March 2007

Departments Publisher's Notebook Keeping the Tech Plate Spinning The Inside Track COTS Products Editorial The Stumble Before the Finish Line

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Features

Special Feature
PC/104 in the Military

PC/104 and EPIC Advance into Serial Territory
Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief

PC/104 and EPIC have become entrenched as solutions for rugged, small form-factor military applications. Now PCI Express and USB are spicing up their functionality.

Tech Recon
Switched Fabrics

Bandwidth and Cost Drive ATCA/MicroTCA Fabric Choice
Sivaprasad Raghavareddy, Technical Marketing MicroTCA, Embedded Communications Computing, Motorola

Increasing bandwidth demands are bringing ATCA and MicroTCA into military developers’ mindshare. Choosing a switch fabric flavor for those platforms calls for careful consideration.

Point-to-Point Serial Interconnects Edge Out Switched Schemes
Dave Barker, Vice President Market Development, VMETRO

High-speed serial interconnect schemes are vital in a lot of high-bandwidth military applications. While switched fabrics get a lot attention, simpler point-to-point interconnect schemes are a better choice for some situations.

System Development
Annual EOL Directory

RoHS Complicates Obsolescence Management, EOL
Ann R. Thryft, Senior Editor

The effects of RoHS compliance have been added to other component obsolescence problems, and are having some unforeseen effects on EOL.

Technology Focus
FPDP I&II and Serial FPDP Boards

FPDP and Serial FPDP Enlist for High Bandwidth Duties
Jeff Child, Editor-in-Chief

FPDP and its newer counterpart Serial FPDP offer a simple, low-overhead interface scheme for high-bandwidth, point-to-point data transfers.

Ethernet Switch Boards Roundup

Ethernet Switch Boards

FPDP I&II and Serial FPDP Boards Roundup