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Technology developments and traffic
demands are transforming the dynamics
of the telecom market. The virtual explosion
of bandwidth in local-area networks
(LANs), the deployment of Gigabit
Ethernet, and the growth of dense wave
division multiplexing (DWDM) in longhaul
wide area networks (WAN) have all
fueled the demand for servicing greater
amounts of data traffic.
Today, it is believed that 80% of all
telecommunications traffic is data traffic.
Although this percentage is expected to
rise, service providers continue to remain
motivated to support legacy voice services,
as this fundamental revenue-bearing service
provides a significant base for carriers to
build out their new service models. At the
same time, service providers are deploying
a wide range of new technologies to capitalize
on new revenue opportunities.
Despite the focus on new or modified
Layer 2 technologies (such as Ethernet
over SONET [EOS], Resilient Packet
Ring [RPR], Metro Ethernet Forum
[MEF], and a host of others) that address
legacy voice support as well as up-and-coming
data services, challenges arise in
the development of the platforms themselves.
Aggressive business models continue
to push for a continued model of
lower-cost-per-megabit bandwidth.
The “data-friendly” Layer 2 technologies
have come a long way in reducing data
transport costs in some of the existing
infrastructures. However, beyond those
savings, achieving additional cost reductions
has forced equipment providers to
rethink their basic platform architectures.
A clear trend in the industry is the
adoption of standard technologies over custom
wherever possible. This trend is further
exacerbated by the recent economic
downturn – not only in the telecom market,
but across almost every infrastructure
market, forcing top-tier equipment
providers to downsize and employ outsourced
technologies. Furthermore, issues
such as reduced margins, increased technology
costs, rapid hardware obsolescence,
and high competition have given even
greater weight to a standards-based model.
Next-generation platform product
development has been limited in the area of
I/O signaling performance, more specifically
at the point where the majority of
traffic is aggregated in the backplane. The
continuous scaling of system bandwidth is
exceeding the capabilities of traditional
backplane signaling technologies and architectures,
in addition to challenging current
power technologies and cooling systems.
The combination of these technical and
economic factors has given rise to the definition
of an industry standard for board
and shelf, optimized to address the needs of
next-generation infrastructure applications.
ATCA
In 2001, experts from more than 600
industries and companies collaborated to
define a standardized platform that could
address the challenges of future applications.
This lead to the formation of a consortium
under the PCI Industrial Computer
Manufacturers Group (PICMG™).
Previously, the consortium was responsible
for the definition of PICMG 2, also known
as the CompactPCI standard.
From the PICMG 3 specification, the
next-generation platform dubbed ATCA™
(Advanced Telecom Compute Architecture)
addresses the requirements of applications
that could not be served by the CompactPCI
standard or proprietary solutions.
Finalized in January 2003, the ATCA
standard has become one of the most rapidly
adopted open specifications in the history
of PICMG. ATCA’s prime objective is to
provide the benefits of a standardized yet
scalable platform to address the key challenges
of next-generation systems, with sufficient
flexibility to be used across a broad
class of applications without imposing constraints
that might impact product differentiation.
A key objective was that the
platform could be employed in carriergrade
telecommunication applications,
with support for such features as Network
Equipment Building Specification (NEBS),
European Telecommunications Standards
Institute (ETSI), and 99.999% availability.
The ATCA platform was designed to be
scalable to 2.5 Tbps; provide support for
multi-protocol interfaces at rates as high as
40 Gbps; and provide high levels of modularity
and configurability, allowing a range
of vendors to drive competitive solutions to
market.
ATCA architecture is optimized around
connectivity requirements for media gateways,
while providing scalability to address
higher performance computing elements.
ATCA was defined to support a scalable
backplane environment that addresses a
range of standard and proprietary fabric
interfaces, primarily based on serial signaling
technologies, robust system management,
and support for higher performance
power and cooling. Table 1 compares the
key characteristics of the Compact PCI
(PICMG 2) standard versus the ATCA
(PICMG 3) standard.
Table 1 – PICMG2 versus PICMG3 features comparison
| Attribute | PICMG2 CPCI | PICMG3 ATCA |
| Board Size | 57" sqr. + 2 Mez | 140" sqr. + 4 Mez |
| Board Power | 35-50W | 150-200W |
| Backplane Bandwidth | ~ 4 Gbps | ~ 2.4 Tbps |
| Number of Active Boards | 21 | 16 |
| Power System | Central Converter 5,12,
3.3V Backplane | Distributed Converter
Dual 48V Backplane |
| Management | OK | Advanced |
| I/O | Limited | Extensive |
| Clock, Update, Test Bus | No | Yes |
| Regulatory Conformance | Vendor-Specific | In Standard |
| Multi-Vendor Support | Extensive | Currently Limited |
| Base Cost of Shelf | Low | Moderate |
| Functional Shelf Density | Low | High |
| Lifecycle Cost Per Function | High | Low |
The consortium employed a layered
approach in the definition of the ATCA
specification to accommodate support for
new fabric technologies as they evolve. These
layers are specified under the guidelines of
the PICMG, and to date a number of them
have already been defined. They include:
- PICMG 3.0 – the core specification
defining architecture, mechanicals,
power system management, and fabric
connectors
- PICMG 3.1 – specification for
Ethernet and Fibre Channel fabric
interconnects
- PICMG 3.2 – specification for
InfiniBand™ fabric interconnects
- PICMG 3.3 – specification for
StarFabric™ interconnects
- PICMG 3.4 – specification for PCI
Express™ fabric interconnects.
Many new layers are currently under
proposal or in the process of being ratified.
In addition to supporting several fabric
technologies, the backplane supports both
star and full-mesh connectivity between
boards in the system. System management
is built on the Intelligent Platform
Management Interface (IPMI) 1.5 specification.
Each ATCA board supports up to
200W in a single slot, with power supplied
via redundant 48V DC feeds. The result is
a standard that enables solution providers
to deliver products rapidly to market that
support high availability and high performance,
and at significantly lower costs than
custom-developed or proprietary solutions.
The Market for ATCA
The confluence of a significant downturn in
the infrastructure markets, competitive market
pressures, and the need to address the
complex and costly challenges associated
with next-generation equipment platform
development has caused many industries –
including the telecom industry – to reconsider
traditional business models. Thus,
industry analysts expect the ATCA standard
to achieve far greater adoption in the marketplace
than previously introduced standards
such as PICMG 2 or CompactPCI. A
report from Crystal Cube Consulting Inc.
suggests that the ATCA equipment market
will exceed $250 billion by 2007.
The key benefits of the ATCA platform
include lower materials costs, faster time to
market, and lower development costs.
Because the specification is modular in its
definition, it is expected (and has already
been seen through product introductions)
to spawn an ecosystem of building blocks
ranging from silicon solutions, boards,
chassis, middleware, operating systems,
and applications, among others.
The benefits to equipment manufacturers
are many, as this standards-based
ecosystem will allow for a lower cost of
market entry/investment costs, more efficient
inventory management, and a focus
on higher value-added differential services
while delivering cost-competitive products.
Industry analyst RHK expects shipments
of more than 600,000 shelves based
on the ATCA standard by the year 2007.
Assuming that a shelf contains 16 cards,
this translates to shipments of more than
9.6 million ATCA-based line cards.
Considering that this growth stems from
an effective base of zero in January 2003,
when the ATCA specification was first ratified,
it’s no surprise that ATCA has received a
phenomenal amount of attention and press.
Industry analysts expect that the adoption
of this standard will occur across various
network segments at different rates –
understandably so, as it provides different
levels of benefits relative to where it is
employed within the network. Table 2 lists
the expected adoption of ATCA across various
markets by 2007.
Table 2 – Estimated 2007 ATCA system unit shipments by equipment type (Source: RHK)
| Segment | Equipment Types | ATCA System Units 2007 |
| Wireless Access | BTS/Node B, BSC/RND, Transcoder | 38% |
| Wireless Edge | MSC, HLR, GGSN, SGSN/PDSN,
Billing Server, Multimedia Server | 50% |
| Wireline Access | DSLAM, CMTS, MxU | 1% |
| Edge | Edge Router, Multiservice Switch,
Optical Edge Device | 3% |
| New Access | Edge Media Gateway, Softswitch, Media Server | 21% |
| Core Transport | Core Router, SONET/SDH, ADM, WDM | Less than 1% |
| Signaling | Signaling Server, STP, SCP | 5% |
Conclusion
New business and technology paradigms
continue to challenge existing business and
product development models. The most
recent downturn in the infrastructure markets
and the introduction of many flawed
business models have caused equipment
suppliers to re-think their approaches to
product development.
A new outsourced model based on
industry standards that comprehends the
requirements of specific needs for multiple
markets appears to be the next major paradigm
shift. Equipment suppliers need to
embrace this shift to remain competitive for
the next generation of platform solutions.
ATCA, which was developed, defined,
and endorsed by experts from many industries,
holds great promise in serving as the
new disruptive technology to continue to
drive down costs while increasing performance
and features across a range of markets
and applications.
The platform’s inherent scalability and
its sweeping applicability versus the significant
investment costs required to develop
proprietary platforms – further aggravated
by the need to employ technically challenging
serial signaling technologies to support
next-generation backplanes – are causing
equipment suppliers to seriously consider
this new platform.
Once these suppliers begin to signal
their intent to build products based on the
ATCA standard, an entire ecosystem of
modular component suppliers is expected
to emerge to help further fuel the growth of
this new outsourced model.
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