JUNE 17, 2008 -- GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms (search for GE Fanuc) has added to its growing line of telecom products and services with its first intelligent AdvancedTCA Rear Transition Module (ARTM). The company says the ARTM provides a substantial expansion to the I/O capabilities of the AdvancedTCA (ATCA) processor blades that are extensively used in leading-edge telecom systems, enabling customers to develop more powerful systems. Additionally, the company announced the availability of customization services that will allow customers to obtain ARTMs specifically adapted for their unique applications.
GE Fanuc worked with Sun Microsystems to implement this ARTM to work with the CT900 ATCA system. While the standard version of the ARTM-200FG adheres to the Sun Netra Zone 3 signaling specification, GE Fanuc also offers customization services for customers requiring alternative Zone 3 blade pinouts and application-specific functionality.
Mark Butler, Netra Systems product line director, Sun Microsystems, says, "The GE Fanuc ARTM-200FG solution will work over our entire multicore 10G ATCA blade set including Sun's SPARC multicore and multithreaded T2, quad core XEON, and AMD multicore based blades. This work is crucial because it promotes I/O reusability, a very important customer requirement, and further accelerates ATCA systems integration."
The ARTM-200FG expands the I/O capabilities of ATCA processor blades by adding Fibre Channel host bus adapter and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) network interface card functionality. It provides dual 4-Gbit/sec Fibre Channel interfaces to allow for fast communication with storage arrays; six GbE ports, allowing for balanced network throughput; and a GbE management port for remote supervision and attachment to management systems. It is designed for NEBS compliance.
An IPMI v2.0-compliant ARTM module management controller (MMC) subsystem initializes board-level parameters, monitors board voltage and temperature conditions, maintains system status, and manages hot swap operation. A microcontroller is used as the IPMI intelligence and connects to the AMC management bus. The ARTM-200FG is hot-swap capable and field-replaceable in accordance with the PICMG AMC.0 specification. Firmware supports the HPM.1 IPMI controller firmware upgrade specification.
Space for mezzanine card sites is very limited on next generation ATCA processor blades; consequently, simply adding I/O functionality via AdvancedMCs may not be an option. Intelligent ARTMs offer a powerful, flexible option. Using the Zone 3 connector to provide expanded I/O capacity through the rear of the ATCA blade, system designers can tailor the I/O capabilities of their processor blades to more specifically match the application to be supported. They can configure I/O cabling once and swap processor blades in and out independently.
Strategies Unlimited, a research, management, and consulting firm specializing in emerging technologies since 1979, provides custom and multi-client reports and conferences for the optical and RF/wireless communications, optoelectronics, photovoltaic and compound semiconductor markets.
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