Platform supports latest backplane specification

The MXP3321 is the industry's first platform built to the recently ratified CompactPCI Serial Mesh Backplane (CSMB) specification.

The MXP3321 is the industry's first platform built to the recently ratified CompactPCI Serial Mesh Backplane (CSMB) specification.

Designated PICMG 2.20, CSMB is a point-to-point serial interconnect that can scale to more than 700Gbit/s that was proposed and pioneered by Motorola Computer Group.

Based on the core PICMG 2.x specifications that have been adopted throughout the telecommunications, enterprise and industrial markets, CSMB also provides parallel capability with the proposed AdvancedTCA PICMG 3.x specification.

The MXP3321 targets multiservice switching (MSS) applications such as multiprotocol routers, 3G wireless radio network controllers (RNCs) and media gateways.

For the first time, CSMB offers telecomms equipment manufacturers an industry standard means of connecting multiple networks featuring different types of traffic, including ATM, IP, Frame Relay, GPRS Tunnelling Protocol (GTP) and other wireless and proprietary protocols.

This enables developers to distribute traffic across the backplane of an MXP3321 in its native format - preserving quality of service (QoS), as conversion between protocols can degrade QoS, particularly between IP and ATM.

Because the communication between any two slots does not depend on what protocols may exist elsewhere in the platform, this architecture can be easily adapted to fit many different applications.

In an MXP3321, ATM, IP and Frame Relay packet processing could be occurring simultaneously with call processing and database management.

"Many companies building multiservice switches and related applications need a switch fabric now - one that is an industry standard - that meets their cost, footprint, and functionality requirements for OC-48 and below network edge applications", said Jeff Rhodes, Business Manager, Motorola Computer Group.

"The CSMB ratification is a vote of confidence that telecom manufacturers can get a PICMG specification switch fabric immediately, along with the partner ecosystem, processor and payload boards, and supporting software".

"We want to make a good idea even better, which is why we are leading other companies in this industry to leverage the PICMG 2.20 accomplishments into the great work being done with PICMG 3.x AdvancedTCA.

The mesh is the enabling technology.

This launch of a mesh-enabled MXP platform will provide deployable solutions in 2003", he continued.

The MXP3321 also supports the PICMG 2.16 CompactPCI Packet Switched Backplane specification, which provides up to 1Gbit/s per board of bandwidth.

This architecture is focused on IP transport and so is less suitable for the various QoS sensitive traffic requirements at the edge of the telecom network, where ATM and TDM are widely deployed.

The control architecture of the MXP platform supports up to 18 general purpose processor, DSP or network processor blades.

All members of Motorola's MXP family released to date have these features: 12U high, 21 slots - up to 18 payload slots, up to 50W per slot; system management over IPMI (PICMG 2.9); redundant alarm management cards; NEBS and ETSI compliant; and supported by Advanced HA Service for Linux shelf management and Linux or VxWorks blade software.

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