draft 0.1

Bob Downing called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM and asked members to introduce themselves.

The agenda was reviewed and several changes were made to accommodate members schedules.

The minutes from the September meeting were approved as written.

Bob Downing presented the VSO early patent policy and asked for patent disclosures. No disclosures were made.

John Rynearson gave an update on European activities and discussed the March meeting to be held at Syscomms 98. Since elections are to be held in March, a method will be determined to allow non attendees to vote on elections.

The following members volunteered for the nominations committee: Elwood Parsons, Mike Thompson, Wayne Fischer. John Rynearson will chair the committee.

Jing Kwok, formerly of DY4, announced that he had joined a new company, Nexus, that would be a VMEbus user. He indicated that Harry Andreas, Hughes, would take over the chair position of the IEEE 1101.2 committee. Doug Patterson, DY4, will become chair of VITA 20, CCPMC, task group. Jing declared his companies intention to become a VITA member. After discussion, the membership voted to allow Jing to remain as VSO vice-chair assuming Nexus will submit a membership application shortly.

Ray Alderman gave the VITA report. Ray noted that there would be no meeting fees for this meeting and that VITA was sponsoring a VITA get together at the RTC show in January in Santa Clara. Ray showed a VMEbus ad that will be run in several publications in 1998 promoting the use of VME in the Mars lander and presented a T-shirt to Dick Somes for his efforts as VSO chair. Ray reported on the survey done by Pete Yeatman for VITA regarding members plans to support additional embedded architectures in the future. Based on these results the board voted to explore how VITA would support member's efforts in the areas of cPCI, PMC, and slot card PCI. The board asked Ray to present plans to support these technologies.

Tad Kubic asked about VITA's plans to provide current ANSI specs in electronic format. Ray indicated that VITA was reviewing the financial impact of such a move and would take action during Q1 1998 if providing specs in electronic form did not impact VITA's ability to support its members.

Drew Berding noted the development of a number of standards covering similar areas and wondered why this was occuring. Ray indicated that it was not acceptable for one individual or group of individuals to decide what technology should or should not become a standard. Therefore the goal of the VSO was to let the membership and the marketplace decide.

Wayne Fischer complimented VITA on the revisions made to their web site.

Jing Kwok, Nexus, asked what companies were on the board of VITA. Ray noted that the five member board consisted of Elwood Parsons, AMP, Dennis Terry, Heurikon, Bob Lyons, Motorola, Tom Hall, PEP, and Ray.

John Rynearson gave the canvass ballot report. A number of draft standards have passed the VSO 75/75 rule and have entered the ANSI canvass ballot process. A list of the draft standards and their status is shown below:

VITA 1.1, VME64x, precanvass ballot solicitation

VITA 1.3, 9U, precanvass ballot solicitation

VITA 4.1, IP Modules Pin Assignment on P2, recirculation ballot

VITA 6.1, SCSA Extensions, recirculation ballot

VITA 10, SkyChannel, Approved 10/31/97

VITA 14, CXC/Modpacks, precanvass ballot solicitation

VITA 19, Busnet, precanvass ballot solicitation

VITA 23, VIPA, precanvass ballot solicitation

Eike Waltz, Rittal, gave a report on IEEE P1101.11 activities. P1101.11 is in negative ballot review. Those on the committee are: Wayne Fischer, Bob Downing, Elwood Parsons, and Eike Waltz. Eike discussed the issues surrounding two Nortel patents 4,631,641 and 5,402,320 and the alignment pin specified in P1101.11. Wayne Fischer suggested that VITA create a patent summary on its web site. Bob Downing questioned the reasons for specific detail concerning the switch placement in P1101.11. Mike Thompson presented a Siemans patent that covered a specific implementation for the functions required by P1101.11.

Mike Thompson, Schroff, commented on a French patent held by Systolic on an electronic daisy chain method for use in live insertion. Mike suggested that VITA consider getting an English translation of the patent to determine whether or not technology required by VITA 1.4 would infringe on this patent. See attached.

Ed Barsoti, FERMI, gave a report on VITA 23, VME64x for Physics. See attachments. Ed has asked Bob Downing to consult with John Rynearson regarding how to handle the Designer and User Guide.

*** BREAK ***

Holly Sherfinski, HARTING, gave a report on the status of the 160 pin connector. See attachment. The connector is being standardized as: IEC 1076-4-1-xx "Detail specification for two-part connectors having 5 rows with a grid of 2.54 mm for printed boards and backplanes in bus applications".

Holly Sherfinski, HARTING, gave a report for VITA 1.6, Keying for Conduction Cooled VME. The first task group ballot is in progress. Votes are due by Friday, December 5. VITA 1.6 is referenced in VITA 1.1. See Recommendation 4.2.

Mac Rush, Motorola, reported that he is working on completing the draft for VITA 1.5, 2eSST. The draft should be ready for review by mid December.

Jonathan Jones, ICS, noted that VITA 17, FPDP, has passed the VSO 75/75 rule. He discussed the results of the task group ballot. After revisions the draft standard will be circulated again for comment. See attached.

Scott Martin, MITRE, gave a report on the status of VITA 18, VME on SEM-E. He noted that the task group ballot has been extended to the end of November and asked balloters to please vote.

Jing Kwok, Nexus, gave a report for VITA 20, CCPMC. The latest draft contains changes from the last meeting. Doug Patterson, DY4, will take over the chair duties from Jing. A task group meeting for CCPMC members will be held at 3:30 PM in the Zuni breakout room.

Jim Pangburn, FERMI, announced that VITA 25, VISION, has passed its latest task group ballot successfully. Changes will be incorporated and the draft standard will be moved to the ANSI canvass ballot process. See attached.

Danny Cohen, Myricom, gave a presentation on the concepts behind Myrinet. See attached presentation. The latest draft has been posted on VITA's VSO web page. A 30 day task group ballot is scheduled to start next week.

Paul Linares, CETIA, gave a presentation on the status of P2CI. See attachment.

*** LUNCH ***

Drew Berding, Arizona Digital, reported that he had cleared up remaining issues with the patent license for VME320 technology and that an agreement should be available within several weeks.

Kim Rubin, SBS GreenSpring Modular I/O, gave a presentation on VITA 29, PC MIP. See presentation.

Holly Sherfinski, HARTING, gave a status report on TEMPE for Jim Botte, Nortel.

The VSO meeting was adjourned by Bob Downing.

The VITA 1.4 Live Insertion for VME64x task group meeting was called to order by Lou Francz, Dialogic. The latest draft was circulated and the group discussed the software model presented by Lou. See attached. Joe Bedard, HP, expressed his concerns that the model included too much. Lou urged members to access VITA 1.4 on VITA's VSO web page and provide him with comments. The VITA 1.4 task group meeting was adjourned.

The VSO meeting was called to order and future VSO meetings were discussed. A schedule for future meetings is shown below.

January 20, RTC Show, Santa Clara, CA

March 27, Syscomms 98, Geneva, Switzerland

May 13-14, Phoenix

July 15-16, Sante Fe, NM

Sep 16-17, Phoenix

Nov 18-19, Phoenix

Jonathan Morris, Tundra, noted that a vPCI task group meeting would be held after the VSO main meeting is adjourned.

There being no further business, the VSO meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by John Rynearson, VITA