Chairperson's Message - 2009

Ernie Bergstrom
President,
Crystal Cube Consulting

AdvancedTCA Summit 2009 is a must attend event on the modular, open standard AdvancedTCA/ MicroTCA platform for telecommunications and embedded applications!  From technical forums to chat sessions, you’ll get all the information you need in one place.  Hear from technology leaders, key vendors, and industry associations at all levels in the supply chain.  Learn about AdvancedTCA/ MicroTCA solutions with multicore, embedded virtualization, security, COTS, interoperability, greener power/cooling, rugged MicroTCA, WiMAX, and more!

Multicore Meets AdvancedTCA in maximizing the utilization of open system platforms. Learn from the experts how to architect your platform in an intelligent way based on your workload. Find out from industry experts how multicore is optimizing platform designs through the application of multicore board architecture, multicore standards, balancing processor, memory, I/O and fabric, as well as, discovering why smart architecting based on workload is more crucial in embedded than anywhere else.

Now is the time to learn how AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA, the emerging standard platforms for communications are revolutionizing the industry. Learn how these PICMG specs can handle the latest processors, the newest interfaces, and the most demanding high-availability applications including routers, switches, security devices, access devices, base-stations, telephony systems, and much, more! See it live and working in a real world environment with our AdvancedTCA InterOp Demo.

MicroTCA is attracting a lot of attention as a low-cost solution with impressive performance and processing power, especially in the enterprise market. In meeting customers’ demands for even lower prices, several suppliers have introduced innovations aimed at reducing price points considerably. In 2008 we saw basic MIcroTCA chassis with MCH and power at a price point for around $2,000, but it is projected that the price points for MicroTCA will continue to drop in meeting customer demand for better pricing. This effort to build systems based on small mezzanine cards appears well suited to low-end telecom applications such as gateways, wireless basestations, and telephony equipment. Military contractors are also considering it in ruggedized applications for on-the-ground operations, particularly WiMAX systems. It is evident that military programs, such as, the Army’s WIN-T Warfighter, and the Navy’s CANES Shipboard Common Computing Environment are clearly spear heading future growth of MicroTCA platforms.

AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA system designers continue to favor Ethernet as their switch fabric of choice. Its widespread use in networking applications, low cost, and extensive experience and support have moved it to a leadership position, although designers with high-throughput needs are focusing on RapidIO. Other interfaces, such as PCI Express and InfiniBand, will find markets in specialized applications.

The future for AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA is very bright. Once again, I am proud to announce the continuation of our successful annual Awards Program, including hardware, software, infrastructure, and best unique customer application. So let’s see some great Best of Show applications! To enter your products, visit the Best of Show page for details.

Last years addition of the first annual “xTCASlotFest” InterOp demo was so successful, it is my pleasure to announce we are bringing back the InterOp demo again this year. Participating suppliers will be able to demonstrate interoperability for AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA, AdvancedMC, and related software. You will now be able to see all these platforms interacting successfully, just as end users have been promised. This is your chance to meet with the suppliers who designed the platforms and resolved the challenges.

Please take this opportunity to trade ideas with colleagues and gain new perspectives during presentations from a wide variety of large and small companies. Learn about hardware, software, interconnect, implementations, and applications. Hear from the trade associations and standards groups that are helping build new ecosystems. If you want to be successful designing AdvancedTCA or MicroTCA systems, creating products for them, or applying them in telecom centers or elsewhere, don’t miss this year’s AdvancedTCA Summit. It’s the only place you will find the latest information, the hottest products, and the top experts. See you there!