"Our telecom customers have been asking us to help them liberate valuable system slots by providing improved performance and I/O density" says Peter Marek, director of Advantech's Blade computing division "We did just that with the MIC-3392 dual-PMC blade by designing an intelligent communications server with a dual core offload engine executing hi-speed applications or capable of performing extensive packet processing tasks"

A combined Intel 945GME and ICH-7M chipset maximizes price/performance while maintaining a power budget. By combining these features with peripheral or drone mode bridge options and a packet switched backplane, the MIC-3392 integrates seamlessly into highly scaleable multi-processor systems with intelligent I/O configurations. The chipset combination provides 667 MHz front-side bus speeds and extensive PCI Express I/O. The blade includes 1 or 2 GB of onboard DDR2-677 memory, complemented by a further 1 or 2 GB of SO-DIMM based DDR2-677 memory. This facilitates field upgrades later in the OEM's product lifecycle whilst offering the choice of a cost-effective memory balance in the supply chain.

The MIC-3392 makes the best use of PCI Express technology to maximize I/O throughput. It also supports an onboard 2.5" SATA driveand a CompactFlash slot with further SATA storage connectivity provided to the rear I/O module. Two variants of the board are available with a mutually exclusive option of onboard SATA drive or second PMC slot.

Two Gigabit Ethernet ports based on PCI Express-enabled Intel 82573E controllers provide connectivity to the front panel, PICMG 2.16 backplane or rear I/O module. A further ICH/M-based 10/100Base-T port is available via the rear I/O module. To complete the serial I/O capabilities, the MIC-3392 also provides front and rear USB 2.0 and COM ports depending on the version.

A built-in high performance 3D graphics controller provides Industrial Workstation grade graphics which differentiates the MIC-3392 from similar dual core CompactPCI blades available on the market.

Identical rear I/O pin-outs make the MIC-3392 backwardly compatible with Advantech's MIC-3390 Pentium M-based blade, thereby allowing customers to perform hot-swap upgrades to their 24x7 installations whilst retaining their original rear I/O investment.

IPMI 2.0 platform management is available through an on-board Baseboard Management Controller providing backward compatibility with Advantech's previous BMC designs and industry standard IPMI-compliant chassis management implementations.

The MIC-3392 supports RedHat Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems and is available now in volume with extended temperature range and ruggedized versions in development.