After publication of the PICMG® COM Express™ Carrier Design Guide, Kontron strongly recommends not resting on any laurels

As a next step, a PICMG® specification for smaller Computer-on-Modules is required to achieve a universal Computer-on-Modules standard

Eching, Germany, June 2, 2009 - Kontron welcomes the publication of the COM Express™ carrierboard design guide 1.0 by the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG®). As a next step, a PICMG® specification for smaller Computer-on-Modules is essential, as demands in the market for smaller Computer-on-Modules are increasing.

"For COM Express™, it's an important milestone that the COM Express™ carrier design guide has been published by PICMG®. It guarantees that modules from different manufacturers that conform with the COM Express™ specification are interchangeable on the carrierboards based on the design guide 1.0“, explains Norbert Hauser, Vice President Marketing at Kontron. "We will not, however, be resting on any laurels, as the market demands an official standard for smaller modules.“

The introduction by Kontron (and already supported by several other embedded vendors) of the compact microETXexpress® (95 mm x 95 mm) and ultra small nanoETXexpress (55 mm x 84 mm) modules offers up two COM Express™ compatible (following pin-outs Type 2 and 1 respectively) footprints that represent a logical advancement of the existing COM Express™ specification to “basic” and “extended” footprints already noted under the standard. An official PICMG specification for these smaller Computer-on-Modules would make COM Express a truly universal specification for all module sizes and guaranteed compatibility of carrierboards. Consequently, this will lead to an even faster and more wide-spread usage of COM Express™ modules in an extremely wide range of applications in addition to the ousting of other alternatives that are less vendor-independent.

Advantages of the PICMG® Carrier Design Guide
The 160-page publication of the carrierboard design guide is an important milestone as, for the first time, it provides complete vendor-independent standardization which is required for scalable Computer-on-Module designs. The PICMG® Carrier Design Guide 1.0 offers comprehensive information for developers of custom-designed carrier boards for COM Express™ modules. In combination with the latest COM Express™ specification and the module vendors' product manuals, the design guide will greatly simplify design efforts and guarantee optimal interchangability of Computer-on-Modules from different manufacturers. For reference, it includes numerous connection diagrams and external switching circuits plus descriptions of ideal implementation solutions for all COM Express™ interfaces. The Design Guide was produced in close cooperation with 14 different manufacturers to ensure that carrierboards are developed according to Best Practice principles. As this is also dependent on the carrierboard design, it has been essential a carrierboard design guide be officially published in addition to the Computer-on-Modules specifications.

To download the PICMG® COM Express™ Carrier Design Guide 1.0, please click http://www.kontron.com/_etc/scripts/download/getdownload.php?downloadId=OTE5NQ==

More information on Computer-on-Modules: http://www.kontron.com/COM

More information on COM Express™ Computer-on-Modules: http://www.kontron.com/products/computeronmodules/com+express/

More information on microETXexpress® Computer-on-Modules: http://www.kontron.com/products/computeronmodules/com+express/microetxexpress/

More information on nanoETXexpress® Computer-on-Modules: http://emea.kontron.com/products/computeronmodules/com+express/nanoetxexpress/