Crystal Cube Consulting

Why MicroTCA Will Be Huge

MicroTCA : A Design Supporting Smaller Scale, Less Powerful, and Price Sensitive Applications.

Abstract

The proposed MicroTCA architecture, which can directly take advantage of AMC modules without the necessity of a carrier board, may fill a need for Telecom applications that do not warrant the size and cost of a complete ATCA system. As a matter of fact, the architecture could go beyond telecom applications, addressing any high-performance embedded application. For example, avionics and automotive hardware applications are always looking for footprint reductions within their perspective spaces and a compact MicroTCA-based answer might provide a lower-cost solution (using a wide array of commercially available AMC products) at a higher performance to weight and size advantage than existing hardware applications.

The benefit of a standardized shelf for enterprise applications will continue to grow during 2005 and beyond. MicroTCA platform technology can benefit many types of applications that don’t need the same high level of performance and through put that ATCA offers. The MicroTCA specification is an answer to this market opportunity. By the 1^st quarter of 2006, about half a year from now MicroTCA will have decided on the best mechanical design to use in offering alternative solutions.

MicroTCA is designed to support smaller scale, less powerful, price sensitive applications and will reuse the technology described in the proposed Advanced Mezzanine Card (AMC) specification. MicroTCA will interconnect a number of the AMC modules with a backplane. Based on current specifications, MicroTCA will provide a backplane topology of star, dual star, and mesh with five nines to six nines reliability. Currently the mechanical designs being reviewed include the more typical MicroTCA shelf at 4U x 19 inches x 300 mm, and the cube 8 inches (200 mm) on a side.

Shelf and cube designs accommodate fabric boards or a variety of single and double full and half height AMC modules. Both shelf and cube configurations support the standard 300 mm equipment depth and fit size constraints found in outside plant and pole-mounted applications.

In the standards spectrum, based on total system or backplane bandwidth, MicroTCA occupies the 1 Gbps to 40 Gbps range, overlapping AdvancedTCA dual star in the 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps range. MicroTCA provides improved cost/performance benefits over AdvancedTCA dual star in the range of OC-12 toOC-48.

The MicroTCA specification will support CPUs, DSPs, NPs, optics, storage, and RF applications. Potential applications include: Modular Telco line cards Next generation DLCs / Remote DSLAMs Fiber to the curb optical network concentrators Wi-Fi and WiMAX radio devices Micro basestations Ethernet hubs Small-scale service nodes Possible enterprise applications include workgroup routers, Ethernet hubs, firewall bricks, modular servers, wireless access devices, SAN storage boxes, optical transport, and Homeland Security devices. Sophisticated consumer electronics products also represent a potential market for this technology.

We believe that a modular, open systems approach is a necessity for restricted applications where ATCA is not a good fit. However, it is absolutely a must for the MicroTCA design to be complimentary to ATCA platforms. Part of the marketing strategy has to ensure that start-up costs are reduced for mid-to-low-end systems. Also using standard AMC design will go a long way in ensuring the success of the MicroTCA offering.

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Figures

Executive Summary

Methodology

Technical Overview

Special Interest & Standards Groups

PICMG 3.0 - 3.5

AMC.0 - AMC.4

MicroTCA Version 1.0 (Q2 2006)

Shelf Configurations

Module Sizing

Power Requirements

Virtual Carrier Concept

IPMI Management

MicroTCA timeline (2004 - 2007)

MicroTCA Market Overview

Telecom Applications

Enterprise Applications

MicroTCA Five-Year Revenue Forecast

Total Available Market (TAM) in Billions 2005 - 2010

MicroTCA Pricing and Five-Year Forecast 2005 - 2010

AMC Volume Five-Year Forecast in ATCA / µTCA and Proprietary Platforms

MicroTCA Standards Adoption time line (2004 - 2007)

The Next Few Years

Appendix A Major Participating Vendors

Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturers

Chip Manufacturers

Suppliers

Other Reports from Crystal Cube Consulting

We offer several reports on AdvancedTCA and AMC, which are the precursors to the next generation of open system platforms, such as with, the much-anticipated MicroTCA. Our reports include profiles of the major TEMs, chip providers, and module suppliers, and a five-year forecast of growth and unit shipments for the major application areas. It predicts a $14 billion market for AMC’s and a 42 billion dollar market for ATCA by year-end 2009.