RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port and analog audio-I/Os add the final touches to the feature set.

The Kontron embedded motherboard KTT30/mITX supports Android and Linux and is available now.

For more information on the Kontron embedded motherboard KTT30/mITX, visit: http://emea.kontron.com/products/boards+and+mezzanines/embedded+motherboards/miniitx+motherboards/ktt30mitx.html

Further information on Kontron's strategic entry into ARM technology is available at: http://www.kontron.com/arm/