2028: It's all about VME
Ethernet eclipses PCIe
Since the last PCI-bus-enabled chip was shipped in 2014, much of the embedded industry has struggled to move to the high-speed serial PCIe (PCI Express) chips. But, since next-generation PCIe chips use different signaling protocols (PAM) than previous versions (8b-10b), they're not backward-compatible to previous generations of equipment. PCIe, like the old and antiquated PCI bus, doesn't have all the mechanisms for efficient interprocessor communications in high-performance multiprocessor systems. Consequently, the critical embedded systems segment has adopted Ethernet (with remote direct memory access), and Ethernet has become the fabric of choice for snuggly coupled systems. Tightly coupled real-time systems use either VMEbus (the only hard real-time backplane bus in the market since the 1980s) or RapidIO to gain determinism and real-time behavior. All VME-based architectures, VXS and VPX, use the 10Gbit Ethernet standard to implement these supercomputing architectures.
Discount coupon initiated to boost telecom board sales
With the telecom equipment market continuing its decades-old decline (except the SS7 and billing system equipment segments that use VME-based technologies), some board vendors in that market have resorted to cents-off coupons to boost sales. Market researchers are still predicting a $20 Billion market for telecom boards by 2050, but the tremendous declines in price for those boards, and the departure of several major suppliers from that market segment, raise certain questions. Additionally, ZTE and Hua Wei have come into the telecom equipment markets with a vengeance, offering small and inexpensive "black boxes," putting further pressure on telecom board makers.
VITA's executive director, Ray Alderman, was involuntarily committed to the Betty Ford Center in 2028 by the small remaining group of telecom and industrial commodity board suppliers who were irritated by his comments on the embedded board industry and the success of VME's longevity. Alderman, 81 years old, has been VITA's director for 32 years and is known to have an affinity for single-malt scotch.
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