Draft 0.3

Introduction

Dick Somes, VSO Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:15 AM and asked members to introduce themselves. After introductions the minutes from the last meeting were reviewed and approved as written.

The agenda was reviewed and several changes were made.

Dick read the VITA patent policy and asked if anyone had a patent to disclose. No patents were disclosed. Drew Berding, Arizona Digital, presented a letter to John Rynearson indicating that VME320 technology, to be discussed later, would be available for licensing per ANSI policy under terms of fairness and nondiscrimination. See attached letter.

Dick asked for general announcements. John Rynearson, VITA, stated that one of his goals for the VSO this year was to collect and distribute all information in digital form. John asked all speakers to submit overheads to him in digital form. In addition John asked all task group chairs to submit a copy of their draft standard to him so that it could be converted to PDF format and posted on VITA's web site.

Dick asked Ray Alderman to step forward and present awards for draft standards that had become ANSI/VITA standards. Ray presented a certificate and briefcase to Jerry Gipper, Motorola, for his efforts in attaining standard status for ANSI/VITA 4-1996, IP Modules. Kim Rubin, Greensprings, who was not present at the meeting will also be awarded a certificate and briefcase for his efforts in attaining standard status for ANSI/VITA 4-1996, IP Modules. Certificates of recognition were sent to other members who helped make IP Modules an ANSI standard.

John Rynearson presented the status of draft standards in ANSI Canvass Ballot. VITA 6.1, SCSA Extensions and VITA 12, M-Modules, are currently being balloted. VITA 4.1, IP Module Pin Assignment is in ballot solicitation. Additional balloters are required before the ballot can begin. VITA 10, SKYchannel has completed a negative ballot review and a recirculation ballot will begin shortly.

Ray Alderman gave a short update on current VITA activities.

Robert Cutler summarized the simulation that the VME 2000 LLC carried out. The simulation results indicated that a 5 nsec rise time signal would greatly reduce noise on the backplane. To achieve this rise time a 270 nh inductor and a 66 ohm resistor can be used on both ETL and standard TTL parts. These modifications should allow the 2eVME protocol to provide higher performance than is currently possible on VME.

Wayne Fischer, FORCE, presented the VME64x task group ballot report. Wayne has updated draft 1.4 to draft 1.5 with the latest comments from the previous task group ballot. Numerous edits were made. Appendix D was moved to Chap 2. An 1101.2 informative appendix was added, the CR/CSR chapter was rewritten by Uwe Uhmeyer of LeCroy, and the RTRY1* line was renamed to RESP*. See attached comments.

Uwe Uhmeyer, LeCroy, gave a report on chap 9, CSR/CR. Uwe completely rewrote this chapter with the following goals: software enabled maintenance of large systems, to provide hardware features necessary for plug & play, and to keep the implementation simple. See attached presentation.

Holly Sherfinski, Harting, gave a report on the current status of the 160 pin connector. Common connectors are now available from stock in small quantities. The IEC document is being drafted for submission. See attachment.

Lou Francz, Dialogic, discussed the live insertion effort.

Drew Berding, Arizona Digital, gave a report on a new backplane that he invented and claimed would support 320 Mbytes/second transfer. Drew presented a number of graphs that showed how his backplane allowed incident wave switching. Drew stated that his backplane appeared as a lumped load rather than a distributed capacitance. Additional information provided on Bustronic's Web Page: http://www.bustronic.com.

CCPMC Report - Doug Patterson gave the report for CCPMC. Draft 1.2, Jan 9, 1997, is currently available.

Wayne Fischer noted that the LLC needed someone to produce test boards. Wayne asked for any interested companies to contact Ray or John at VITA.

Robert Downing, FERMI, gave a report on VME64x 9U x 400 mm and VITA 23, VMEbus in Physics. 9U x 400 mm is currently in task group ballot. Bob urged all balloters to respond. VITA 23 is currently being revised.

Paul Vena, CSPI, asked for recognition of Myrinet as a new activity. Paul presented letters from two VITA members and is currently expecting a third. Pending the third letter, Myrinet will be an approved activity within the VSO. Paul introduced Nan Boden and Alan Kulawik from Myricom and they answered questions about Myrinet.

John Rynearson, VITA, gave reports for the following four individuals who could not attend.

Javier Berios, TranSwitch - VITA 22, CellBus on VME. The initial draft is being developed.

Jonathan Jones, ICS, Front Panel Data Port. The task group is finishing up action items from the previous meeting. The next meeting will probably be held on the east coast in February.

Mary Mosier, NAWC, VME on SEM-E. The latest draft 1.2 of VITA 18 is available.

Jim Pangburn, Fermi, VISION. The initial document is being drafted and is approximately 2/3 completed.

Eike Waltz, Rittal, reported on the status of IEEE P1101.10, and IEEE P1101.11. P1101.10 has passed sponsor ballot and is know an accepted standard. P1101.11 is currently in working group ballot.

Richard Jaenicke, SKY Computer, reported on the recently held negative ballot review meeting. All negative ballot comments were reviewed and discussed. Certain comments were accepted and the document will be revised. Other comments were rejected. A recirculation ballot will be held shortly.

Future meeting dates and locations were discussed. The March meeting will be held in Orlando on March 19 and 20. The May meeting is scheduled for Phoenix, 14 and 15 and the group voted to have the July meeting 23, 24 in Vancouver.

A nominations committee was appointed consisting of Paul Vena, Lou Francz, Bob McKee, and John Rynearson. The nominations committee will nominate and present a slate of officers, (chair and vice chair), to the members at the March VSO meeting for election to office.

Dick Somes asked the group if they would like to discuss VME 320. A discussion ensued. The group decided to create a task group entitled VME64x-II to determine how VME320 would be made part of the VME64 protocol set. Force, Motorola, and Tundra offered to sponsor the task group. A sign-up list was send around. See attached.

Dick Somes adjourned the VSO meeting at 4:34 PM.

A VME64x task group meeting was convened. Wayne Fischer presided as the VME64x task group chair. The task group voted to decouple ETL technology from the 2eVME protocol so that the VME64x draft standard can be completed and acted upon as soon as possible. Wayne Fischer agreed to carry out another task group ballot on VME64x before the March 1997 VSO meeting. By agreement of the task group the ballot will be conducted electronically and the balloting period will be 21 days. A copy of the draft standard will be made available from both FORCE COMPUTER's web site and VITA's web site in PDF format. Those who have problems downloading an electronic copy can contact the VITA office for a paper copy. Individuals who abstained or did not vote on the previous ballot will be asked if they wish to participate in this ballot. If they do not respond, their name will not be included on the task group ballot list.

The VME64x task group meeting was adjourned.