A White Paper from the Experts In Business-Critical Continuity™.
AdvancedTCA Platforms Building Blocks vs. Integrated Communications Servers
Robert Pettigrew, Worldwide Technical Sales Operations August 2007
Table of Contents 3 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 4 Platform Integration with AdvancedTCA Building Blocks 6 The Integrated AdvancedTCA Platform 6 Thermal Interoperability 8 System Reliability and Availability 8 Total Cost of Platform Integration 8 Conclusion 9 Sourcing Benefits Estimator Example
2 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
Executive Summary The use of AdvancedTCA® based hardware for next-generation telecom infrastructure platforms has become the de facto choice for a broad class of core network and wireless access applications. In fact, carriers are often demanding AdvancedTCA (ATCA®) based products since they are increasingly aware of the resulting capital and operating expense savings, and the perception that they are less locked in to a particular vendor’s solution. When embarking on a new program, platform developers are commonly faced with a choice between procuring integrated ATCA based system level products or integrating platforms themselves from a selection of ATCA “building blocks”. Which choice is better? The building block approach, while theoretically offering greater choice and flexibility, has many potential pitfalls that may ambush the unwary platform developer. In the end, there are pros and cons to each approach. This paper attempts to summarize the major advantages and disadvantages of the two platform development strategies, making the case for procuring integrated communications server platforms.
3 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
Before a company embarks on a building block AdvancedTCA platform strategy, they should be aware of the potential pitfalls of this approach, and also appreciate the advantages of procuring integrated platforms. Introduction A growing trend among network equipment providers (NEPs) is to define a common infrastructure platform as the foundation for a broad category of applications. Increasingly, this platform is specified with open, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and standards-based high availability middleware. Proven advantages of this strategy include time-to-market (when compared with in-house platform development); R&D efficiency; technology choice from a broad set of vendors; and lifecycle maintenance savings. Once the decision has been made to outsource platform development using open standards-based hardware and software, the next choice is whether to procure fully integrated systems or to integrate building blocks to create the final platform. The AdvancedTCA standard was conceived to define a specification which would allow products from different vendors to interoperate in a platform capable of meeting the rigid requirements of the telecommunications central office environment. It is therefore, theoretically possible to procure ATCA compliant building blocks from different vendors , plug them together and create an application-ready platform. However, in practice, things are never this easy. Some ATCA vendors, including Emerson Network Power’s Embedded Computing business, have adopted a strategy of offering integrated systems, commonly called communications servers. With these products, the communication server vendor is responsible for supplier qualification, component selection, system engineering, integration testing, regulatory testing and certification, and lifecycle maintenance. The same process happened in the commercial computing world, where server and PC vendors emerged with complete system offerings. In fact, it is now almost unthinkable for a company to build its own servers or PCs: sourcing integrated systems has become the logical choice. Emerson’s communications server offerings complement the company’s portfolio of ATCA building blocks. These leverage Emerson’s systems integration expertise to ensure blades, modules and application-ready platforms are designed with the final, fully integrated system in mind. So those customers who wish to take the building block approach can still benefit from Emerson’s experience, however the benefit may not be maximized. Before a company embarks on a building block ATCA platform strategy, they should be aware of the potential pitfalls of this approach, and also appreciate the advantages of procuring integrated platforms.
Platform Integration with AdvancedTCA Building Blocks The PICMG® 3.x set of ATCA specifications define several building blocks, fundamentally broken into categories including shelves (which may or may not include shelf managers); hub slot switch boards; and node slot payload boards. The ATCA ecosystem consists of many companies that provide these building blocks as standalone products. This is analogous to the commercial server/ PC market where companies offer enclosures, fans, motherboards, hard drives and removable storage drives. As with the commercial server/PC market, it is certainly possible to procure these building blocks and make an ATCA system. The fundamental questions that must be addressed however are: • • • • •
Will the resulting system work? Will deployed systems have the required reliability? If not, who is responsible? Will the building blocks be available for the duration of the deployment? Does this approach make financial sense?
4 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
When procuring an integrated AdvancedTCA communications server, the integration responsibilities are assumed by the platform vendor.
Improving Interoperability — the CP-TA Many of the interoperability issues faced by the system integrator will logically be reduced over time, as both the products and relevant standards mature. To further accelerate improvements in interoperability, the Communications
Platform Trade Association (CP-TA) has been formed to certify interoperability. Founding sponsor members are Emerson and Intel, with additional membership broadly representing AdvancedTCA vendors and customers. The goal of the CP-TA is to drive interoperability by both publishing interoperability specifications, and providing interoperability compliance testing. More information on the CP-TA is available by visiting their web site at http://www.cp-ta.org.
A vendor selling an ATCA building block typically warrants that the building block will adhere to the appropriate specification. This covers: • • • • •
Mechanical specifications such as size, rear connectors, faceplates and ejector handles Input power specifications, including input voltages, power consumption and board behavior in the presence of noise and electrical transients Electrical specifications, including base and fabric interfaces, and system management IPMB interfaces System management specifications, including the system management protocol; and EKeying to avoid incompatible interfaces from connecting Faceplate LEDs and hot swap behavior
Collectively, this is an extremely complex set of standards. While the authors of these specifications strove to minimize ambiguity, it is logical to assume that there is a risk that independent developers will legitimately interpret the specification differently. When assembling a system with building blocks from different vendors, who will answer the question: “Will this work?” Fundamentally, if a certain product configuration has not been tested, the answer will be: “It should, but we cannot guarantee it.” When a system is assembled with parts from various vendors, what happens when problems are encountered? In this case, it is the responsibility of the system integrator to determine the root cause, and determine whether this is due to a product violating the relevant specification. Once this is determined, the vendor of the offending product must be contacted, and convinced that their particular part is to blame. In some cases, this may be obvious. In other cases, it may be much more subtle. It may be very difficult to convince a building block provider to make what may end up being expensive modifications to their products. In the event that a problem is due to different interpretations of the specifications, who is the ultimate arbiter? Once obvious building block issues are isolated and corrected, the integrated system must undergo extensive testing. This includes: • • • • • • • • •
Reliability and availability testing Platform software validation testing Performance testing Extended temperature testing Testing for electromagnetic emissions and susceptibility Safety testing Acoustic noise measurements Fire spread testing Shock, vibration and earthquake susceptibility testing
Again, any problems uncovered during this testing must be isolated down to an offending building block, and the vendor of that building block must be convinced to make the appropriate corrections or modifications. System integration complexity is dramatically increased by the need to integrate and maintain a suitable carrier-grade operation system, such as Linux, appropriate system management software and high availability middleware. Finally, once all testing has been completed and a platform is released, the system integrator must deal with the inevitable lifecycle issues. Frequent component obsolescence will force building block vendors to make changes to their products. In some cases, the changes may be viewed as benign, with no impact to form, fit or function. However, even minor changes can impact system performance. The system integrator will be faced with ongoing system sustaining costs, qualifying new parts and performing regression testing to ensure that they do not impact system behavior or introduce potentially latent faults.
5 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
The Integrated AdvancedTCA Platform When procuring an integrated AdvancedTCA communications server, all the integration responsibilities discussed above are assumed by the platform vendor. This includes: • • • • • • •
Selection, qualification and sourcing of third-party components Managing these vendors Operating system and high availability middleware integration Platform validation and regulatory testing Platform lifecycle management including change control and regression testing Technical support New feature introduction and roadmap evolution
The integrated communications server also offers other advantages including: • • • •
Common look and feel of all components Common hardware interfaces, including console ports and pin-outs, LED color, placement and function, and common handles Common software interfaces for each blade Integrated system management software, with open standard interfaces such as those defined by the Service Availability Forum™
Since the integrated platform is under the control of a single vendor, that vendor also may offer lifecycle and support services, such as extended warranty and repair and technical support that would not be available with the building block approach. One vendor; one contract; one contact for support and maintenance; one logistics partner for volume deployment; the list of benefits is endless. Most importantly, the integrated platform vendor controls two of the most important issues of platform integration: thermal interoperability; and reliability/availability.
Thermal Interoperability One of the most difficult issues facing ATCA system integrators is the issue of thermal interoperability. Fundamentally, this is the question of whether a particular board can be cooled in a system under a variety of different operating conditions. In general, this is a complex problem. Whether a board can be cooled in a system depends on the airflow that passes across the hot components of that board. A shelf vendor typically specifies the 6 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
One of the most difficult issues facing AdvancedTCA system integrators is the issue of thermal interoperability. cooling capacity of a system by quantifying the airflow volume rate in units such as cubic feet per minute. However, the actual airflow across a system slot populated with a payload blade is a function of the airflow impedance of that blade. Airflow impedance is not something that board building block vendors typically specify. Another way of asking whether a board can be cooled in a system is to ask what is the reliability of the system when populated with a particular board payload? Or what is the reliability of that board? This depends on the temperature of the components of that board over time, which in turn depends on the airflow over those components, and the temperature of that airflow. Air may be preheated by passing over other hot components on a board, which in turn raises the temperature of down stream components. The amount of airflow also typically varies across the face of a board, and also from slot to slot in a system.
The objective of thermal design is to keep all component operating temperatures within the constraints of specific environmental specification while allowing for additional constraints.
7 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
The choice between platform outsourcing and building block integration will ultimately depend on the individual market pressures and success factors facing a particular development program. In general, board building block vendors rarely, if ever, categorize the system airflow requirements. It remains the problem of the system integrator to determine whether a board can be appropriately cooled, which requires a significant amount of expert knowledge. Emerson, working through the Communications Platform Trade Association (CP-TA), is leading the way in defining the shelf- and blade-level requirements for platform thermal interoperability.
System Reliability and Availability Most applications which deploy on communications servers have reliability and availability requirements of up to 5NINES or 6NINES (99.9999% uptime). This budget includes planned downtime required for hardware maintenance, software application and operating system upgrades, and unplanned outages due to incorrectly handled hardware or software faults. Reaching this availability goal is very difficult, and requires very careful engineering attention at all levels of system specification and design. System-level engineering must be performed to ensure that all building blocks are designed to operate together to achieve this goal. This impacts all aspects of board-level design, component selection and layout, shelf cooling design, and shelf and system management software. Whether or not a platform is capable of achieving these goals is the responsibility of the platform integrator, and requires a considerable amount of R&D expertise and effort. Customers benefit from Emerson’s expertise in their area by procuring communications server integrated system products.
Total Cost of Platform Integration To help our customers choose between building block integration or communications server procurement, Emerson has developed the Sourcing Benefits Estimator (see example on page 9). Using real financial data, this tool allows customers to quantify the benefits of platform-level integration. These include: • • • • • • • • •
Time-to-market advantages R&D efficiencies due to the significant complexity of system integration Production savings Lifecycle cost reduction (sustaining engineering) Redeployment benefits Risk reduction Benefits from the ATCA supplier ecosystem (ability to rapidly add new features at low cost) Operational savings due to reduced initial investment, reduced assets and inventory Cash flow
Conclusion Remember the early days of the PC market? It was quite common to hear about people building their own PC by purchasing an enclosure, motherboard, processor, memory and hard drive, and installing their own operating system. How often does this happen today? Serious PC gamers may still do this, but it is unheard of in the large enterprise. The reason: it simply does not make economic sense. Although it is still quite early in the outsourced telecom platform market, the same market forces exist. Integrating platforms from building blocks adds a significant amount of technical and schedule risk, and requires a significant additional R&D development and sustaining investment, as compared with procuring platform-level products. Companies that embark on a building block strategy need to be aware of these increased costs and risk, and plan for them appropriately. The choice between platform outsourcing and building block integration will ultimately depend on the individual market pressures and success factors facing a particular development program. However, if time-to-market, R&D efficiency, reduced sustaining costs and improved operational efficiency are important to a particular business, it would be wise to consider the benefits of the integrated communications server. 8 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
Sourcing Benefits Estimator Example
To see how this Sourcing Benefits Estimator can help you quantify the impact of platform outsourcing to your business, please contact your local Emerson Network Power sales team.
9 AdvancedTCA Platforms EmersonNetworkPower.com/Embedded Computing
About Emerson Network Power Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson (NYSE:EMR), is the global leader in enabling Business-Critical Continuity™. The company is the trusted source for adaptive and ultra-reliable solutions that enable and protect its customers’ business-critical technology infrastructures. Through its Embedded Computing business, Emerson Network Power enables original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and systems integrators to develop better products quickly, cost-effectively and with less risk. Our business was strengthened by the acquisition of Motorola's Embedded Communications Computing group, which has driven open standards and pioneered technologies based on them for more than 25 years. This positions Emerson Network Power as the recognized leading provider of products and services based on open standards such as ATCA®, MicroTCA™, AdvancedMC™, CompactPCI®, Processor PMC, VMEbus and OpenSAF™. Our broad product portfolio, ranging from communications servers, application-ready platforms, blades and modules to enabling software and professional services, enables OEMs to focus on staying ahead of the competition. Manufacturers of equipment for telecommunications, defense, aerospace, medical and industrial automation markets can trust Emerson’s proven track record of business stability and technology innovation. Working with Emerson helps them shift more of their development efforts to the deployment of new, value-add features and services that create competitive advantage and build market share. Emerson’s commitment to open, standards-based solutions and our deep understanding of the embedded computing needs of OEMs provide the foundation for the market to look to us for leadership and innovation.
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