Innovative long-term solution for users of the VME architecture

Enabling users to maximize their return on investment, minimize long-term cost of ownership and ensure the long-term viability of VME, Abaco Systems has introduced Vivo, an innovative solution that provides long term support for users of the VME architecture which celebrates its 35th birthday this year. The IDT TSI148 VMEbus bridge, which provides VME users with the ability to interconnect their existing systems to PCI Express processors and peripherals, has gone end-of-life (EOL). In response, Abaco has developed Vivo, an FPGA-based solution that replicates the functionality of the EOL device and thus mitigates customer concerns about VME obsolescence. Eliminating the need to design, qualify and certify a new system platform based on an alternative architecture also saves users substantial time and money, says the company. "Many of our customers have made a substantial investment in VME-based systems - and often those are highly complex systems that are deployed in mission-critical environments," said Chris Lever, VP, product management, Abaco Systems. "For those customers, transitioning to an alternative architecture was unthinkable. It was vital for them to be able to see a way forward - and Vivo provides them with the reassurance that they will be able to create, maintain and update VME-based systems well into the future." Vivo provides 2eSST support for full VITA 1.5 capability, as well as hardware byte swapping including byte, half-word and word for complete compatibility between big-endian/little-endian architectures. A master/slave interface with A16, A24 and A32 addressing modes is also supported. Vivo is compatible with the TSI148 via Linu and VxWorks APIs, meaning a straightforward, disruption-free transition for customers. As the IP for Vivo is owned by Abaco Systems, long term availability of the device is assured, and it will be incorporated into future generations of Abaco's VMEbus single board computers based on Intel and Power Architecture technology. "This announcement demonstrates again Abaco's commitment to our customers and to the future of VME, which continues to be a significant part of the embedded computing industry," concluded Lever. "Our customers know that they can count on us for the long term support that is vital to their success."