Executive Q&A
Q&A with... Martin
Frederiksen
Managing Director of embedded computing systems provider Recab
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Can you specify the differences between COM-HPC and COM Express? Eder: The new COM-HPC systems offer considerably higher transmission performance, more high-speed interfaces and much faster network connection, among other benefits. This is because the redesigned module is more powerful. The COM-HPC specification provides 800 pins, doubling the maximum number of PCIe lanes from 32 for COM Express Type 7 to 64 for COM- HPC/Server. COM Express supports a maximum of PCIe Gen 3.0 with 8Gb/s per lane, whereas a COM-HPC module achieves up to 32Gb/s per lane via PCIe-5.0, four times the data rate of COM Express.
In terms of Ethernet connectivity, what performance enhancements will COM-HPC modules offer? Eder: “The enormous speed increase has an immense effect on connectivity performance. Current COM Express modules (Type 7) at edge server level offer a maximum of 10Gb Ethernet per signal pair. COM-HPC, on the other hand, specifies 25Gb Ethernet, and more.
16 September/October 2020
www.electronicsworld.com
Christian Eder
Chairman of the PICMG COM-HPC technical subcommittee and Marketing Manager at Congatec
...about the impact of the new COM HPC standard on embedded design and applications
With up to eight network connections, it then becomes possible to achieve transfer rates of 100Gbit/s and, theoretically, even 200Gbit/s. Such rates are needed in the first instance for high- performance edge server solutions at the edge of telecom networks. Here, fast up, down and crosslinks in all directions must be established: i.e. north in the direction of the central cloud; east and west in the direction of neighbouring edge fogs; and also south in the direction of Industry 4.0 controls at process level.
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Are COM-HPC modules likely to replace the COM Express ones? Eder: The COM-HPC standard will by no means replace the current COM Express standard. Instead, both specifications are likely to exist in parallel for many years to come, depending on the field of the application and its requirements.
What we will see is COM-HPC modules being used in particularly performance-hungry applications, for instance to embed artificial intelligence with deep learning in systems, or even to implement tactile Internet at the edge server level.
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