Bob Downing, VSO Chair, called the meeting to order and ask members to introduce themselves.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved as written.
The agenda was reviewed and several changes were made to accommodate members schedules.
Bob read the VITA patent policy and asked if anyone had a patent to disclose. No patents were disclosed.
Hermann Strass, VITA Europe Technical Coordinator, gave an update on issues of European interest. Hermann reviewed his duties as European Technical Coordinator and noted a number of VMEbus articles that he had written for the European press. In addition Hermann discussed several upcoming exhibitions that he would be participating in. John Rynearson thanked Hermann for his update and urged members to take advantage of Hermann's expertise if they needed help with European issues. Members can email Hermann at: TechCon.HStrass@t-online.de.
Jerry Braun, CRANE, announced a COTS exhibition to be held in Norfolk, VA on August 4 and 5, 1998. Jerry noted that a previous COTS exhibit had been very successful and he invited all interested members to attend. See attached registration information.
Doug Patterson, DY4, asked that the VITA20 task group meet during the lunch break.
John Rynearson gave an update on the status of draft standards in the ANSI Canvass ballot process and gave an overview of the ANSI canvass balloting process. VITA 1.1, VME64x and VITA 1.3, 9U for VME64x, are in ANSI canvass ballot. VITA 4.1, IP Modules I/O Pin Assignment has completed ANSI balloting and recirculation ballot and will be submitted to the ANSI Board of Standards Review. VITA 6.1 SCSA Extensions has completed ANSI balloting and recirculation ballot and will be submitted to the ANSI Board of Standards Review. VITA 14, CXC/Modpacks is currently in ANSI pre-canvass survey. The ANSI ballot for VITA 19, Busnet, will begin within the next two weeks. Both VITA 23, VME64x for Physics, and VITA 25, VISION, are in the pre-canvass ANSI process. Anyone who is directly and materially affected by these standards may ask to be on the ballot list. Please contact John Rynearson (techdir@vita.com) or Cheryl Cook (cheryl@vita.com).
John Rynearson noted that Eike Waltz was expected to be at the meeting later in the afternoon. John presented a report that he had received for Eike re: the status of IEEE P1101.11 draft 5.0. All negative ballots have been responded to. One negative response has been turned to positive. Eike is awaiting answers from three more negative responders. Eike intends to submitted the updated draft to the IEEE Standards Board in March. See attachment.
The VSO meeting was temporarily adjourned and the VITA 1.6 Keying for Conduction Cooled VME was called to order by Holly Sherfinski, Harting.
Holly presented the results of the VITA 1.6 task group ballot and the group discussed resolution of the negative ballot issues. The results of the task group ballot are posted on the VITA web site in pdf format and are available for downloading. See (http://www.vita.com/vso/vita1.6tgb.pdf).
Holly adjourned the task group meeting and the VSO meeting was readjourned.
*** BREAK ***
Holly Sherfinski, HARTING, gave an update on the 5 row 160 pin connector. Several users have reported problems with inserting 3 row legacy boards into 5 row backplanes. Holly reported that preliminary investigate has not revealed any one specific cause and that Harting is carefully reviewing each problem as it is reported.
Kim Rubin, SBS Greenspring, noted that their tests determined that 3 row connectors with "thick" walls did cause problems in some systems and that sanding the walls down provided one solution. See attachment regarding IEC 603-3.
Jerry Braun, CRANE, submitted the results of connector tests that had been done last year.
After further discussion, the membership decided to set up a task force to investigate this problem. John Rynearson was named chair of the task force and members include:
Dave Robak, Harting
Bob Downing, FERMI
Mike Munroe, ERNI
Bob Sullivan, Hybricon
Tim 'Burne, VERO
Sue Wong, Motorola
Wayne Fischer, Force
Mike Thompson, Scroff
Eike Waltz, Rittal
Frank Hom, Electronic Solutions
Elwood Parson, AMP
VITA will establish a web page linked to the VITA web site with information regarding this issue.
Drew Berding, Arizona Digital, announced that a patent on VME320 technology has been issued. The patent number is 5,696,667. Drew also displayed an overhead with VME320 traces using a Fairchild V320 driver. See attachment.
Mac Rush, Motorola, gave a report on the VITA 1.5 2eSST draft standard. Draft 1.3 was released last week and posted on the VITA web site. Mac reviewed some of the issues with the latest draft and asked for comments.
Ray Alderman gave the VITA report. Ray reminded members that VITA was sponsoring a reception Wednesday night from 7-9 PM for all VITA members and their guests. The reception is by invitation only and Ray told members they could pick up an invitation at the VITA booth.
*** LUNCH ***
John Rynearson gave a short update for Jonathan Jones, ICS Ltd, who not able to attend the meeting. The VITA 17, FPDP, draft standard task group ballot met the VSO 75/75 rule. Jonathan was revising the draft with changes from the task group ballot and would recirculate it for task group approval. Pending approval VITA 17 will then be submitted to the ANSI process.
Bob McKee, MITRE, reported that VITA 18, VME on SEM-E had met the 75/75 VSO task group ballot rule and was being submitted to the ANSI Canvass ballot process.
Doug Patterson, DY4, gave a report on the VITA 20, CCPMC draft standard. See attachment.
Paul Linares, CETIA, reported on the status of VITA 27, P2CI. See attached white paper and presentation. Simulation studies and hardware validation studies are underway.
Rick O'Connor, Tundra, noted that he would have a more complete presentation on VITA 28, VPCI at the March meeting.
Danny Cohen, Myricom, discussed the VITA 26 task group ballot. See attachment for results. VITA 26 met the 75/75 rule and will be moved to the ANSI Canvass ballot process.
Hermann Strass and Kim Rubin gave updates on VITA 29, PC*MIP. PC*MIP is a PCI based mezzanine module being supported by Motorola, SBS Greenspring, and MEN Mikro. The draft specification is currently under development. See the SBS Greenspring or MEN Mikro web sites for more info on PC*MIP.
Eike Waltz, Rittal, joined the meeting and announced that he had just returned from attending an IEC standards meeting in Germany and that all parties had reached agreement regarding previously stated issues with 1101.10 and P1101.11.
Holly Sherfinski, Harting, noted that Jim Botte, Nortel, was unable to attend the meeting to report on the TEMPE project. However, Holly stated that work was progressing and that Jim hoped to present more information at a future meeting.
John Rynearson presented a proposal to allow for electronic balloting of officers. After discussion the membership decided to support this proposal as a method of absentee balloting while still allowing for balloting at the meetings.
The nominations committee presented its slate of candidates for chair and vice chair of the VSO. Bob Downing was nominated for chair and Jing Kwok was nominated for vice chair. Rick O'Connor was nominated for Secretary. The election will be held at the March 1998 VSO meeting in Geneva with absentee balloting via email as proscribed in the procedure adopted at the meeting today.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 PM.
Submitted by John Rynearson, VITA