Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) recently introduced what it calls “a better way to cloud.” This comes thanks to six new multicore system-on-chips (SoCs) based on the company’s KeyStone architecture.

TI’s KeyStone multicore SoCs are 28-nm devices that integrate fixed-and floating-point TMS320C66x digital signal processor (DSP) cores with multiple ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore processors.

The combination of Cortex-A15 processors and C66x DSP cores, with built-in packet processing and Ethernet switching, efficiently offloads and enhances the cloud’s first-generation general-purpose servers, those that struggle with big data applications like high performance computing and video processing.

The six new high-performance SoCs include the 66AK2E02, 66AK2E05, 66AK2H06, 66AK2H12, AM5K2E02 and AM5K2E04, all based on the KeyStone multicore architecture. With KeyStone’s low latency high bandwidth multicore shared memory controller (MSMC), these new SoCs yield 50 percent higher memory throughput when compared to other RISC-based SoCs. Together, these processing elements, with the integration of security processing, networking and switching, reduce system cost and power consumption, allowing developers to support the development of more cost-efficient, green applications and workloads, including high-performance computing, video delivery, and media and image processing.

TI’s 66AK2Hx SoCs are currently available for sampling, with broader device availability in 1Q13 and EVM availability in 2Q13. AM5K2Ex and 66AK2Ex samples and EVMs will be available in the second half of 2013. Pricing for these devices will start at $49 for 1 KU.