Dear Readers,
3
V
IEWPOINT
April 2015
In the embedded industry tech-
nical evolution and further devel-
opments o en appear despite the
fact that embedded systems fea-
ture longevity of many years up
to several decades. Examples for
these long lasting embedded tech-
nologies are the VMEbus – say the
“grandfather” of embedded com-
puter technology and Compact
PCI. Both of these form factors
dominated the embedded industry
for more than a decade but now it
seems that their successor arrives
at the scene – MicroTCA (µTCA).
Our cover story starting at
page 6
implies that this form factor prevails as the most promising succes-
sor for the older form factors.
µTCA is based on AMCs (advanced mezzanine cards) originally
derived for Advanced Telecom Computer Architecture (ATCA) but
is a smaller, more cost e ective and more scalable architecture. µTCA
systems can scale from a single board to a 9U rack-mount applica-
tion o ering high performance capability in a small package size. e
carrier functions and all other system infrastructure components of
ATCA, for example Ethernet switch and system management boards,
are all minimized as optional sub modules and serviced by one spe-
cial slot known as the MCH. e main contributor to the success of
MTCA is the Flexibility and scalability of AMCs. As an example an
AMC can be designed using a simple 1GbE port backplane interface
up to a complex backplane interface providing a variety of interfaces.
From a performance and bandwidth perspective there should be little
doubt that the AMC standard was designed with the future in mind.
Surprisingly it is important to note that AMCs are also capable of
targeting cost sensitive applications that require low to medium per-
formance with a small package size. In fact there are various use cases
where AMCs are used as an alternative to a commercial or custom
mother board platform.
Due to the advantages our cover story determines that right now is
the time to take the innovative step into the future and change to
MTCA and claims that without a doubt MTCA is the replacement
computing architecture for VME and CPCI. Time will tell whether
this assumption will become true. Preconditions are good due to
emerging new markets and technologies like the Internet of ings
(IoT) which requires small, power e cient, and high performance
embedded computer products.
Let´s just wait and see what will happen.
Yours Sincerely
Wolfgang Patelay
Editor
