MicroTCA Specification Approved by PICMG

WAKEFIELD, Mass., July 24th, 2006. The PICMG executive membership has ratified the PICMG MTCA.0 Specification, known as MicroTCA. This eagerly awaited specification was developed over 18 months with the participation of over ninety five companies.

The MicroTCA specification defines systems that accommodate plug in cards complying with the successful Advanced Mezzanine Card specification. These cards, which were originally designed as daughter boards, plug directly into a MicroTCA system backplane, thus extending the market for AdvancedMC cards and providing an existing supplier base for MicroTCA. The specification incorporates the system management and fabric features from AdvancedTCA into platform that is scalable from small, cost effective systems to highly available redundant systems. MicroTCA brings the robustness and reliability of the AdvancedTCA approach to market segments requiring a small footprint such as access and edge applications in telecom networks. It may well extend into other applications including medical, industrial control and military. Mike Franco of Signal Stream Technologies, who chaired the MicroTCA subcommittee, said, “This team of authors, editors, officers and committee members has done an extraordinary job. We can all be proud of quality of the MicroTCA Specification.”

“MicroTCA extends PICMG's coverage of Telecom and wirelessinfrastructure equipment” according to Joe Pavlat, President of PICMG, “PICMG now has open specifications that can be used to build modular equipment from the edge to the core of the network, as well as in other market segments,” he added. The MicroTCA specification will be distributed free to PICMG members and is available for purchase by non-members. More information, including product listings can be found at the PICMG web site at www.picmg.org.

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.