June 2000

BY CHRIS DONNER

And as the chorus of that Scandal song The Warrior says, "Heart to heart you win, if you survive."

Survival is not all that makes a successful application (it has to "talk, talk, talk to me"), but it is certainly a prerequisite for greater successes in the competitive voice market. And the rapid advances in silicon technology are creating faster systems that developers want to use to give them more system power for handling that pesky portion of data traffic that makes up the human voice.

But do you trust your mission-critical voice (or your customer's mission-critical voice) to a consumer-quality motherboard? A motherboard with an average production life of six months or so? I suppose you could. And you could buy your favorite band's hits on a low-quality audio cassette, too. Of course, that cassette will eventually be eaten by your deck, and your application will eventually fail to deliver, but that's a risk you're willing to take, right?

Didn't think so. Thus, the rise of the CD over the cassette. And thus, the SBC. So take a look at what an industrial-quality system has to offer: speed, reliability, a rugged form factor, a longer production life. Instead of worrying about your application on such a basic level, wouldn't it feel better to know for sure? After all, at the end of the day, you want to be singing along with Patty Smyth as she says, "Victory is mine..."

Force Computers' CPCI-540 Family
Force's CPCI-540 family of SPARC-based, cPCI computers features Force's SENTINEL universal PCI-to-PCI bridge for building CompactPCI systems with multiple CPUs in a single chassis. The CPCI-540 also provides a reliable platform for Solaris-based applications requiring multi-link IP networking capability and redundant SCSI interfaces to build highly available clusters and embedded systems. "The CPCI-540 is the first platform to create SPARC CPU clusters for scalable performance, reliability, and availability in a single CompactPCI system," said Michael Schaepers, product manager for Force. The CPCI-540 family comes in one-, two-, and three-slot configurations with up to three Ultra SCSI controllers, seven 100BaseT Ethernet controllers, and 1024 MB DRAM. The processor is a second generation UltraSPARC-IIi at 440 MHz. The CPCI-540 family list price starts at $4,000 for single units, with competitive pricing for volume purchases. It is currently shipping under Force's Early Access Unit program, with volume shipments scheduled for Q4 2000.

Trenton Technology's CompactPCI SBC
Trenton's CPBI single board computer represents their first move into the CompactPCI market, and it's a definitive move. The CPBI is available with either Intel's Pentium III processor at up to 850 MHz or with a Celeron processor at up to 600 MHz. The CPBI features the 440BX AGPset, which support the system/memory bus at 66MHz and 100MHz, providing an ultra-high speed bandwidth path for transferring data between main memory/chipset and the microprocessor. The CPBI features dual PCI EDIE Ultra ATA/33 interfaces, allowing synchronous DMA mode transfers up to 33Mbps, and an Ultra2 SCSI interface bursts data to the host at full host speeds. Other features include dual Intel 82559 10/100BaseT Ethernet interfaces and an AGP SVGA video interface with 4MB of display memory. The Trenton RTMM110 rear I/O transition module supports EIDE, SCSI, floppy, and USB1 ports. A system hardware monitor provides monitoring of system voltages, temperature, and fan speed.

Advantech's MIC-3376 cPCI SBC
Advantech Technologies' MIC-3376 CompactPCI SBC packs extensive features into a compact 6U by 2-slot package, for use in applications such as VoIP servers, ACDs, PC-PBXs, ACDs, etc. The MIC-3376 takes advantage of the latest Pentium III processors up to 600 MHz, and the inclusion of the Intel 440BX enhances performance with a 100 MHz front side bus and 66/100 MHz bus speeds. The MIC-3376's CPU heat sink requires no CPU fan and cools the chip using only the normal air flow, allowing the board to fit in space only two slots wide. Also the design has all I/O connections on the front panel for easier access, although an optional rear transition board can be used for a rear connection of the keyboard, mouse, and a serial port. The SBC is priced as low as $1,500, and OEM volume discounts are available.

Teknor PCI-P3S440BX For Mission-Critical Apps
Teknor's most recent SBC is the PCI-P3S440BX, designed to manage the high throughput demands of near-real-time, mission-critical applications. The PCI-P3S440BX uses Intel's Pentium III 600 MHz processor and 440BX chipset in an FC-PGA package for a low profile, high performance SBC aimed at developers in the communications server and telecommunications market. The board offers up to 768 MB SDRAM and a 10/100 BaseT Ethernet port, with an optional Ultra Fast/Wide SCSI-3 controller.

Teknor cPCI-DXS64 System Processor
Teknor's cPCI-DXS64 is a 6U, high availability, CompactPCI system processor aimed at the high performance server market, for use in call processing, CTI, and Internet/intranet applications. The cPCI-DXS64 is built on two Pentium III 600 MHz SMP processors, up to 2 GB of Direct Rambus memory, and 64-bit bus support. It also includes the Intel 840 chipset with a 133 MHz front side bus, for high bandwidth requirements. "The cPCI-DXS64 feature-set covers key server-class application requirements and makes it a unique and compelling CompactPCI 6U dual-slot system processor for the server market," said Phillipe Muraglia, product marketing director, CompactPCI at Teknor. The cPCI-DXS64 lists at $3,700.

RadiSys SF810 Micro NLX Motherboard
In September 1999, RadiSys introduced its family of motherboards, with an eye toward serving the needs of systems designers. "We are starting to see a divergence of the needs of commercial and embedded motherboard users, with a trend away from some legacy features such as ISA support on commercial motherboards," said Peter Mitchell, marketing director of RadiSys's Embedded Motherboard Operation. The SF810 is an ideal solution for embedded applications in the telecom, datacom, and other highly demanding markets. The SF810 micro NLX is a small form factor motherboard based on the Intel 810 embedded chipset. The SF810 has a PCA370 processor socket for use with Intel Celeron and Pentium III processors, and two SDRAM sockets supporting a maximum of 512 MB SDRAM.

ITOX Meets Continuing ISA Needs For Industrial Apps
The new industrial PC motherboards from ITOX have been designed to meet the growing ISA interface needs of computer telephony systems and other industrial PC applications in the wake of PC99 mandates. The ITOX GCB60-BX and GCB50-BX industrial PC motherboards combine an Intel Celeron processor and the Intel BX chipset. The front side bus of both motherboards operates up to 100MHz and is produced under strict revision control guidelines to assure users of a long and stable market life. ITOX plans to keep the board in production for at least three years.

Chris Donner is managing editor of Communications Solutions magazine.