PDF of this tutorialThe CompactPCI backplane acts as a seamless connection between all peripherals attached to it. The CPU and all other PCI–compatible chips appear as resources common to the entire system, while peripheral chips appear to system software as though they are co-located with chips on the CPU of a standard PC. This situation has several implications.
First, it means that no barrier exists to running software and processes that have evolved in the desktop world on CompactPCI systems; software can readily be ported from one platform to another, which represents an essential savings in time and money.
Second, provided a peripheral is CompactPCI compliant, it can be integrated into a CompactPCI platform. Integrators can simply choose devices from a vast array of vendors and plug them into their systems. In telecommunications applications, a wide variety of interfaces can be supported on the same platform, as they simply become resources within the same system and peripherals to the CompactPCI bus.
A further benefit is the fact that a wide range of operating systems can be supported within a CompactPCI system. Most operating systems that run on a PC will run on CompactPCI systems without further modification. Furthermore, developers can select the processor they require based on preference alone. This wide range of compatibility makes it a relatively straightforward task for developers to build CompactPCI systems or to transfer from one technology to another. It also confers a degree of future proofing to system design. Because all system components are peripherals of the CompactPCI bus, individual components may readily be replaced without causing disruption to the system as a whole.
Given the capabilities of this new technology, it is useful to review the applications to which it can be directed. As previously indicated, PC–based systems built around various kinds of network interfaces (e.g., E1, T1, asynchronous transfer mode [ATM], and IP) are already common. Despite their ever-growing sophistication, reliability, and cost effectiveness, such systems have not always been validated by certain sections of the industry. Conversely, other parties have cheerfully accepted the limitations of such systems. Developers have been positioned somewhere in between, trying to reconcile the demands of each community—on the one hand for cost-effective functionality and on the other for telco-grade reliability.
There is no doubt that PC solutions have answered many of the arguments against them, but objections will still be raised in some quarters. However, CompactPCI changes all of this. It offers the best of both worlds (i.e., the opportunity to develop complex systems in a cost-effective manner while addressing the issues of reliability that are raised against the PC world).
Developers have a tremendous opportunity to offer telco-grade equipment using technologies that have evolved from PCs. Rugged, fault-tolerant, reliable, and high-density applications can readily be implemented. CompactPCI may be anticipated in all areas of the telecommunications network, and as more and more networks are rolled out by more and more operators, cost considerations will surely force purchasers in the direction of systems designed using this new technology.
The first system to offer hot swap as a truly open standard, CompactPCI is indeed revolutionary.
