Editorial 2Q98
Avoid the VME/CompactPCI battle by using mezzanine technology !
his magazine on SBC's and mezzanines has a clear mission. From the beginning in a project, one should consciously investigate whether he should make or buy the hardware. Often people "invent" lots of arguments why they should not buy. The most current arguments against the buy option are:
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The board with the functions I need, is not available
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My I/O is very special
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The board is available, but additional functions I don't need make it too expensive.
Mostly, people are first arguing for either VME or CompactPCI (CPCI). This
is the wrong approach, though. You can avoid this religious war between VME
and CPCI by opting for mezzanine technology - the theme of the current issue.
Later this year, in the fourth quarter issue on "New Bus Technologies" this
VME-CPCI battlefield will be further explored.
The mezzanine or piggyback technology is old. However, only recently it has
become popular due to a non-proprietary approach. Standards like IP, PMC,
M-Modules showed up. Nowadays, you buy any type of carrier board, and you
personalise your system with mezzanine modules.
Going for mezzanine technology is working towards an independent carrier board-approach.
In that perspective, IP and PMC have become the winners in the mezzanine world, which is clearly illustrated by recent market figures from VDC. PC-MIP which was announced last September and which also featured in this magazine still has a long way to go to become as popular. You will read more on the mezzanine success story in the tutorial on Modular Bus Systems.
From the software side, the major news comes from Windows CE again.
On Embedded Systems East, not only Microsoft officially announced a Windows
CE 3.0 hard real-time for 1999, but we also see common RTOS vendors
(see
the spotlight on Microtec in the Real-Time Gazette) jumping on the Windows
CE train!
CE and more generally, the use of Windows technology in real-time systems
have become a major topic today. You may all be looking forward to
our third
quarter issue, which is fully dedicated to this theme and which will
put Windows CE and the Windows NT Real-Time Extensions in the right perspective
in the dedicated system's market.
Dr Martin Timmerman