[April 25, 2013] Advantech unveils first product in 3U CompactPCI PlusIO range Tweet Apr 25, 2013 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- Advantech Co. Ltd., a manufacturer of industrial PC, embedded single board computers, and automation controllers & software, has unveiled the MIC-3328, the first product in its new 3U CompactPCI PlusIO range. According to the company, based on the Intel Core i7 3555LE, the MIC-3328 provides a performance upgrade and migration path from traditional CompactPCI, protecting current customers investments while giving them access to the high speed bus interfaces in the same system that hosts their legacy I/O boards. System architects can leverage the MIC-3328 in a staged technology upgrade approach, re-using hardware and software in hybrid CompactPCI PlusIO systems helping them to optimize their R&D budgets, meet their time to market objectives and mitigate risk. The MIC-3328 is designed for operations with up to 8GB DDR3 ECC memory soldered on board higher reliability, up to 32GB soldered flash for data logging and IntelAMT 8.0 including KVM for remote troubleshooting and recovery. The board fits in a standard 4HP slot and provides front panel connectivity to VGA, two USB 3.0 ports and two RJ-45 gigabit Ethernet ports. Legacy 32-bits 33MHz PCI is ensured by a PI7CX110 bridge connecting the board to the CompactPCI J1 connector while the new Ultra Hard Metric (UHM) J2 connector transports the high-speed serial signals from the onboard Mobile Intel QM77 Express Chipset to the CompactPCI Serial peripheral slots on the backplane or a rear transition module. High speeds signals such as PCI Express, Gigabit Ethernet, SATA 3 and USB, allow expansion from a growing base of third party boards in order to implement interfaces requiring higher bandwidth or to upgrade PCI components at the end of their lifecycle. The SATA signals on the backplane now allow for RAID systems to be built-in, while USB facilitates the integration of off the shelf wireless modules like WiFi or cellular network mezzanines for applications such as M2M, the company said. In addition a series of three extension modules (XTM) are available which expand onboard I/O in an 8HP form factor. For industrial display or workstation applications, a graphics-centric X routes two HDMI ports from the PCH for triple display support, adds 2 COM ports for data acquisition and control plus a PS/2 and 2.5 inches SSD. A second X offers additional expansion including Mini-PCIe, SATA 2.0-based Flash storage, USB 2.0, Dual COM ports and PS/2. For customers considering or deploying XMC mezzanine card technology, a third X is available which adds XMC expansion with front panel I/O connectivity for further high-speed extensions, the company reported. At RTS Embedded Systems, the MIC-3328 is being showcased in a Schroff 3U chassis with a CompactPCI PlusIO compliant backplane. The backplane makes use of the rear I/O pins available on CompactPCI system slots in order to support high-speed serial signals without interfering with legacy PCI signals. This allows interoperability with all other PICMG CompactPCI 2.xx standards which do not use these pins. The MIC-3328 is connected to the system slot which incorporates the UHM connector, allowing connectivity to existing 32-bit boards as well as supporting differential signals up to 5 Gb/s per pair. http://www.datamonitor.com Republication or redistribution, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent. Datamonitor shall not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]