Long term support for Topaz

If you are looking to design a product with a long life-time, one of the big questions you consider is component availability. Having to re-design in 3 years just to account for an end-of-life part is an unnecessary cost and drain on resources.  Designing with a CPU module takes away a lot of this pain (and transfers it to us!).   We manage the availability risk for the components that go into the module, and can re-design if necessary, while keeping the interface to your board the same as before.

The only really hard part to manage is the processor – without the i.MX25, we couldn’t really make Topaz!  Fortunately, Freescale have a longevity program that clearly indicates how long a part will be supported for.  In the case of the i.MX25, this is 15 years from launch.  You can look this up here – filter on MX25 to find it quickly.