News

News Releases
2009

PICMG 2.30 Specification - CompactPCI® PlusIO - Adopted
PICMG Adds RapidIO for AdvancedMC Modules
PICMG Enhances MicroTCA® Embedded Computing Platform
PICMG Forms Technical Committee Focused On Large-Scale Physics Applications
PICMG to Expand Market and Applications for AdvancedTCA
PICMG's COM Express™ Design Guide Available On-Line
PICMG Successfully Completes Its 19th Interoperability Workshop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, (601) 856-4121
mcdevitt@picmg.org

PICMG 2.30 Specification - CompactPCI® PlusIO - Adopted

WAKEFIELD, Mass., December 16, 2009 - PICMG announces the adoption of the PICMG 2.30 specification, called CompactPCI® PlusIO. This new specification adds PCI Express, Ethernet, SATA, SAS and USB extensions to the CompactPCI family of specifications while preserving PCI bus connectivity. The specification defines the use of previously reserved rear I/O pins for the 32-bit CompactPCI system slot with new high-speed serial signals to preserve interoperability with existing CompactPCI standards.

"This is an important technical addition to CompactPCI," said Doug Sandy, vice president of technology for PICMG, "as it allows the use of advanced serialized busses found within all modern computer architectures for the embedded markets where CompactPCI is widely used. This avoids 'fork-lift upgrades,' while providing a clear path to today's higher performance silicon."

CompactPCI was initially ratified as PICMG 2.0 in 1995. As a passive backplane system based on PCI signaling, it defined compute and peripheral nodes using a 3U and 6U Eurocard form factors. Over the 14 year history of CompactPCI, PICMG has added subsidiary specifications to enhance functionality, and PICMG 2.30 represents the latest addition of these specifications.

For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at http://www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, 781-246-9318
info@picmg.org

PICMG Adds RapidIO for AdvancedMC Modules

WAKEFIELD, Mass., November 16, 2009 - The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG®) (http://www.picmg.org) announces the adoption of the AMC.4 specification, which adds RapidIO® interconnects to PICMG's Advanced Mezzanine Card (AdvancedMC™) family. RapidIO addresses the high-performance embedded industry's need for reliability, increased bandwidth, and faster bus speeds in an intra-system interconnect. The architecture is a high-performance packet-switched, serial technology that is widely used in the signal processing, networking, and communications markets.

The AMC.4 specification is a subsidiary to PICMG's AMC.0 specification that defines the mechanical, interconnect, management, power and thermal requirements for the industry standard mezzanine. The AMC.4 specification defines RapidIO implementations on AdvancedMC and helps support PICMG 3.5, which defines RapidIO on AdvancedTCA nodes. The new specification includes standard implementation guidance for specific configurations like 1x and 4x RapidIO.

"The use of AdvancedMC cards has become an important and fundamental element of PICMG-based embedded systems," said Tom Cox, Executive Director of the RapidIO Trade Association, "We are pleased to work with PICMG to support RapidIO on AMC.4."

About PICMG
Founded in 1994 as the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, PICMG is a consortium of over 250 companies that collaboratively develops open specifications for high performance telecommunications, military and industrial computing applications.
For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at http://www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.

PICMG® is a registered tramark of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group. AdvancedMC™ is a trademark of PICMG. RapidIO® is a registered trademark of the RapidIO Trade Association.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, 601-856-4121
mcdevitt@picmg.org

PICMG Enhances MicroTCA® Embedded Computing Platform

WAKEFIELD, Mass. - May 12, 2009 - The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) (http://www.picmg.org) has announced another specification in the MicroTCA® family of open specifications. The Air Cooled Rugged MicroTCA specification extends temperature, shock and vibration ranges, thereby extending the use of the platform beyond its original Telecommunications focus to address applications requiring enhanced environmental performance. Industries serving the needs of transportation, industrial control, and outdoor communications infrastructure can now take advantage of MicroTCA's small footprint, high compute power and communications bandwidth, and managed architecture.

"MicroTCA is the only small open-computing platform that provides robust high-availability features at low costs," said Mike Franco, CEO of Microblade and the Chair of the PICMG committee that developed the specification. "By ruggedizing this proven architecture, MicroTCA has now been improved and is suitable for a broad range of non-telecom central office applications."

Work within PICMG to provide an even more robust MicroTCA platform continues, with members working on a hardened, conduction-cooled version of MicroTCA that is intended for use in military and aerospace applications. The work is expected to be completed later this year. Engineers working in these areas understand the benefits of MicroTCA's managed, high-availability architecture, as the platform can continue to operate in the event of component failures.

For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at http://www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, 601-856-4121
mcdevitt@picmg.org

PICMG Forms Technical Committee Focused On Large-Scale Physics Applications

WAKEFIELD, Mass. – May 5, 2009 – PICMG (http://www.picmg.org) announces the formation of the xTCA for Physics Coordinating Committee. This subcommittee was initiated by an international group of physics labs that are using or actively exploring usage of both AdvancedTCA® and MicroTCA® platforms in experimental research machines and detectors in such diverse fields as high energy, photon, astro, fusion and medical physics. The Committee will tackle AdvancedMC™ channel usage models, Rear Transition Modules definitions, timing synchronization and the generic design of AdvancedTCA and AdvancedMC modules needed to allow PICMG’s xTCA family of products to be used in the broad physics community.

The main goal of the subcommittee is to develop a set of xTCA specifications, sub-specifications, design guides, requirements documents, and other documents while maintaining maximum compatibility with existing xTCA specifications. This subcommittee will serve as a coordinating committee for study of solutions, specific tasks, resources and timelines for a number of closely coupled working groups.

“PICMG is very excited about the formation of this subcommittee.” stated Doug Sandy, PICMG Vice President of Technology. “It proves PICMG’s xTCA family of specifications, including AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA and AdvancedMC has application beyond their telecommunications focus. It also shows how open specifications can be enhanced within the PICMG organization to permit broader use of the technologies.”

“The physics scientific community was among the first to pioneer interoperable modular instrument standards beginning in the 1960’s,” said Ray Larsen of the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Chair of the Coordinating Committee. “This special relationship of physics with PICMG aims to create xTCA features to serve the new generation of intelligent, highly available large-scale physics systems, along with strong industrial support.”

About PICMG
Founded in 1994 as the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, PICMG is a consortium of 300 companies that collaboratively develops open specifications for high-performance telecommunications, military and industrial computing applications.
For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at http://www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, 601-856-4121
mcdevitt@picmg.org

PICMG to Expand Market and Applications for AdvancedTCA

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 28, 2009 - Today, PICMG has announced a new initiative to expand the capabilities of the AdvancedTCA platform to address additional markets beyond its successful telecom base. The announcement was made by PICMG President Joe Pavlat at Light Reading's ATCA & Communications Ecosystems Conference being held today in San Jose, California.

"PICMG is unveiling this new initiative to extend the capabilities of AdvancedTCA for use beyond the Central Office, including network data centers applications," said Joe Pavlat, president of PICMG. "We will be adding significantly increased power and compute density to the AdvancedTCA platform and building on its success."

Highly successful in telecom central office environments, AdvancedTCA is the only truly open bladed architecture available today. This new effort will be addressing additional features including double-wide boards, enhancements to power and cooling, optimizations for non-NEBS environments, allowances for double-sided shelves and other enhancements while maintaining forward and backward compatibility with existing AdvancedTCA products.

The original AdvancedTCA specification, released in January of 2003, includes detailed sections on power and cooling, system management and electronic keying, and regulatory requirements for a bladed computing architecture capable of switching and processing 2.5 terabits per second in a single shelf. The original goal of the AdvancedTCA family of specifications was to create a foundation for a set of common platforms with a large selection of interchangeable modules from many companies for use in telecommunications applications.

The development of the AdvancedTCA Base specification and its corresponding subsidiary specifications regarding fabric expansion and other options remains the largest project ever undertaken by PICMG. Since 2003, it has been widely adopted by major telecommunication equipment providers and has penetrated additional markets, including military, factory automation, financial and scientific research markets.
This work will be performed by a new subcommittee and will facilitate the use of AdvancedTCA in additional markets, including cloud computing and network data centers.

The new subcommittee is open to all PICMG Executive and Associate members. Interested parties are invited to join PICMG and contribute to the effort.

About PICMG
Founded in 1994 as the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, PICMG is a consortium of over 400 companies that collaboratively develops open specifications for high performance telecommunications, military and industrial computing applications.
For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at http://www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, 601-856-4121
mcdevitt@picmg.org

PICMG's COM Express™ Design Guide Available On-Line

WAKEFIELD, Mass., April 14, 2009 - PICMG today announced the availability of a COM Express™ Design Guide. The free Design Guide is located on PICMG's website at http://www.picmg.org/pdf/PICMG_COMDG_100.pdf. This document was created by a special PICMG subcommittee and provides information for designing a custom System Carrier Board for COM Express Modules. The Design Guide includes reference schematics for the external circuitry required to implement the various COM Express peripheral functions, explains how to extend the supported buses, and how to add additional peripherals and expansion slots to a COM Express-based system.

"When used with the latest COM Express specification and the Module vendors' product manuals, the design guide will greatly simplify design effort and help improve the interoperability of a customer's unique carrier board with a vast majority of computer modules available from various PICMG members," stated Jeff Munch, Chief Technology Officer with Adlink and Chairman of PICMG's COM Express Design Guide subcommittee.

The Design Guide contains additional information, but does not replace the PICMG's COM Express specification. For complete guidelines on the design of COM Express compliant Carrier Boards and systems, refer also to the full COM Express specification.

About PICMG
Founded in 1994 as the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, PICMG is a consortium of over 400 companies that collaboratively develop open specifications for high performance telecommunications, military and industrial computing applications.
For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at http://www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For further information:
Joe McDevitt, PICMG, 601-856-4121
mcdevitt@picmg.org

PICMG Successfully Completes Its 19th Interoperability Workshop

WAKEFIELD, Mass., March 30, 2009 - PICMG announces the successful conclusion of its 19th Interoperability Workshop, which was held from March 16, 2009 through March 19, 2009, in Burlingame, CA.

Originally the PICMG Interoperability Workshops were used to test PICMG specifications for errors, differing interpretations or conflicts between various sections within the AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA and AdvancedMC specifications. As a result of those early workshops, newer PICMG specifications matured more quickly than those previous. However, attendance and benefits of these Interoperability Workshops did not diminish as PICMG's specifications reached maturity - and now PICMG holds these events regularly, in order to provide a safe environment where testing on new, or yet to be released, products can be performed with other eco-system members. These workshops help the PICMG ecosystem with the introduction of new technologies like 10G Ethernet, SRIO and failover methods, while continuing to test PICMG's original specifications against any recent enhancements, such as the Hardware Platform Management (HPM.1) specification.

"The PICMG Interoperability Workshops give members a chance to learn about design issues early in the development cycle," said Joe Pavlat, PICMG's president. "Providing an opportunity for testing in a confidential atmosphere lets companies deliver a more mature product to the market."

"CP-TA involvement has augmented our ability to meet our interoperability goals by providing structured testing of products at the workshop. All participants have gained from analyzing the test results from those CP-TA tools," said Keith Williamson, the Technical Marketing Manager for Emerson Network Power and PICMG's Interoperability Workshop coordinator.

PICMG member companies Astek Corporation, Continuous Computing Corporation, Emerson, Diversified Technology, Inc., Elma Electronic Inc, Embedded Planet, Kontron AG, LeCroy, Mercury Computer Systems, N.A.T., Pentair/Schroff, Pigeon Point Systems, Performance Technologies, SANBlaze Technology, Sun Microsystems, Trenton Technology, and Virtium Technology participated in this workshop.

News

News Releases 2009

News Releases
2009