Standardized Chassis Help Thaw the CapEx Ice Age

SUMMARY

Standardized Chassis – essentially those based on the PICMG standards– have been gaining a lot of attention in the last few years, from theserendipitous coincidence of the R&D budgets for most NEPs being slashed– some by as much as 60%. While a technologically impressive standardizedchassis was being introduced, we have seen a true ground swell around the PICMGchassis.

Not only are most silicon vendors strongly supporting the effort, but most ofthe world' s largest NEPs are also enthusiastic about how these chassis can helpthem role out product faster and with lower development costs, while not givingup any of their true value-added features which differeciate them from theircompetition.

As such, while standardized chassis have been in existence for almost adecade, the next two years should see more growth than the last decade. Thisapparent rapid growth has been seen time and time again when broad industrysupport develops around something that was simply an interesting technology afew years prior.

While dozens of billions of dollars will be shipped in standardized chassisby 2008, it will still only represent a fraction of the hundreds of billions ofdollars available in the CapEx market. However, these PICMG chassis are expectedto help all members of the food chain, and will, therefore, show strong growthfor the foreseeable future. PICMG-based blade servers are also projected to growrapidly, exceeding a billion dollars by 2008.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary

Methodology & Definitions

Introduction

• Technical Overview
• Market Overview
• Forecasts

Technical Overview

• Network Equipment Building Standards (NEBS)
• Standardized Chassis
  • VMEbus
  • CompactPCI
    • CompactPCI Packet Switching Backplane
    • CompactPCI Serial Mesh Backplane
  • AdvancedTCA
    • Backplane Options
    • Mezzanine Cards
    • Rear Transition Modules
  • CompactTCA
• Which Chassis Will Win?
• Carrier-Grade Servers

Market Overview

• From a Chipmaker's Perspective
• From a NEP's Perspective
• From a Service Provider's Perspective
• The Proprietary Disadvantage

Standardized Chassis Forecast

List of Tables

Table 1. Partial List of Topics Covered by the NEBS Criteria

Table 2. A Comparison of the Key Dimensions for PICMG 3.0 versus 2.0

Table 3. Aggregate Backplane Capacities for a Full Mesh AdvancedTCABackplane

Table 4. Aggregate Backplane Capacities for a Dual Star AdvancedTCABackplane

Table 5. Future Capacities for the AdvancedTCA Due to SerDes Improvements

Table 6. Partial List of Operating Systems found on Telco Servers

Table 7. Hourly, Full-Duplex Data Consumption Rates for Popular OnlineActivities

Table 8. Standardized Chassis Revenue Forecast, 2003 - 2008 ($M)

Table 9. Standardized Chassis Revenue Forecast, 2003 - 2008 ($M)

Table 10. Standardized Chassis Revenue Forecast, 2003 - 2008 ($M)

Table 11. PICMG-Based TBS Forecast, 2003 - 2008 (units, $, and $M)

List of Figures

Figure 1. Revenue Forecast for the Standardized Chassis Market ($B)

Figure 2. Logical Depiction of the CompactPCI Packet Switch Backplane (PICMG2.16)

Figure 3. Logical Depiction of the CompactPCI Serial Mesh Backplane (PICMG2.20)

Figure 4. A Pictorial Comparison of the Key Differences between PICMG 3.0and 2.0

Figure 5. Isometric Drawing of the AdvancedTCA (PICMG 3.0) with KeyDimensions

Figure 6. Logical Depiction of GigE Mesh Backplane for the AdvancedTCA

Figure 7. Logical Depiction of a Dual Star Switch Backplane for theAdvancedTCA

Figure 8. Physical and Logical Layout of a Backplane Connector for theAdvancedTCA

Figure 9. All of Zone 2 Connectors for the AdvancedTCA Backplane

Figure 10. Graphical Depiction of How the AMCs and RTMs Relate to theAdvancedTCA

igure 11. How to Enhance Modularity of the AdvancedTCA with AMCs and RTMs

Figure 12. An Example of How TBSs Can Reduce OpEx and Increase Revenues