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Sub-$4k MicroTCA system comes with Carrier Grade Linux

May 22, 2008 — by Eric Brown — from the LinuxDevices Archive — 3 views

Performance Technologies (PT) will unveil a “ready-to-use” MicroTCA appliance at next week's MicroTCA Summit in Chantilly, Virginia. The AMP5070 comprises PT's six-slot MTC5070 chassis, along with a Core2 Duo-based compute module running a “trial” version of PT's CGL-compliant NexusWare distribution.

(Click for larger view of PT's AMP5070)

The AMP5070 adheres to the PICMG's MicroTCA specification, which is aimed at extending the reliability benefits carrier-grade telecom systems to lower-cost device markets. It comes with a trial installation of NexusWare, PT's own Carrier Grade Linux 4.0 distribution. Ready for application development “out of the box,” according to PT, it targets VoIP and signaling gateways, point of sales (POS) equipment, WiMAX gateways, security servers, IP-PBX, and edge-access devices.

The AMP5070 is based on the MTC5070, PT's first MicroTCA chassis, which was announced last month. The chassis boasts a 1U rack-mount design claimed to have an “innovative” push/pull fan system. Priced near $2,000, the chassis cuts cost in part by using commodity PC power supplies instead of the pricey 48-volt DC power rails typical of traditional telecom equipment.


AMP5070 compute
module ports

The new AMP5070's Intel-based compute module uses up one of the chassis's six AMC slots. It is based an Intel Core2 or Core2 Duo processor with up to 4GB of DDR SDRAM.

Additional touted features of the AMP5070's compute module include:

  • PCI Express
  • 2x gigabit Ethernet ports
  • 1x USB 2.0 port
  • A “telco clock”
  • Platform management software supporting X.25, Frame Relay and HDLC, SS7 MTP-2, and SIP

Available AMC expansion modules include the AMC590 storage/video module, the AMC131 PowerPC compute module, and the AMC111 and AMC121 x86 compute modules. For additional specs on the chassis, see our previous coverage of the MTC5070.

Availability

The AMP5070 will be available in the early third quarter, says PT, for $4,300 (dual-core) and $3,600 (single-core). PT will showcase the technology at the MicroTCA Summit in Chantilly, Virginia on May 28-29, in booth 302. More information may be available here.


 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.



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