Oxalis 96Boards Enterprise Edition Board Targets Low Power IoT and Networking Applications

Most 96Boards on the market follow 96Boards Consumer Edition (CE) specification, and while 96Board Enterprise Edition (EE) specification was first announced in 2015 we had yet to have a board available for purchase after previous failed attempts with AMD Opteron (Arm Cortex-A57) powered Cello board. But there’s finally a 96Board Enterprise Edition available today thanks to Systart Oxalis board powered by NXP LayerScape LS1202 Cortex-A53 processor with a packet accelerator, designed for low power IoT and networking applications, and following 96Boards EE “standard” form factor.

Systart Oxalis key features and specifications:

SoC – NXP Layerscape LS1012A single core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with hardware packet forwarding engine
System Memory – Up to 3GB RAM
Storage – 64MB SPI Flash for bootloader and RCW, MicroSD Card slot, 1x mSATA connector
Networking – 2x Gigabit Ethernet ports (RJ45)
USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports
Expansion
- 40-pin low speed (LS) expansion connector with +1.8V, +5V, SYS_DCIN, GND, UART, I2C, SPI, PCM, PWM, 12x GPIO
- Mini PCIe socket
Misc – Reset button
Power Supply – 12V @ 2.5A via DC jack connector, CUI Inc PJ-063BH or equivalent; NXP VR5100 PMU
Dimensions – 160x120mm as per 96Boards EE standard form factor

96Boards EE Standard Motherboard — Click to Enlarge

The company provides a Yocto based Debian GNU Linux BSP, and hardware (e.g. PDF schematics) and software documentation can be found on the product page on Systart website.

NXP LS1202A has a single Arm Cortex A53 core, and its key features are really the packet forwarding engine, and faster PCIe 2.0 and SATA 3.0 interfaces.

Oxalis board is quite more expensive that I expected as it’s now listed on Arrow Electronics for $441.88 with 3GB RAM, but I initially assumed the price tag can be explained since it’s rather a niche product. But for reference, NXP’s own Layerscape FRWY-LS1012A board with 512MB RAM is now offered for $100.One advantage of the Oxalis board is that you could integrate the LS1012A SoM part of the design into your own final custom baseboard for production. Some further details may also be found in the product page on 96Boards website.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.