What's New:
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Market Issues
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Written by Chris Ciufo
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August 20, 2010
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A three-month VITA survey says VPX is going to do well, though VME isn’t going away anytime soon. [Editor's note: For further study, our VPX microsite].
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VITA Standards
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Written by Chris Ciufo
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October 19, 2009
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It’s all over folks: OpenVPX becomes VITA 65; vendors announce boards and systems. The next generation of the venerable VMEbus is born. (continues on vmecritial.com)
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Defense Issues
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Written by Chris Ciufo
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April 25, 2008
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At the recent Components for Military and Space Electronics Conference and Exhibition in San Diego, editor Sharon Schnakenburg and I were introduced to a radical new technology called Imbedded Component/Die Technology that can conceivably provide more than 2x the energy density on a typical 6U VME LRU. I’m extremely encouraged about the possibilities, and several DoD programs, along with the Navy’s Standard Missile program office, agree with me. (And yes, the company intentionally spells “Imbedded” with an “i” for differentiation.)
At the recent Components for Military and Space Electronics Conference and Exhibition in San Diego1, editor Sharon Schnakenburg and I were introduced to a radical new technology called Imbedded Component/Die Technology that can conceivably provide more than 2x the energy density on a typical 6U VME LRU. I'm extremely encouraged about the possibilities, and several DoD programs, along with the Navy's Standard Missile program office, agree with me. (And yes, the company intentionally spells "Imbedded" with an "i" for differentiation.)
(continues on vmecritial.com)
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VITA
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Written by Ray Alderman
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April 25, 2008
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Initially, in the board business, there were only three variations in business models: representative sales teams vs. direct sales teams, national versus international sales, and which processor technology you chose to support. Small companies start with outside sales representatives. Once sales in specific areas reach a certain level, those companies can cost effectively change to the direct sales force model and eliminate the outside representatives. If sales goals are not met, the company eliminates the direct people and goes back to the external sales representative model. I have seen this cycle time and again.
Most smaller companies maintain a purely national sales focus and avoid the export paperwork, credit issues, currency exchange, and cultural difference involved in selling in foreign countries. Even smaller companies adopt an international sales model, using foreign distributors and sales representatives. Eventually, they go through the same representative versus direct sales team oscillations.
(continues on vmecritial.com)
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VITA
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Written by Ray Alderman
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March 17, 2008
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Any discussion about mezzanine cards requires a recap of some industry history. Back in 1990, there were more than 50 mezzanine specifications in the market. That was problematic. The PMC specifications started with the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), with the S-bus electricals from Sun Microsystems. That migrated to using PCI electricals when PCIbus was announced. Additionally, pinouts were added to support processors, PrPMC. When the high-speed differential-serial fabrics were announced, another connector was added to the PMC specification called XMC (Switched-serial Mezzanine Card). Even with this history, we need to start thinking about a new mezzanine standard for the embedded markets. (continues on vmecritical.com)
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Market Issues
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Written by Chris Ciufo
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March 17, 2008
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Fresh on the heels of the techno-extravaganza orgy that is the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show, we journalists (and presumably, you engineer and software types) are daydreaming about implementing some cool new features into tomorrow’s critical system designs. But sorry, Charlie – most of this glitzy consumer stuff just won’t cut it in mission-, safety-, and life-critical systems like those for which VME is uniquely suited. Instead, we are begrudgingly forced to stick with what we know and what’s already been proven to meet critical system parameters. It’s time to reacquaint yourself with these key assumptions.
(continues on vmecritical.com)
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Defense Issues
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Written by Chris Ciufo
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February 20, 2008
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Just in case you actually believe the USAF's and DoD's nonsense about the "danger of our failing spy satellite" ... don't bother. From OTR interviews I've conducted, I can assure you that this is nothing more than a two-part stunt.
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VITA
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Written by Sharon Schnakenburg
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January 23, 2008
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Jan. 22, 2008 – Scottsdale, Ariz. – Ray Alderman, executive director of VITA, has reported that a decision was reached in the matter of Motorola vs. VITA regarding VITA's recent adoption of its Ex Ante patent policy.
“I was informed by ANSI and our attorneys this morning that the ANSI Appeals Board found no evidence that VITA's Ex Ante mandatory-disclosure patent policies violate ANSI's Essential Requirements, and VITA's accreditation stands,” Alderman announced.
(continues...)
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Market Issues
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Written by Chris A. Ciufo
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January 11, 2008
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Some of you may be reading this shortly before the end of December, and some after you’ve returned from holiday in January. Either way – please consider this both a review of 2007 and a preview of what I’m predicting for early 2008.
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Market Issues
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Written by Chris A. Ciufo
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December 31, 2007
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It’s irrefutable that Motorola – ostensibly the inventor of VME – and backplane/chassis expert Hybricon know how to build boards and boxes used by the military. So it is entirely noteworthy that for the past six months, the companies have been trotting around a Rugged MicroTCA chassis that’s designed to cocoon AdvancedMCs used for “military edge applications.”
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VITA
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Written by Ray Alderman
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December 31, 2007
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The last time the CPU makers got into a flap, it was Intel’s Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC) versus the workstation CPU makers (HP-PA, Sun SPARC, DEC Alpha, Motorola 88000, and the MIPS processors) and their Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC) machines. Intel won the battle because of all the CISC code running on low-end PCs. The installed base of UNIX code running on workstations at the time just couldn’t hold any significant market share at the desktop. But Intel did adopt some RISC techniques in their x86 cores after the dust settled.
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VITA
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Written by Ray Alderman
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October 31, 2007
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With many of the new VITA documents about to become American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards, I have received similar questions about them from users on a number of occasions. Since I give this speech over the phone several times per month, maybe it is best that I write my consistent answers in this column.
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VITA
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Written by Don Dingee
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June 8, 2007
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PA Semi's PWRficient PA6T-1682M processor, unveiled to the public on February 5th, is showing up on products in several VITA-sponsored form factors.
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Market Issues
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Written by Rosemary Kristoff
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April 4, 2007
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The new Congress and the Administration may be in sync to increase funding for science, technology, and engineering, and math in '08.
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Market Issues
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Written by Don Dingee
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March 22, 2007
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One of those unmistakable trends I mentioned in my last post – boutique processors – got one step closer to reality this week with Raytheon announcing the first tests with MONARCH processor silicon.
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Market Issues
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Written by Ray Alderman
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March 16, 2007
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The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was adopted by the EU in 2003. It aims to reduce the amount of WEEE being disposed in landfills by promoting separate collection, treatment and recycling. This directive started in effect in various parts of the UK this past January. You can get more details to familiarize yourself with their new WEEE requirements, should you ship your electronics to the UK.
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BUS & BOARD
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Written by Don Dingee
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March 8, 2007
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Having roamed the halls at CES and Bus&Board and reflecting on the announcements over the last few weeks since, I’m seeing three unmistakable trends taking shape that will drive the next phase of the VME industry: cooling, processing, and what I’ll call apexing.
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Market Issues
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Written by Chris Ciufo
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March 2, 2007
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Now that it's public, I can brag that a buddy of mine is knee deep in developing a new type of interconnect for server clusters. Camas, WA startup Lightfleet broke their silence today in a Wall Street Journal article that describes how the company is using lasers to create what must be a fabric-like switch to interconnect clustered microprocessors.
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