February 2006

The year 2006 is shaping to be a great year for COM Express. At the Embedded World show in Nurnberg, Germany, this month, there were several new entrants with COM Express modules and the trend is set to continue the rest of the year. COM Express has become a truly global phenomenon. This bodes well for OEMs with operations across the globe, as they can be assured of a global supply base. Embedded computer board manufacturers who have held back so far will have to reassess their decision, while the market for COM Express modules continues to expand rapidly.

At the same time 2006 is the year dual core processors are going mainstream in the enterprise and consumer computer markets. The embedded market place is also set to adopt these processors very rapidly, benefiting from downward pricing trends in the mainstream markets. This month Intel debuted its Yonah dual-core processors for the embedded market space and leading module manufacturers have responded rapidly with COM Express modules based on these processors.

Lastly, there is a push for an additional COM Express module definition option with even smaller footprint than the Basic footprint and which does not mandate the presence of PCI Express and SATA links. This is a strong indication that the embedded community sees COM Express as their choice of a single, all encompassing, mainstream standard for computer-on-modules.

Enjoy the articles in this second issue and send us your feedback.

Sincerely,
Kishan Jainandunsing
Editor-in-chief
COM Express Source

Dual Core COM Express Modules Making Their Debut

Several manufacturers of COM Express modules launched their dual core modules at this month’s Embedded World 2006 show in Nurnberg, Germany. Read on.

Intel Announces Dual Core CPUs for Embedded Market Space

Intel debuts its Yonah dual-core CPUs for the embedded market space at this month’s Embedded World 2006 show in Nurnberg, Germany. Read on.

Push for New COM Express Module Option

Several manufacturers of COM Express modules, including Kontron, are pushing for an even smaller COM Express module than the already compact Basic footprint. Read on.

Intel Revamps Corporate Identity

On January 3, 2006 Intel unveiled its new corporate identity, ending the Andy Groove era of “Intel Inside”. Read on.

IBM Positions Cell Broadband Processor for Vertical Embedded Markets

At the recent VITA Bus & Board conference in Long Beach, CA, January 16, 2006, IBM positioned its Cell Broadband processor for embedded applications in vertical markets. Read on.

AMD Positions Dual Core AMD64 Opteron Processors for Vertical Embedded Markets

At the recent VITA Bus & Board conference in Long Beach, CA, January 16, 2006, AMD continued to mount its efforts to expand into the vertical embedded industry. Read on.

COM Express Value Proposition - Part II

In this column we highlight monthly in a series of articles the value propositions of the COM Express standard. This month’s article is about COM Express versus Single Board Computers. Read on.

The COM Express Specification Explained - Part II

In this column we explain the COM Express specification in a series of tutorials. This month’s article presents an overview of the COM Express specification. Read on.

Multi-Core Processors - The Next Frontier in Embedded Computing

Multi-core architectures are becoming the next important evolution step in processor design. In this article we take a closer look at the technology and its relevance to embedded applications. Read on.