PICMG ISSUES ADVANCEDTCA™ DRAFT SHORT FORM SPECIFICATION

Specs for Next-Generation Telecom Equipment Show Substantial Progress After Recent Face To Face Meetings
 

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- June 3, 2002 - The PICMG 3.x technical subcommittees developing the specifications for AdvancedTCA (Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture) have just concluded their latest round of face to face meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz., with substantial progress made on the specification work. Release of the complete PICMG 3.0 specification is expected later this year, the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) has announced.

AdvancedTCA is the brand name for the PICMG 3.x series specifications for next-generation telecom equipment, with increased computing density, a new form factor and a switched fabric backplane architecture.

The PICMG 3.0 specification is the base specification that defines the mechanical form factor, power and cooling parameters, backplane interconnects and the system management architecture necessary to construct compliant backplane, chassis and plug in cards. It also defines base fabrics for system control and management. Subsidiary specifications are defining fabric protocols for control and data plane communications. These include PICMG 3.1 for 10/100/1000 Ethernet, PICMG 3.2 for InfiniBand® and PICMG 3.3 for StarFabric technologies. Other fabric definitions are expected to follow.

The meeting in Scottsdale concluded the review of the current drafts of the major sections of the specification by the subteams working on mechanicals, system management and fabric. The next step is a review of the integrated document by the larger committee. The base PICMG 3.0 specification, now over 275 pages, is by far the most detailed and comprehensive specification in PICMG's history.

"It is encouraging to see the amount of industry expertise put to work on this effort," said Jeff Munch of Motorola Computer Group, the chair of the PICMG 3.0 subcommittee. "All the work is being done in a spirit of cooperation, and everyone sees the value in this endeavor."

His statement was reinforced by Chuck Byers of Lucent Technologies, chair of the PICMG 3.2 subcommittee. "I am very encouraged by the alignment of this specification with the needs of the telecom industry. It goes much farther than any other open specification effort to incorporate the key features needed to build reliable telecom equipment."

PICMG member companies working on the 3.x initiative now number over 100 and include leading board and system vendors, as well as software companies and leading telecom equipment manufacturers such as Lucent, Nortel, Siemens and Nokia. A recent addition to the group is NTT DoCoMo from Japan, who represents the first telecom operator to join the effort.

While the work in process of the group is kept within the PICMG organization, a short form version of the current draft specification is now available on the AdvancedTCA Web site (www.AdvancedTCA.org). The short form specification is for education only and should not be used for any design decisions.