Wednesday, September 16, 1998

Bob Downing, Chair, called the VSO meeting to order at 8:31 AM and asked members to introduce themselves. After introductions the minutes from the last meeting were accepted as written. The agenda was reviewed and several changes were made. Bob called for announcements from the floor. Wayne Fischer, Force, noted that VITA 2, ETL, was ready for task group ballot.

John Rynearson, VITA, gave a presentation addressing three specific areas regarding patents: ANSI and the VSO's positions re: patents, VITA 1.4 and patents, and front panel patent issues related to 1101.10 and the Nortel patents. See attached overhead presentation. John reviewed both the ANSI and VSO positions on patents. The status of VITA 1.4 was discussed with regards to the Husak patent. John presented his technical opinion that compliance with VITA 1.4 does not require technology as claimed in the Husak patent. The Nortel patents and their relationship with IEEE 1101.10 were discussed. A number of examples of prior art were presented. John presented a comprehensive analysis done by Wade Peterson on the Nortel patents. See attached report. Both John and Wade in their technical opinion feel that sufficient prior art exists that call into question the value of the Nortel patents.

Volker Haag, Schroff, presented additional information for both the Nortel keying and the EMI patents and expressed basic agreement with Peterson and Rynearson. Specifically regarding the EMI patent they felt that sufficient prior art exists to invalidate claim 1 of the patent. In addition they presented a "design around" solution for claim 9. See attached presentation. Additional supporting material was provided for the minutes by Schroff. See attachments.

After the presentations the membership discussed various options. Ray Alderman, Executive Director of VITA, noted that the VITA board had discussed the issue and had authorized Ray to continue to investigate alternatives to resolve this issue.

*** BREAK

After the break Ray presented awards to VITA members who had chaired recently approved standards. Briefcases with engraved nameplates were presented to Wayne Fischer and Bob Downing for VITA 4.1 and VITA 1.3 respectively. Cross pen and pencil sets were presented to Kim Rubin, SBS, and Lou Francz, Dialogic, for VITA 4.1 and VITA 6.1 efforts respectively.

Ray then related to members the "story of the mouse that went everywhere and then went nowhere" complete with photos and laborious explanations. He noted that the story was inspired by Holly Sherfinski's traveling mouse and presented Holly with an appropriate award.

Ray discussed recent articles that he had read re: Intel's next generation I/O (NGIO). Ray passed around a signup sheet for task group formation.

John presented the status of current canvass ballots. VITA 1.1, VITA 17, VITA 18, VITA 19, VITA 23, VITA 25, and VITA 26.

Mac Rush, Motorola, gave a report on 2eSST. Several issues were discussed and resolved. The reference to ETL will be changed to ETL or equivalent. The maximum byte count will be set at 2K bytes.

*** LUNCH

Greg Novak, Motorola, reported on a new project that he wished to start called PPMC for Processor PMC. The goal is to define pin assignments for a PMC module for processor use. Work items include defining a taller module and updating/extending 12 signals and addressing issues re: interrupts, arbitration, and system controller. Motorola, Force, and Vista Controls have expressed interest in sponsoring this effort. Greg passed around a sign-up list.

Lou Francz, Dialogic, gave a report on VITA 1.4, Live Insertion for VME64x. See attached overheads. The recent task group ballot flushed out a number of areas that need more work. Lou discussed various options for handling the daisy chain bypass and how to prevent race conditions. Other comments included that some felt the spec needed more rigorous state definitions and that the spec was too implementation specific. Lou noted that he had less time to devote to this effort and asked if someone else wanted to become the chair. Lou suggested that conference calls be used to further this effort and asked for volunteers. The group discussed how best to proceed and how important the live insertion issue was to VME. The lack of a single software model was noted as a problem.

Holly Sherfinski, Harting, gave a report on VITA 1.6, Keying for Conduction Cooled VME64. The latest draft and the comments have been posted on the VITA web site. VITA 1.6 will now be moved to the ANSI canvass process and ballot solicitation should begin shortly. Holly noted that Electronic Solutions had indicated interest in manufacturing keys complaint to VITA 1.6. Interested parties should contact Frank Hom, Electronic Solutions.

160 Pin Connector Update

Holly Sherfinsk provided members with an update on the standardization process for the 160 pin connector. The official number and title are: IEC61076-4-113, Detailed specification for two-part connectors having 5 rows with a grid of 2.54 mm for printed boards and backplanes in bus applications.

Bob Paterson, AMP, announced that the 6 mm version of the backplane connector were now available from AMP. The 17 mm version availability was announced at the July VSO meeting.

Bob McKee, MITRE and well know national treasure, gave an updated report on EDMIN. See attachment. EDMIN is a working presentation of ideas for "The Backplane Architecture for the Next Millennium". Bob would like members to send him their comments and he will update the presentation and present new views and comments at succeeding meetings. At the November VSO meeting Bob will review some specific applications and also take a look at form factors requirements.

Duncan Young, DY4, gave a presentation on VITA 20, Conduction Cooled PMC. Duncan noted that progress has been slow since the previous meeting due to a change in task group leadership. The current draft is being reworked and there is discussion in several areas including how to specify watts vs. temperature limits on base cards and PMC modules. The group is also discussing how to accommodate PMC's of 7.5 watts or greater and whether or not "optional" thermal interfaces would cause compatibility problems. Duncan asked the task group to meet after the VSO meeting.

Duncan also announced a call for participation in CCIP (Conduction Cooled IP modules). A sign-up list was circulated. John Rynearson noted that a task group can be formed when 3 or more VITA member companies agree to sponsor the activity and so state their support in written communications (email, fax, letter) to the VITA technical director.

John Rynearson gave a short report for Paul Linares, CETIA, on VITA 29, P2CI. Paul's email stated: "Status on P2CI is the following : the P2CI CPU boards are now ready. The P2CI backplanes are being provided by Trenew and Schroff. Tests are scheduled in October 98." See attached email.

Kim Rubin, SBS, gave an update on VITA 29, PC•MIP. Kim has written a white paper and invited comments. Several issues were discussed including geographical addressing. Kim plans to have a task group ballot soon.

Elwood Parsons, AMP, gave a report on VITA 30, 2 mm Connector Practice. Unfortunately, Frank Hom's computer suffered a disk crash and the drawings for the draft have been lost and will have to be redone. Elwood reviewed comments from the task group ballot. The goal of the task group is to have the drawings redone and the draft revised so that a task group ballot can take place before the next VSO meeting in November.

The VSO meeting was adjourned for the day.

Thursday, September 17, 1998

Bob Downing called the meeting to order and asked for announcements.

Bob Sullivan, Hybricon, gave a presentation on the work they have been doing on high speed backplanes. See attachment. He provided some answers to questions raised by presentations made by Drew Berding and Andreas Lenkisch at the July VSO meeting.

John Rynearson presented a list of work items for 1999 the tentative schedule for VSO meetings. See attachments. Ray Alderman explained the press event that VITA is trying to organize in January that would be held before the VSO meeting. If the press event is held in conjunction with the RTC table top show in Santa Clara, then the January VSO meeting will be held in Santa Clara. Otherwise, the VSO will meeting in Phoenix in January. Ray will keep the group updated. After discussion the members decided not to accept the invitation to Nurnberg for the March meeting. Instead the meeting will be held in the Flordia area. For the July meeting a number of venues were put forth. The two finalists were Vancouver and Ottawa with Vancouver winning. John noted that all dates are currently tentative and will be confirmed as soon as possible.

There being no further business the VSO meeting was adjourned at 10:35 AM.

Submitted by

/s/ John Rynearson, VITA