The Global Feature Extractor (gFEX) module is a planned component of the Level 1 online trigger system for the ATLAS experiment planned for installation during the Phase-I upgrade in 2018. This unique single electronics board with multiple high speed processors will receive coarse-granularity information from all the ATLAS calorimeters enabling the identification in real time of large-radius jets for capturing Lorentz-boosted objects such as top quarks, Higgs, and $W/Z$ bosons. The gFEX architecture also facilitates the calculation of global event variables such as missing transverse energy, centrality for heavy ion collisions, and event-by-event pile-up energy density. Details of the electronics architecture that provides these capabilities are presented, along with results of tests of the prototype systems now available. The status of the firmware algorithm design and implementation as well as monitoring capabilities are also presented.