VSO Minutes

Resort Suites, Scottsdale, AZ

Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004

Elwood Parsons, VSO Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM and asked members to introduce themselves. After introductions the minutes from the July 2004 VSO meeting were approved as written. The agenda was reviewed and several changes were made to accommodate members travel schedules. No announcements were made.

Rex Harvey, Parker, discussed how to structure VITA 50, Best Practices for Liquid Cooling. See presentation.

Ray Alderman, VITA Executive Director, discussed next year’s Bus&Board conference in January and the Military Embedded Electronic Computer Conference (MEECC) scheduled for May 2005. The B&B 2005 theme is “The Business of Boards”. Forty sponsor slots are available. Contact Ray for information. MEECC is scheduled for May 15-16, 2005. More details will be released soon.

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

John presented VITA’s patent policy and called for patent disclosures. Ivan Straznicky, Curtiss-Wright, called the members attention to the following pending patent on cooling technology. See US patent application number 208272.

John discussed the concept of creating a VSO “Provisional Draft Standard” status. See presentation. After discussion the membership decided that it was not necessary to create a provisional draft state within the VSO and that the group could use the ANSI “Trial Use” mechanism if needed.

John noted that HR 1086 has passed and stated that VITA had filed for protection as required. See presentation. John noted that HR 1086 does not open the door for discussions of pricing and reminded members that such discussions were not appropriate at VSO meetings.

John reviewed the process for handling patents in draft standards. See presentation. When a working group identifies essential patents, they should notify the VITA technical director who will send a request for a letter or assurance (LOA) to the patent holder. Once the LOA is received by VITA, the patent holder has 50 days to develop RAND (reasonable and non-discreminatory) terms that can be provided upon request within 5 days to anyone interested in licensing the patent. Please note that the patent holder is not required and should not send the licensing terms to VITA. If the patent holder does not provide the terms within the specified time period, then the patented technology will be removed from the draft standard.

John discussed a protest that was filed with the VITA board of directors in August by Foxconn and Molex. They stated that in their opinion the licensing terms presented by Tyco for the Multigig RT connector used in VITA 41 and other VITA draft standards were not “reasonable” as required by ANSI’s requirements. They asked that the VITA board remove the Multigig RT connector from those draft standards. John discussed this issue with personnel at ANSI and with VITA legal counsel. VITA’s legal counsel stated that it would not be appropriate for VITA to hear any appeal based on the terms on a license due to the potential for violating anti-trust laws. John suggested that companies not satisfied with the terms of a license offered to meet RAND (reasonable and non discriminatory) requirements should negotiate one-on-one with the license holder for terms which are satisfactory to both parties.

The group discussed possible changes to the VSO Policy and Procedures to note that appeals to the VSO must be based on technical or procedural grounds and that appeals regarding licensing terms could not be addressed.

Stephen Renaud, Harting, gave a presentation on Harting’s plans to meet European lead-free plating requirements. See Harting's Website for more information .

Doug Patterson, SBS, gave a report for the VITA Marketing Group (VMG). See presentation. The group is working on a number of issues including a VME roadmap.

*** LUNCH ***

Bob Tufford, Motorola, reported on the status of VITA 41. See presentation. Bob noted updates in the latest draft. A motion was made, seconded, and pass all-in-favor to move VITA 41.0 to the ANSI process. John Rynearson will submit a PIN to ANSI and start a ballot solicitation in the next 30 days.

Bob discussed the status of VITA 41.11, RTM and plans for the development of VITA 41.3, 1/10 Gbit Ethernet VXS Pin Assignment and VITA 41.4, PCI Express VXS Pin Assignment.

Tony Lavely, Mercury, reported on the status of VITA 5.2, Raceway++. He sent out an email to solicit interest in May. The next planned action is to circulate an initial draft document.

Stewart Dewar, Curtiss-Wright, reported on the status of VITA 46. See presentation. During the working group meeting held later in the afternoon, Ivan Straznicky, Curtiss-Wright, discussed proposed cooling enhancements. See presentation.

Greg Novak, Motorola, reported on the status of VITA 42. See presentation. A ballot for VITA 42.0 will begin in the next two weeks.

Randy Banton, Mercury, reported on the status of VITA 48. See presentation.

Steve Pereira, Mercury, reported on the status of VITA 49. See presentation.

Ivan Straznicky, Curtiss-Wright, reported on the status of VITA 20R1. See presentation. A motion was made, seconded, and voted all-in-favor to move VITA 20R1 to the ANSI process.

Shawn Ashley, NSWC Crane, gave a presentation on their interest in developing a new method for specifying reliability for electronic board components. See presentation. Those who are interested in this subject were invited to attend a workshop scheduled for Thursday from 1 until 5 pm.

The VSO meeting was adjourned and a VITA 46-48 working group was convened.

Thursday, September 23, 2004

The meeting was called to order by Elwood Parsons at 8:30 AM.

Working Group Status Reports and Action Items

VITA 1.1 Revisions – no report

VITA 1.4, Live Insertion

John Rynearson presented the status of VITA 1.4. See presentation. Chris Eckert, SBS, proposed that references to the draft standard, VITA 1.4, Live Insertion, be removed from current standards. VITA 1.4 has never been completed and the working group is no longer active. However, VITA 1.4 is referenced in several draft and completed ANSI/VITA standards. After discussion, the membership voted to remove the reference to VITA 1.4 from current draft and completed ANSI/VITA standards. Removal from current ANSI/VITA standards will take place when these standards come up for their 5 year review. Draft standards that depend on reference material in VITA 1.4 should copy the material in VITA 1.4 into an appendix and refer to that appendix.

VITA 5.2, Raceway++, See Wednesday report.

VITA 17.2, 10 Gbit Serial FPDP

Ron Tauton, Curtiss-Wright,

VITA 20R1, CCPMC Revisions, See Wednesday report.

VITA 34, New Framework,

Frank Hom, APW, reported that he and Bob Downing have been busy with other matters, but hope to have a more detailed report in November.

VITA 41, VXS, See Wednesday report.

VITA 42, XMC, See Wednesday report.

VITA 46, VPX, See Wednesday report.

VITA 47, Requirements

This draft standard has been moved into the ANSI process. Ballot solicitation will begin shortly.

VITA 48, ERDI, See Wednesday report.

VITA 49, Digital IF, See Wednesday report.

VITA 50, Fluid Cooling – Best Practices, See Wednesday report.

Future Meetings

The next meeting is scheduled for November 17-18 at the Resort Suites in Scottsdale. Meetings for January and May 2005 will take place in Long Beach, CA in conjunction with Bus&Board 2005 and MEECC 2005. It is likely that the March, September, and November meetings will take place in Scottsdale and that the July meeting will not be in Scottsdale. Monitor the VSO webpage for confirmed meeting dates.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 AM.

Submitted by

/s/ John Rynearson, VSO Secretariat