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The evolution of NAS - Office (or Media Server) in

a Box
By Ionela
Created May 19 2009 - 07:47

The MPC8349E-mITXE reference platform is ideal for hardware and software development for networking
applications. It leverages Freescale?s highly integrated MPC8349E processor built on Power Architecture
technology and leading-edge external components?a 5-port Gigabit Ethernet switch, four high-speed USB
ports, four serial ATA ports, one Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot, one MiniPCI slot and one
compact flash memory slot.
A board support package (BSP) is preinstalled on the MPC8349E-mITXE. This BSPmconsists of a
bootloader (u-boot), a generic Power Architecture technology system based on the Linux kernel. The u-
boot and the Linux kernel reside in the on-board flash memory while the file system is pre-installed on the
hard disk shipped with the MPC8349EmITXE. On powering up, the Linux system runs on the MPC8349E-
mITXE.

Office-in-a-Box Based on MPC8349E-mITX

Today, there are few integrated platforms that can provide all the services needed by the small-to-medium
business (SMB) market. Typically, small businesses have had to use equipment targeted for either
consumer applications or enterprise applications, neither of which are ideal. The MPC8349E-mITX
platform has been designed to serve the needs of the SMB market. SMBs need a flexible and integrated
converged platform to provide all the telecom services needed by the business.
These include:

? Ethernet switch for the in-office network

? Ethernet for WAN interface
? MiniPCI socket for WLAN access point
? CompactFlash interface for storage
? SATA controller for network attached storage
? USB hub for connection to additional peripherals
? IP PBX
? Stateful firewall
? Network Address Translation (NAT)
? Intrusion detection/prevention

The MPC8349E-mITX Office-in-a-Box reference platform is based on the MPC8349E PowerQUICC II Pro
integrated communications processor. The MPC8349E integrates the enhanced e300 core, built on Power
Architecture technology, with advanced features such as DDR memory, dual PCI, Gigabit Ethernet and
high-speed USB controllers.
The MPC8349E provides a cost-effective, highly integrated processing solution that is ideally suited for
emerging networking applications such as the converged Office-in-a-Box platform. The MPC8349E
supports dual 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet controllers, dual 32-bit/single 64-bit PCI controllers, integrated
security engines, USB 2.0 host and device controllers, 4-channel DMA, DUART, serial peripherals, general
purpose I/O and system timers. The high level of integration in the MPC8349E lowers system cost,
improves performance and simplifies board design. The dual Gigabit Ethernet controllers support eight
receive and transmit queues for eight levels of IEEE® 802.1p-based Quality of Service (QoS) flexible
packet classification, based on layer 2, layer 3 and layer 4 information to determine required QoS on a per-
packet basis. The Ethernet MAC also supports transmit scheduling based on strict priority or weighted
round robin to maintain QoS. The MPC8349E also integrates a hardware encryption block that supports
different encryption algorithms for high-performance data encryption authentication as required for secure
communications in the MPC8349E-mITX platform for the SMB market. It supports DES, 3DES, MD-5, SHA-
1, AES, PKEU, RNG and RC-4 encryption algorithms in hardware.

Media Server-in-a-Box Based on MPC8349E-mITX

In today?s digital homes, consumers manage, store and share vast amounts of content among their
networked PCs and entertainment appliances. In addition to performing traditional backup functions, next-
generation network attached storage (NAS) products are adding additional media serving features and
becoming the home?s network media hub. The MPC8349E-mITX Media Server-in-a-Box solution is a
turnkey hardware/software reference platform for home media servers with advanced NAS, transcription
and transcoding/transrating capabilities. This reference platform is based on the MPC8349E PowerQUICC
II Pro processor, built on Power Architecture technology, Xcode processor from ViXS, a leading technology
and product provider for next-generation video compression solutions and standards-compliant software
from Mediabolic, a leading provider of endto-end software solutions for connected entertainment products.

The Media Server-in-a-Box platform solution is designed to help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
and original design manufacturers (ODMs) accelerate the development process and speed time to market
for next-generation home media servers. The Digital Media Server platform, developed using the
Freescale reference design, ViXS transcoding device and Mediabolic?s Media Server software, is
designed to enable consumers to share and store multimedia files, such as video, DVD backups, music
and photos, throughout the digital home. Mediabolic software makes it easy to centrally manage and
distribute digital content among multiple PCs and networked entertainment devices. The MPC8349E-mITX
integrates the enhanced e300 Power Architecture core and advanced features such as DDR memory, dual
PCI, Gigabit Ethernet and high-speed USB controllers. The platform is designed to support dual
10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet controllers, dual 32-bit/single 64-bit PCI controllers, integrated security
engines, USB 2.0 host and devices controllers, 4-channel DMA, DUART, serial peripherals, general
purpose I/O and system timers. The high level of integration in the MPC8349E helps to lower system
costs, improve performance and simplify board design.

The MPC8349E also integrates a hardware encryption block designed to support different algorithms for
high-performance data authentication for secure communications in the NAS market. It is designed to
support DES, 3DES, MD-5, SHA-1, AES, PKEU, RNG and RC-4 encryption algorithms in hardware. In
addition to the highly-integrated MPC8349E processor, the reference platform leverages external
components to support these additional features:

? Five-port Gigabit Ethernet switch

? Four high-speed USB ports
? Four Serial ATA ports
? PCI slot, MiniPCI slot and compact flash memory slot
Mediabolic?s Media Server software is designed to allow personal content to be streamed on a variety of
connected entertainment devices throughout the home. Mediabolic offers its software as a turnkey object
license for manufacturers seeking a ready-to-go solution and as a Source Code SDK license to provide
complete design flexibility and customization. The software is highly efficient, requires minimal CPU and
memory resources and is extremely interoperable. Mediabolic?s Embedded Media Server software is
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) compliant and is certified by the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA).

Mediabolic Media Server Sofware Features

- Multi-Audio Format Conversion:

? AC3, AAC, MP3, MPEG-1 Layer II
- Bit-Rate Reduction of Multiple Streams:
? 24 Mbps?250 Kbps
- Interoperability
? UPnP AV 1.0 compliant
? Designed to meet DLNA guidelines
- Optimized for Networked Media
? Aggregates all media resources on the network into a single, unified end-user presentation
? Can present multiple servers in a single content directory
? Unlimited simultaneous media streams
- Format Conversion of Multiple MPEG Streams:
? MPEG-1 to MPEG-2
? MPEG-1 to MPEG-4 (ASP)
? MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 (ASP)

Rerefences:
MPC8349E-mITX Media Server-in-a-Box Reference Platform [1]
MPC8349E-mITX Office-in-a-Box Reference Platform [2]

See also: Hacking a Network Attached Storage (NAS) [3]

Read the Italian version: L'evoluzione dei NAS (Network Attached Storage) - Office (o media Server) in un
Box [4]

CONTACT REQUEST
If you want to know more about this Freescale product, please submit your request to Arrow Italy using
 .
[5]

NOTE: this form is valid ONLY for Companies or Customers based in Italy and working in the Italian area.

Hardware NAS network-attached storage

Trademarks

Source URL: http://dev.emcelettronica.com/evolution-nas-office-or-media-server-box

Links:
[1] http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=RDMPC8349EMSIB
[2] http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=RDMPC8349EOIB
[3] http://dev.emcelettronica.com/hacking-network-attached-storage-nas
[4] http://it.emcelettronica.com/levoluzione-dei-nas-network-attached-storage-office-o-media-server-un-box
[5] http://it.emcelettronica.com/contact/freescale