The working group responsible for maintaining the OpenVPX architectural framework specification recently finished work on the second edition of the document. They added support for new usage models that include the InfiniBand protocol and the VITA 67 coaxial connector type.
OpenVPX is intended to be a living framework to embrace new technology and changing market conditions. No sooner had the working group finished the second edition, they were off sifting through the request backlog to prioritize their next set of enhancements. The recently announced VPX supercomputing initiative being one of the items on the list.
VPX has been steadily gaining momentum as evidenced by the design wins being announced each month. There is still a lot of heavy lifting ahead but the concept of switched fabric modules and systems is here to stay. Continued innovation is going to present all kinds of interesting usage models and products for years to come. What is going to be interesting to me is seeing what sweet spots for profile configurations emerge as applications become deployed. Stay tuned for more!
