CHELMSFORD, Mass. – March 5, 2009 – The OpenVPX Industry Working Group (www.mc.com/OpenVPX), an alliance of leading-edge defense prime contractors and embedded computing systems suppliers, announced it has opened membership to its Technical Working Group, effectively immediately.
The OpenVPX Industry Working Group was recently launched to take a proactive approach in addressing the VPX system-level interoperability issues associated with the VPX (VITA 46) family of specifications. At its inaugural meeting held in Dallas, Texas last week, members of the anticipated Steering Committee, which is in the final stage of formation, set forth guidelines for the OpenVPX Industry Working Group’s organizational structure, policies, and development of a system specification with a completion goal of October 2009. The recommendations were submitted to meeting participants on day two of the assembly.
Effective today, any COTS defense contractor or embedded computing supplier that is in good standing with the VITA Standards Organization (VSO), and is committed to the OpenVPX Industry Working Group’s mission and aggressive schedule for completion of a system specification, is invited to apply for membership to the Technical Working Group.
“The overwhelming response to this initiative exceeded our expectations, and we’re delighted to open enrollment to the Technical Working Group,” said Ian Dunn, CTO, Mercury Computer Systems.
Mercury is taking the lead in forming the OpenVPX Industry Working Group to address prevalent VPX interoperability issues; and following a precedent set by VITA and other organizations, began the legwork with a concentrated circle of effort in order to bring a viable solution to market in a timely manner. With the strong interest in the OpenVPX initiative from defense contractors and embedded computing systems suppliers, the circle of expertise is expected to expand, and the results of the Technical Working Group’s efforts are expected to be presented to the VSO for ratification before year’s end.
“The Boeing Company supports the OpenVPX initiative as part of our ongoing efforts to work with the industry to develop standards that promote the interoperability of systems and assemblies,” said Jim Robles, Boeing Senior Technical Fellow. “We welcome the opportunity to work with LSIs and vendors of VPX products in this effort.”
Once the OpenVPX system specification is transitioned into VITA, the Working Group will disband.
“GE Fanuc has long been committed to the VPX architecture and to its potential to revolutionize military embedded computing, and we very much welcome this initiative that will lower the risk of adoption of VPX systems, expand the market and accelerate deployment,” said Jim Berlin, CTO, Embedded Systems, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms. “We’re looking forward to building on the charter set at our first meeting, and moving ahead to complete a system specification in order to provide the necessary top-down, system-level design guidance.”
The OpenVPX Technical Working Group F2F meeting is scheduled for March 16-17 in Orlando, Florida prior to the VSO quarterly meeting scheduled for the following day. To apply for membership to the Technical Working Group and/or to participate in the March meeting, please visit www.mc.com/OpenVPX. For more information on the OpenVPX Industry Working Group, visit www.mc.com/OpenVPX, or contact Bob Grochmal at (978) 967-1518 or at [email protected]. For more information on the VITA Standards Organization, visit www.vita.com.
