Ask the Infrastructure Experts! Lesia's Q&A Corner
What is PICMG?
Most of us look at computer specifications and see a bunch of letter acronyms but never really ask ourselves what they mean. One in particular you see on a consistent basis is PICMG. What exactly is PICMG (pronounced pick-mig)?
PICMG stands for The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, which is a consortium of over 250 companies. PICMG, founded in 1994, originally formed to adapt PCI technology for use in high-performance telecommunications, military, and industrial computing applications. Its work now has grown to include newer technologies. PICMG currently focuses on developing and implementing specifications and guidelines for Open Standards based computer architectures from a wide variety of interconnects. An example of their work would be the PICMG 1.0 growth to the PICMG 1.3 solution.
Today’s world requires more “on demand” applications which can cause bandwidth limitations, while expanding your system. PICMG 1.0 Single Board Computer (SBC) and backplanes have long been the industry standard for their ability to support many different PCI and ISA expansion cards. As PCI cards are added to a system, the PCI bus becomes overloaded and the performance is diminished; a bottleneck effect starts slowly choking the systems potential. Due to this effect, the focus on user experience and requirements to display robust graphic intense applications and PCI graphics cards requires a more powerful card, which the system is not able to keep up with.
The PICMG 1.3 specifications solve all the bandwidth issues of the past, while continuing to support legacy buses. With the introduction of PICMG 1.3, the first major change is the SBC and backplane interface. The parallel bus interfaces are replaced with high-speed serial links. However, PICMG 1.3 is backwards compatible with PCI and PCI-X expansion cards, as well as PCI Express cards. In addition, the new standard offers advanced features such as IPMI, Serial ATA, USB, and Ethernet connections directly on the backplane.
The PICMG 1.3 specification replaces the PICMG 1.0 ISA / PCI bus combination with PCI Express and/or PCI/PCI-X interfaces to the backplane. PICMG 1.3 Buses PICMG 1.3 single board computers can support multiple PCI Express lanes on a backplane, including x1, x4, x8, or x16. The A and B connectors on the SBC are responsible for PCIe power and data to and from the SBC and backplane. In simpler terms, moves more information faster and more accurately for less bottleneck effects or slow systems.
The end result of PICMG 1.3 is Increased bandwidth and more advanced integrated features. The increased bandwidth will allow your system to grow and perform at peak performance without slowing down. You can fully populate your backplane with high speed PCIe, PCI, and PCI-X cards without worrying about bottlenecks in the busses. Integrated features on the backplane allow for easier maintenance when switching out SBC's. Essentially, the SBC becomes a processor board, as all IO and connections are able to go through the backplane. When installing a new SBC, the hardware abstraction layer in the OS does not need to worry about new hard drive controllers, they are all on the backplane, thus avoiding the “blue screen of death.” Lastly, the need for more advanced graphics capability is solved. The PICMG 1.3 standard supports the x16 PCI Express bus, which is the same bus that the video card industry uses. Now virtually any high-end PCI Express video card can be installed on a backplane with up to 18 other slots of various PCI and PCIe cards next to it.
So, next time you see those little letters, PICMG you will know that is a number of companies working to make your world communications & computers a much smoother place to work. For more information on PICMG and other computer terms please contact Lesia Bell, Infrastructure Specialist at lbell@insourcess.com.
Information gathered form www.picmg.org
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Ask the Infrastructure Experts! Lesia's Q&A Corner
What is PICMG?
Most of us look at computer specifications and see a bunch of letter acronyms but never really ask ourselves what they mean. One in particular you see on a consistent basis is PICMG. What exactly is PICMG (pronounced pick-mig)?
PICMG stands for The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group, which is a consortium of over 250 companies. PICMG, founded in 1994, originally formed to adapt PCI technology for use in high-performance telecommunications, military, and industrial computing applications. Its work now has grown to include newer technologies. PICMG currently focuses on developing and implementing specifications and guidelines for Open Standards based computer architectures from a wide variety of interconnects. An example of their work would be the PICMG 1.0 growth to the PICMG 1.3 solution.
Today’s world requires more “on demand” applications which can cause bandwidth limitations, while expanding your system. PICMG 1.0 Single Board Computer (SBC) and backplanes have long been the industry standard for their ability to support many different PCI and ISA expansion cards. As PCI cards are added to a system, the PCI bus becomes overloaded and the performance is diminished; a bottleneck effect starts slowly choking the systems potential. Due to this effect, the focus on user experience and requirements to display robust graphic intense applications and PCI graphics cards requires a more powerful card, which the system is not able to keep up with.
The PICMG 1.3 specifications solve all the bandwidth issues of the past, while continuing to support legacy buses. With the introduction of PICMG 1.3, the first major change is the SBC and backplane interface. The parallel bus interfaces are replaced with high-speed serial links. However, PICMG 1.3 is backwards compatible with PCI and PCI-X expansion cards, as well as PCI Express cards. In addition, the new standard offers advanced features such as IPMI, Serial ATA, USB, and Ethernet connections directly on the backplane.
The PICMG 1.3 specification replaces the PICMG 1.0 ISA / PCI bus combination with PCI Express and/or PCI/PCI-X interfaces to the backplane. PICMG 1.3 Buses PICMG 1.3 single board computers can support multiple PCI Express lanes on a backplane, including x1, x4, x8, or x16. The A and B connectors on the SBC are responsible for PCIe power and data to and from the SBC and backplane. In simpler terms, moves more information faster and more accurately for less bottleneck effects or slow systems.
The end result of PICMG 1.3 is Increased bandwidth and more advanced integrated features. The increased bandwidth will allow your system to grow and perform at peak performance without slowing down. You can fully populate your backplane with high speed PCIe, PCI, and PCI-X cards without worrying about bottlenecks in the busses. Integrated features on the backplane allow for easier maintenance when switching out SBC's. Essentially, the SBC becomes a processor board, as all IO and connections are able to go through the backplane. When installing a new SBC, the hardware abstraction layer in the OS does not need to worry about new hard drive controllers, they are all on the backplane, thus avoiding the “blue screen of death.” Lastly, the need for more advanced graphics capability is solved. The PICMG 1.3 standard supports the x16 PCI Express bus, which is the same bus that the video card industry uses. Now virtually any high-end PCI Express video card can be installed on a backplane with up to 18 other slots of various PCI and PCIe cards next to it.
So, next time you see those little letters, PICMG you will know that is a number of companies working to make your world communications & computers a much smoother place to work. For more information on PICMG and other computer terms please contact Lesia Bell, Infrastructure Specialist at lbell@insourcess.com.
Information gathered form www.picmg.org
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