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VDC Finds Passive Backplane Buses Vary Considerably by Application

2/11/2004 - A new study by Venture Development Corporation finds that the primary buses used in passive backplane ruggedized/industrial computer systems vary considerably by application markets. The expected trends in usage also vary.

• Defense & Aerospace - VME architecture is used on the majority of shipments for defense & aerospace applications. This is expected to continue through 2006, although at lower shares. As long as the technical and performance advantages offered by competing architectures can be duplicated or imitated within VME, there is little incentive for the large defense & aerospace VME customer base to abandon its investment.
• Communications - CompactPCI and VME accounted for the largest shipment shares for communication applications in 2003. Significant share declines for both are expected over the forecast period as demand grows for the more advanced CompactPCI types (PICMG 2.16-Packet Switching Backplane, 2.17-StarFabric, 2.18-RapidIO, and 2.20-Serial Mesh), and for ATCA (PICMG 3.x Advanced TCA serial interconnect architectures).
• Medical, Laboratory & Scientific - PCI and VME are the most used buses in these applications. The most significant change expected over the forecast period is a decline in the shipment share of computer systems using the VME bus. These are principally used in the more performance-demanding applications such as for medical imaging. Displacement of VME, in these and other applications, is expected by advanced CompactPCI (PICMG 2.16 thru 2.20), and ATCA (PICMG) 3.x Advanced TCA serial interconnect architecture) types.
• Energy, Utilities & Transportation Infrastructure - Within the Energy/Utility/Transportation Infrastructure markets, share gains are forecast for CompactPCI in its basic and more advanced forms (PICMG 2.16 thru 2.20). Shipment shares also are expected to begin and to grow for ATCA (PICMG) 3.x Advanced TCA serial interconnect architecture) types, and for ePCI (PCI Express). These trends are principally for applications requiring higher bandwidths.
• Industrial Automation Control & Instrumentation - The share of systems using the PCI bus is expected to increase with a decline in the share using the PCI/ISA (PICMG) Hybrid bus. The trend is to less need for the Hybrid bus architecture, as more board offerings become available with the PCI bus, and fewer with ISA.

About VDC
Founded in 1971, VDC is a technology market research and consulting firm that specializes in industrial and commercial electronics, computing, communications, software and power systems markets.

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