Feb 17, 2010 - Advantech, a leading global manufacturer of customizable telecom computing blades and multi-core network platforms today introduced the market’s first MicroTCA Carrier Hub (MCH) to combine x86 processing, switching, management and backhaul in to a single MCH element. The UTCA-5504 supports all the functions needed to control, network, connect and manage a full system configuration, freeing up as many as three AMC slots for application payload. Designed and field tested in Advantech’s award-winning UTCA-6302 MicroTCA system, the UTCA-5504 offers extended MCH features and facilitates user specific x86 application development.

The UTCA-5504’s onboard Carrier and Shelf Manager, 24-port non-blocking L2+ Ethernet switch and Intel® EP80579 Integrated Processor with Intel® QuickAssist open the doors to new levels of processing and connectivity on a MCH. Four GbE and four optional T1/E1 ports meet infrastructure backhaul and gateway needs whilst the on-chip accelerator provides security co-processing options for functions such as encryption. Moreover, the Intel® EP80579 on the MCH runs a standard Linux platform providing opportunities for control and application processing, higher-level system and switch management or boot server functions for in-system AMC’s. Linux execution on the Intel® EP80579 x86 core means customers can develop, test and execute their own applications without the need to cross-compile. Delivered with 1GB DDR2 SDRAM with ECC and CompactFlash (CF) disk, the UTCA-5504 provides full flexibility in terms of OS installation and modularity.

The onboard IPMI firmware was developed entirely by Advantech and executes on a compact real-time OS running on a 32bit microcontroller. This offers greater modularity and flexibility for the customization of system management features especially when it comes to tailoring a system design to meet target cost points without sacrificing features and time to market.In addition to supporting shelf & carrier management with failover redundancy, the Intelligent Platform Management simplifies cooling and fan unit control for overall platform cost-savings.

The UTCA-5504 has been extensively tested with a wide range of ecosystem products at PICMG Interop Workshops and in live multi-vendor interoperability demos. In-house testing includes full functionality and soak testing with a selection of commercial-off-the-shelf Carriers, Power Modules, Processor AMCs and I/O modules.

“With the support of state of the art Gigabit Ethernet ports and the option to add 4 T1/E1 ports for legacy backhaul support, the UTCA-5504 is an ideal solution for deployment in various network environments, without the overhead of using an expensive TDM-to-IP AMC card.” said Thomas Kastner, Manager of Platform Management Solutions for Advantech Networks and Telecom Group. ”The onboard x86 entry level CPU is a perfect choice to run control plane applications driving further cost savings at system level… with the benefit of quick software turn around times imposed by using the industry standard intel x86 platform. Especially customers who use high end x86 silicon for control plane purposes in their core network equipment built on ATCA can efficiently port and re-use code.”

Eddie Lai, Director of Business Development for Advantech Networks and Telecom Group added: “Our R&D teams in both Taiwan and Europe, have come up with an innovative new MCH product that reduces unnecessary overhead and cost while boosting MicroTCA computing density for OEMs to an unprecedented level”,

The UTCA-5504 is available to order now and can be seen on Advantech’s Booth at 2010 Mobile World Congress, Barcelona: Hall 2, Booth # 2G38