RapidIO Connections - July 2002
Technical Working Group Spotlight
TWG Update: At the Design Stage and Beyond
Over the past six to nine months, it has become increasingly clear to the marketplace that RapidIO is the most technically capable interconnect in the embedded space. Making a real impact, however, requires bringing products using RapidIO to market that function as advertised and interoperate across multiple vendors.
Before individual design teams can begin their work, the significant task fell to the TWG (Technical Working Group) to produce a specification that concisely and correctly communicates to designers how the technology should work.
Six months ago, the TWG reached a significant milestone when the steering committee approved for distribution to trade association members the first release of the Serial Physical Layer of the RapidIO Interconnect Specification. Together with the original release of the specification, these documents constitute the key collateral necessary to bring RapidIO to the marketplace.
Since this milestone, the TWG has continued to update these documents as clarifications and errata are occasionally identified. Leveraging detailed feedback from designers, this fine-tuning is a sure sign that the technology has reached the design stage, and beyond, at many companies. In parallel, the TWG has been working on the next release of the specification incorporating additional technical enhancements.
There are now four task groups working in various areas of interest to member companies. One group is defining a board-level hardware interoperability platform that enables multiple vendors to demonstrate interoperability and encourages prototyping and product development. A second is documenting a solution for deploying RapidIO in existing mechanical standards. The third group is defining functional enhancements that make RapidIO more suitable for backplane applications. The fourth and most recently formed task group is developing an API for writing system bringup software.
In recently succeeding Dan Bouvier as chair of the TWG, I now have the daunting task of working to sustaining this considerable momentum generated by Dan's capable lead and the talent of the contributing TWG members. If you have any questions, please contact me, Greg Shippen, Technical Working Group Chair, or your representative as we continue to move forward with RapidIO development.
