Product category:
Embedded Computing and Control
News Release from: Ampro Computers
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 08 September 2005
New specification marries EPIC with PCI
Express
The EPIC Express specification adds high-bandwidth PCI Express I/O expansion to EPIC form factor SBCs without sacrificing support for legacy PC I/O.
Five leading embedded SBC manufacturers have collaborated in the publication of the EPIC Express specification, which adds high-bandwidth PCI Express I/O expansion to EPIC form factor SBCs without sacrificing support for legacy PC I/O The specification defines the EPIC SBC interface as well as the mechanical layout, connectors and pin definitions for EPIC Express I/O expansion cards
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 28 Sep 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The PCI Express interface itself consists of a high performance connector and design rules to support up to four EPIC Express I/O expansion cards with up to six total PCI Express devices in a unique stacking configuration.
The specification accomplishes this without terminating support for legacy PC devices and buses that are used pervasively in embedded applications.
"The industry buzz about PCI Express, coupled with the removal of legacy I/O from the desktop PC platform, has created a dilemma for hundreds of embedded system manufacturers and integrators who use serial ports, parallel ports, floppy drives, EIDE storage devices and custom I/O", said Eric Gulliksen, Market Analyst at Venture Development Corporation (VDC).
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"EPIC Express is the only PCI Express compatible standard to date that supports all of these legacy devices while paving the way to the high-speed serial I/O of the future".
"EPIC Express should also provide an example for others to consider in the development of similar standards".
"EPIC includes onboard outside-world or pin-header I/O connectors, which simplifies cabling and saves cost", said Rick Lehrbaum, Executive Editor of the LinuxDevices.com and WindowsForDevices.com websites.
"In that sense, EPIC differs from 'computer-on-module' approaches that don't have onboard I/O connectors and require custom carrier boards for use".
"EPIC Express follows in the footsteps of EPIC, while cleverly letting PCI Express and legacy ISAbus I/O modules coexist within a stack, and, most importantly to my readers, it preserves the software and driver compatibility of the legacy devices".
The original EPIC (Embedded Platform for Industrial Computing) specification was released in early 2004.
At the time of its release, the developers committed to an update that would add high bandwidth serial I/O bus support.
The EPIC Express specification announced today is the realisation of that commitment.
The original EPIC specification is now administered by the PC/104 Embedded Consortium and the developers of EPIC Express intend to submit the new specification to the consortium by the end of 2005.
EPIC compatible SBCs are supplied by over a dozen manufacturers today and the form factor is expected to dominate the small form factor SBC market by the end of the decade.
The creators of EPIC Express have formed this unique architecture so that system OEMs can gradually upgrade systems toward the fast serial interfaces of the future, leveraging proven off-the-shelf modules to mitigate risks.
Available at www.epic-express.org, the specification is published as an open standard by VersaLogic Corp, Micro/sys, Octagon Systems, WinSystems and Ampro Computers, all pioneers and innovators in standards-based embedded computing.
The five companies expect the specification and its design rules will create an ecosystem of off-the-shelf I/O expansion modules.
The clean migration from a hardware and software standpoint is a key benefit of the EPIC Express specification, thereby providing a "bridge to the future".
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