Looking into 1997: The Year of Technology on VMEbus
By Ray Alderman, Executive Director, VITA
In 1996, the VITA Journal editorial focused on the markets and many VITA activities focused on marketing. The market segments where VME is extensively used (i.e. the military, telecommunications, industrial, and scientific applications) have been profiled and analyzed in detail.
In 1997, our focus will be on the technology aspects of VME. In the March `97 issue, we will profile the Processor Boards technology segment (see accompanying graphic). From 1994 to 1996, Electronic Trends Publications predicts a slight shift away from the 68K processor technology (by about 7%) to a more diverse mix of CPUs on VMEbus. In fact, ETP predicts growth in each processor segment except basic 68K and special 68K (microcontroller) technologies.
The growth in X86, Power PC, MIPS, Alpha, and SPARC processor cards all suggest that applications are moving up the performance spectrum. This is not surprising since the primary markets for growth are military, telecommunications, and some scientific applications. One particular processor species that is often left out of VME research is the HP-PA technology. Hewlett-Packard has focused primarily on the embedded workstation applications, many at the high-end of the industrial market segment. And, the 68K architecture has most of its market share in the industrial segment, primarily in the low-end and the mid-range applications.
Several battles are shaping up in the market, as indicated by the piecharts (below). There's the Power PC vs. the X86, both probably running NT as the embedded workstation operating system and/or one of the realtime kernels in deterministic applications. There's also the SPARC (UNIX) vs. the X86 (NT) competition in the telecom environment. MIPS architectures continue to show growth, and there's the DEC Alpha at the high-end of the applications spectrum, running NT or DECelx realtime kernel. It will be an interesting year in the CPU area of the VME markets.
In June `97, we will focus on the much-neglected backplane as the cornerstone of VME technology. Most users consider the backplane to be a passive device with most of its value-added at the manufacturing level. Not so any more. There is as much technology in the backplane now as there is in many of the cards on VMEbus. As we add new voltages in the system (3.3v, 48-60v for telecom, etc.), the power distribution technology alone is worth noting. As we increase the speed of the bus (2eVME, incident-wave switching), a great deal of engineering goes into the transmission line design. Of all the technology reporting on VMEbus, the backplane has enjoyed the least and, today, deserves the most.
In the September `97 issue, we will cover all the secondary (P2 and P0) subbuses. Some of the P2 buses were engineered for multiprocessor systems (like Raceway, Skychannel, and HIC) while others added functionality for communications technology (SCSA and ATM Cellbus). With continued interest in Fibrechannel, IEEE 1394, and USB, you can expect more "hybrid" architectures to come to VMEbus in the future. There are also pinouts that standardize the I/O connections of Industrypacks and PMC (PCI Mezzanine Cards) to the P-2 and P-0 connectors that deserve study and consideration, and this VITA Journal will cover all the options.
Finally, in the December `97 issue, we will explore communications boards on VMEbus. Since the telecommunications area is one of the fastest growing segments of VME use, there are numerous networking and communications standards either available or coming to the VMEbus. Ethernet is moving from 10Mbits/s to 100Mbits/s, and then to 1Gigabit/s. IEEE 1394 and USB will certainly be used on many different boards. Fibrechannel, FDDI, ATM, and Optical Reflective Memory are just a few of the new interfaces we will cover. Second only to the CPU segment, the communications board area is one of the most active areas of technological innovation and new product announcements.
Along the way, we will cover all the new products announced by members, industry events like trade shows and conferences, new market research information, and include contributed articles by some of the best engineers in our industry. If 1996 was the year of the VME markets, then 1997 will be the year of VME technology.
