VSO Minutes, Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Hyatt Regency – Long Beach

Call to Order

Elwood Parsons called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM and asked members to introduce themselves. After introductions the minutes from the November 2002 VSO meeting were approved as written. The agenda for the current meeting was reviewed and accepted.

Standards Report

John Rynearson, VITA, gave the standards report. See presentation.

VITA Europe Report

Hermann Strass, VITA Europe, gave a report on European activities. See presentation. Hermann also presented his concept for “Serial VME”. See presentation. After discussion a list for a study group was circulated.

*** BREAK ***

ANSI Patent Policy and Call for Patents

John Rynearson stated the ANSI patent policy and the VSO early disclosure patent policy. See presentation. A call for patent disclosures was made. No patents were disclosed.

John presented the requirements for complying with ANSI’s and VSO’s patent policy and discussed the reasons for these policies. See presentation. John discussed with the membership recent patent issues concerning the connector chosen for VITA 34.

*** LUNCH ***

VITA 41 Report

Bob Tufford, Motorola, reported on the status of VITA 41. See presentation.

Andreas Lenkisch, Schroff, presented the routing study for VITA 41. See presentation.

Bob Tufford discussed the next steps for VITA 41. Issues discussed include user I/O and transition modules, system management, common user I/O keying, stiffeners, and LED positions.

Jim Koser, Foxconn Electronics, raised the issue of providing rear connectors and how that would be done. He stated that there was a Teradyne patent covering the technique of inserting front and rear connectors into common backplane holes. Jim offered to try to find the specific patent.

One of the attendees asked a question about putting 3.3 volts on switch cards. Bob indicated that there are no plans to add 3.3 volts to the switch card.

David Pepper, VMIC, asked if anyone was interested in doing gigabit Ethernet on VXS. No one has signed up to champion this effort, but many members agreed it would be a good idea.

The group discussed whether VXS might accommodate conduction cooled boards.

VITA 34

Frank Hom gave an update on VITA 34. See presentation.

Frank discussed the ZD connector issue. The group discussed various options.

A motion was made to rescind the data connector selected at the March 2000 VSO meeting for VITA 34 and to resume the data connector selection process at the point prior to the vote, and to send a letter to Teradyne explaining the actions of the VSO regarding this matter and to give Teradyne 30 days to respond by providing a letter indicating Teradyne’s willingness to provide RAND terms for any patents it claims against the HM Zd connector. The motion was seconded. John Rynearson reviewed the VSO policy for rescinding a working group decision. It was determined that in this instance only a simple majority vote was required. Further discussion regarding the motion was held. A vote on the motion was taken and the motion passed with 21 votes in favor and 3 votes against.

The membership directed the VITA executive director and the technical director to write and send the letter to Teradyne.

The membership directed that a second call for prior art on US patent no. 6,379,188 be carried out.

Frank reviewed quick disconnect options. The goal is to define a common interface short of the actual coupler. The actual coupler will have to be specified by the user.

Frank discussed the cooling demo that was shown at the Bus&Board conference. Frank said plans are to continue to refine the demo.

VITA 34 Cooling Team

Larry Thompson, CRANE, made a announcement that the joint cooling task group will have a meeting on Tuesday before the May VSO meeting. More details will be provided at the March meeting.

*** BREAK ****

VITA 34 Mil/Cots Study Group

Mike Macpherson gave a report on the groups activities. See presentation.

Jim Robles, Boeing, reported on ESD requirements. See exhibit. Jim reviewed IO modules and racks. See exhibit. The group discussed various form factors options: 6U x 160 versus 4U x 220mm. The general consensus is that 6U is preferred by the mil/cots. Mike Macpherson would like mil/cots study group to meet on Thursday to discuss the form factor issue.

VITA 42

Greg Novak, Motorola, reviewed the status of the VITA 42 working group. See presentation. Greg discussed the RAPIDIO PMC form factor. The standard PMC connector tops out around 1 Ghz.

Doug Wathen, Samtec, discussed the connector that was chosen by the RapidIO Trade Association. Doug indicated that Samtec was willing to provide VITA with a letter stating its willingness to license the connector on RAND terms.

A sample of the connector was circulated. Doug also referred to a lawsuit currently ongoing by FCI against Samtec. He said that he expects the lawsuit to be settled soon.

Greg discussed how the standard will be structured. The RapidIO document was reviewed. One of the challenges will be to limit and combine various options.

Mac Rush, Motorola, raised the issue of the purpose of the VITA 42 spec versus the RapidIO specification. Why should there be two specifications for the same thing. One reason is that the VITA 42 group wants to use other fabrics besides RapidIO.

Greg discussed the schedule. The first work effort will be VITA 42.0. Greg discussed the next series of conference calls. Greg will solicit times via email. The goal is to have a draft .0 before the March VSO meeting.

VITA 43S

Michael Franco, Artesyn, discussed interest in Z-axis modules. Mike reviewed the effort in PICMG. Mike will circulate a white paper on his concept and ask for input. A sign-up sheet was circulated.

Elwood Parsons adjourned the meeting at 5:45 PM.

Thursday, January 23, 2003

Elwood Parsons called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM. The agenda was changed to allow for a VITA 34 mil/cots study group discussion.

Mike Macpherson led a discussion on the board size issue. One of the reasons for wanting a larger board was because of the need for on-board power converters, larger microprocessors, and space for more functionality. The group discussed how a 4U x 220 mm module could be inserted with a different wedge lock mechanism.

Harry Andreas noted that commercial boards are often used in military programs for prototyping and software development.

The group discussed alternate cooling (liquid flow) concepts.

The discussion returned to board size advantages – 6U versus 8U. Bob Downing made a drawing showing 6U laid on top of 8U. The 6U would not necessarily be usable in an 8U commercial rack. Bob asked the question as to whether or not half sized (i.e., 4U) in 8U is a requirement.

A motion was made and seconded to develop two form factors for VITA 34. After discussion the motion passed. The next step will be to determine which form factors.

VITA 40, Service Indicator Standard

Danny Cohen, Sun, reviewed comments from the recent working group ballot. The results of the ballot were: 18 approve, 0 negative, 4 no return. VITA 40 has met the 75/75 VSO rule and will be moved to the ANSI process.

Working Group Reports

VITA 30 – Elwood Parsons reported on VITA 30. Several drawings need to be updated.

VITA 41 – Bob Tufford summarized action items for VITA 41.

1. Follow up on routing study.

2. Investigate patent re: plugging rear connectors into same holes.

3. Determine what other fabrics should be incorporated into VITA 41.

4. Determine whether VITA 41 is amenable to conduction cooling.

5. Re-examine providing 3.3V on switch card.

6. Provide names of sources for alignment/keying module.

7. Futures

a. User I/O & Transition Modules

b. System Management Document

c. Common User I/O Keying

d. Stiffeners

e. LED positions

VITA 42 – The goal is to create the initial draft for VITA 42.0 by the next VSO meeting.

Other Business

Danny Cohen, Sun, asked that formal motions be presented in writing on the computer projector so that members could better understand the motion.

John Rynearson reviewed the meeting schedule for 2003. See VITA website.

Elections for Chair and Vice Chair of the VSO will be held

John Rynearson asked Mike Macpherson and Mike Thompson to serve with him on the nominations committee for the March VSO elections.

There being no further business the meeting was adjourned.

Submitted by

/s/ John Rynearson, VITA Secretariat