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Emerson Network Power Products


1G and 10G AdvancedTCA® and MicroTCA™ communications servers and platforms from the Embedded Computing business of Emerson Network Power extensively use the SA Forum’s Application Interface Specification (AIS) B.01.01 and Hardware Platform Interface (HPI) A.01.01 and B.01 specifications. This broad array of open standards-based platforms provides varying levels of integration based on application needs and time-to-market requirements.

Communications Servers
Communications servers are the highly integrated platforms, delivering pre-integrated and verified hardware and software components which help to reduce development costs, and accelerate time-to-market. This allows network equipment providers (NEPs) to focus development resources on critical, differentiating features that provide a competitive advantage.

1G AdvancedTCA Communications Server
The Centellis™ 3000 series of communications servers is optimized for applications implemented on proprietary high-availability software. These communications servers integrate AdvancedTCA hardware with an operating environment that includes MontaVista Carrier Grade Linux operating system and comprehensive centralized HPI (A.0.01/B.01) to create a platform on which equipment providers can deploy existing HA middleware with confidence. Communications servers support network infrastructure elements such as VoIP media gateways, softswitches, IMS infrastructure; and wireless equipment such as RNC, GGSN and SGSN. 

High Availability AdvancedTCA Communications Server
The Avantellis™ 3000 series of communications servers leverages the attributes of the Centellis 3000 series and includes Emerson’s NetPlane® Core Services (NCS) service availability middleware for 5NINES+ platform availability. NetPlane Core Services implements the services specified by the SA Forum Application Interface Specification (AIS) and uses the Hardware Platform Interface (HPI A.0.01/B.01) for platform management. The NCS middleware suite implements the B.01.01 version of the following SA Forum specifications:

  • Cluster membership (CLM)
  • Availability Management Framework (AMF)
  • Event Distribution Service (EVT)
  • Message Queue Service (MSG)
  • Checkpoint Service (CKPT)
  • Distributed Lock Service (LCK)

10G AdvancedTCA Communications Server
The Centellis 4000 series represents the next generation of communications servers from Emerson with the introduction of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) AdvancedTCA communication servers. These 10G communications server platforms implement the HPI B.01 specifications and are ideal for data plane applications, such as 4G wireless and IPTV.

MicroTCA Communications Server
The Centellis 1000 series is the first MicroTCA communications server from Emerson. This MicroTCA open standard platform is physically smaller, with finer-grained scalability whilst retaining all the underlying technical features that are part of the AdvancedTCA communication servers including MontaVista Carrier Grade Linux operating system and HPI (A.0.01/B.01) with NCS middleware for application portability between platforms. This fine-grained scalability enables MicroTCA platforms to support a pay-as-you-grow business model that allows customers to realize solutions with less capital expenditure and expand the computing platform capabilities in small, low-cost increments as demand for the new service increases. This advantage is particularly relevant to some of the new point-of-access applications such as WiMAX and IP PBX. 

AdvancedTCA Application-Ready Platform
Emerson continues to develop robust application-ready, standards based AdvancedTCA platforms for customers who opt for an a la carte, custom solution and wish to do the integration work themselves. These platforms are competitively priced. The Centellis 31KX includes a shelf and a switch with a basic carrier grade operating system and support for (HPI A.0.01/B.01) ready for application deployment. It is the responsibility of the customer to integrate additional payload blades and OpenSAF.

OpenSAF
As one of the pioneers in the OpenSAF initiative, Emerson's 1G and 10G AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA communications server platforms will support OpenSAF. The objective is to accelerate broad adoption of an SA Forum compliant highly available operating environment by offering a variety of standards-based, high-availability solutions at different price points, each with various levels of integration ranging from the most basic, a la cart solution for customers who wish to do their own integration to a fully integrated and verified platform. As one of the key contributors, Motorola will help accelerate the development of SA Forum specifications by proposing enhancements implemented in the OpenSAF project.

Emerson (then Motorola) announced its involvement with the OpenSAF initiative since its inception at the Mountain View Alliance Communications Ecosystem Conference (MVACEC) in February 2007. To support the announcement, the OpenSAF official Web site was introduced.