Even four decades after its introduction, VME has proven its staying power and usefulness, even as the evolution of newer standards for critical embedded systems. Why do you think this is?

Nigel Forrester, Director of Product Strategy, Concurrent Technologies

After its introduction, VME was prevalent across industrial, semiconductor, transportation, physics, medical and defense markets. This was because it was easy to construct robust and reliable solutions using VME boards with lots of I/O connectivity.

Many applications and markets require significant application performance upgrades regularly and will have transitioned to use more modern standards.  For example, a current SOSA aligned 3U VPX plug in card can achieve bandwidths on the backplane that are orders of magnitude faster than can be achieved with the 64bit wide 66MHz VME64 interface. 

However, there are a surprising number of cases particularly in the defense market, that just want to extend the life of their existing equipment. For those systems that were based on VME, the robustness and simplicity of the standard makes it easy to implement technology insertions, replacing boards approaching end of life with newer alternatives. This saves time and cost as it typically requires minor requalification compared to re-engineering and qualify a functionally equivalent system based on more recent standards. Some vendors of VME boards have added features like byte swapping to ease the transition from legacy PowerPC to Intel x86 based solutions and added capabilities required to keep these systems compliant with today’s mandatory security requirements.

The last 2023 VITA market survey showed a slightly declining but still significant market for VME boards and systems. Concurrent is looking to satisfy that need and continues to introduce long life VME boards.

Arlin Niernberger, Director of Engineering Services, GDCA, Inc

VME has lasted because it works. It may not be flashy by today’s standards, but it’s reliable, well-understood, and embedded in some of the most critical systems still in operation.

In aerospace and defense, systems are often expected to perform for 30–50 years. Once a platform is fully qualified, even small changes can trigger extensive revalidation across hardware, software, and environmental certs. That makes stability more important than speed or modern features.

VME’s parallel bus architecture (IEEE 1014), 6U Eurocard form factor, and robust backplane design offers that stability. The bus structure supports deterministic performance, which is still crucial for timing-sensitive applications. Engineers know how VME behaves under load, how it handles interruptions, and how it holds up in real-world environments.

Newer standards offer higher bandwidth and more flexible protocols, but those gains come at a cost—especially in systems where I/O timing, thermal tolerances, and EMI constraints are tightly tuned. Retrofitting a new architecture often means reengineering more than just the board.

At this point, VME and sustainment go hand in hand. Supporting VME means supporting long-life platforms without introducing unnecessary risk. That includes dealing with end-of-life ASICs, aging mezzanine cards, and incomplete documentation—but the tradeoff is a system that stays operational and trustworthy.

It’s not about resisting innovation. It’s about knowing when to preserve what already works and expanding upon it using newer technologies.

Dave Caserza, Manager, Embedded Computing Architects, Elma Electronic

Even after forty years, VME has demonstrated remarkable resilience and utility, maintaining its relevance in critical embedded systems despite the emergence of newer standards. This longevity can be traced to several key factors rooted in both its technical capabilities and historical context.

When VME was first introduced in the 1980s, industries were in search of robust, high-performance computing solutions that could adapt to a variety of demanding environments. VME’s modular design provided the flexibility needed for applications across medical imaging, communications, semiconductor manufacturing, industrial controls, and beyond. The advent of the single board computer further increased the platform’s appeal by enabling greater integration and ease of use.

At the same time, the U.S. defense sector underwent a major shift with the implementation of the Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS) initiative. Before this, defense systems were almost entirely custom-built—every circuit board, connection scheme, and enclosure was designed from scratch. The COTS movement encouraged the adoption of standardized, commercially available products, and there was initial resistance from established companies invested in custom solutions. However, once engineers learned how to ruggedize VME for military and aerospace applications, it quickly became an attractive and reliable option for these sectors.

As VME’s reputation grew, so did its ecosystem. A vast array of suppliers began offering specialized VME boards, allowing organizations to mix and match components for their unique needs. This ecosystem enabled new projects to build upon proven architectures, often reusing existing designs and accelerating development timelines.

One of the main reasons VME systems have persisted even as newer technologies emerged is the significant investment organizations have made in software and system validation. The modularity of VME makes upgrades and repairs straightforward, but replacing entire systems is costly and risky—especially for industries like medical imaging, semiconductor processing, and radar, where VME-based machines continue to perform reliably. The old age, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” applies perfectly here.

While VME is rarely chosen for brand-new designs today, hundreds of thousands of VME-based systems remain in service worldwide. In many cases, the expense and complexity of migrating to new platforms far outweigh the benefits, especially when the existing systems continue to meet performance requirements. As a result, production and maintenance of VME systems persist in many sectors, underscoring its enduring legacy in embedded computing.