(EMAILWIRE.COM, November 14, 2005 ) WAKEFIELD, Mass. -– PICMG® has released the latest extension to the Advanced Mezzanine Card™ (AMC) specification, published in February 2005. AMC.3 layers Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), Serial ATA (SATA) and Fibre Channel interfaces for storage devices on the base AMC.0 specification. AdvancedMC™ is the first entirely new open mezzanine standard to be developed in more than a decade. AdvancedMC cards are switch fabric-based, hot-swappable, and fully managed.

The AdvancedMC series of specifications follows the numbering pattern set by AdvancedTCA®, in which AMC.0 creates the foundation for the mezzanine cards with definition of form factor, connector, power and thermal characteristics, management, clocking and base fabric. AMC.1 maps PCI-Express onto the extended fabric interface; AMC.3 now maps coexisting SAS, SATA and Fibre Channel instead. Carrier cards can determine the type of interface required from the system management functions required by the base specification.

“The addition of storage interfaces to AMC opens up a new set of possibilities for high-density computing environments. Storage can now be an integral part of the network and treated as a hot-swap component just like compute power and network connections” said Larry Lamers of Adaptec, who chaired the AMC.3 subcommittee. He added, “The choice of storage interfaces in AMC.3 opens the architecture to many applications from telecom to military, as well as enterprise.”

While AdvancedMC was developed to be compatible with the AdvancedTCA architecture, AdvancedMC modules will be used in conjunction with other platform architectures, including some unique new systems that will consist exclusively of AdvancedMC modules. As its predecessors have shown, good mezzanine cards will be used wherever they can fit, which will encompass a wide range of carrier form factors and applications.

Within PICMG, efforts are already underway to utilize AdvancedMC modules in new ways, including MicroTCA™, in which AdvancedMC cards plug directly into a backplane, creating physically small but very powerful systems.

The PICMG website now includes a product directory where manufacturers can list their AdvancedMC product offerings. These product listings can be viewed at www.picmg.org/productlistings.stm. Copies of the complete specifications are available to PICMG members and can be purchased by non-members from PICMG. More information on AdvancedMC and other PICMG developments is available at www.picmg.org/picmgnewinitiatives.stm.

About PICMG
Founded in 1994 as the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, PICMG is a consortium of over 400 companies that collaboratively develops open specifications for high performance telecommunications and industrial computing applications. The members of the consortium have a long history of developing and using leading edge products for these industries.
For information about PICMG membership, or to find out how to obtain PICMG specifications, visit the PICMG website at www.picmg.org or call PICMG headquarters at (781) 246-9318.
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PICMG, CompactPCI, and AdvancedTCA are registered trademarks of the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group. AdvancedMC is a trademark of PICMG. PCI Express is a trademark of the PCI SIG. Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

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