PICMG COM-HPC committee reaches important milestone

PICMG president Jessica Isquith is delighted with the progress of the COM-HPC specification: “Within PICMG we are currently working on the next generation Computer-On-Module standard which is of utter importance for the embedded and edge computing world. Next to the physical footprint, the pinout is the most essential milestone. It could only be pre-approved so quickly because we managed to get all key market players, including semiconductor manufacturers such as Intel, around one table in the COM-HPC technical subcommittee, thereby also making sure that the standard will be the best fit possible for future processor generations.”

Committee chairman Christian Eder is confident that the specification can be officially ratified before the next high-end embedded processors hit the market: “A new Computer-on-Module specification is a complex task that involves many stakeholders. However, we officially started our work back in October 2018 and are on schedule to release new COM-HPC modules, carrier boards and solution platforms in time with the next high-end embedded processor generations. They will extend the existing PICMG COM Express module standards with new solutions that move in the direction of headless edge server and more multifunctional edge client solutions.”

With the adoption of the pinout, all committee members now have a solid working basis from which to offer interfaces supporting up to 100 GbE and PCIe Gen 4.0 and Gen 5.0 as well as up to eight DIMM sockets and high-speed processors with more than 200 watts on standardized COM-HPC modules, and to work on standard-compliant carrier board designs.

Members of the PICMG COM-HPC committee include the University of Bielefeld and Adlink, Advantech, Amphenol, AMI, congatec, Elma Electronic, Emerson Machine Automation Solutions, ept, Fastwel, GE Automation, HEITEC, Intel, Kontron, MEN, MSC Technologies, N.A.T., Samtec, SECO, TE Connectivity, Trenz Electronic and VersaLogic. Adlink, congatec and Kontron are also committee sponsors. Christian Eder, Marketing Director of congatec, is the chairman of the COM-HPC committee. He was previously involved as draft editor in the development of the current COM Express standard. Stefan Milnor from Kontron and Dylan Lang from Samtec support Christian Eder in their respective functions as editor and secretary of the PICMG COM-HPC committee.

For more information on the new COM-HPC Computer-on-Module standard and its pinout please visit: https://www.congatec.com/COM-HPC