2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of what is now known as VITA. Originally the VMEbus Manufacturers group formed to build support for VMEbus, the organization evolved into the VMEbus International Trade Association. A few years later, after struggling with the process of making VMEbus a standard, VITA began working towards becoming an ANSI-accredited standards developer, and the rest is history! Today VITA is recognized worldwide as a leading standards- and ecosystem-development organization for critical embedded and intelligent computing technologies.
The level of activity with the VITA standards working groups is higher than ever. VITA membership is growing at record rates, with 25 new members so far this year! The interest level in VITA standards is booming: Check out the Standards Update column to view a summary of the most recent activities. Now is a great time to get involved because many of the projects currently under development will shape the course of the next generation of critical and intelligent embedded computing over the next several years.
As the complexity of embedded and critical computing has increased, so has the need for standards. It has become so difficult to develop complex computing technologies that no one company has the resources to go about it alone. The collaboration in developing standards goes a long way toward making it possible to get established. Much of the current work is going to be extremely difficult to sort out because of the plethora of viable options in many cases. At the same time, we are under extreme pressure to map out the future direction of the major standards in the detail necessary to make critical strategy decisions now.
VITA working groups are busy defining standards for improved cooling schemes, high-bandwidth interconnect solutions, mezzanines, and smaller form factors. We have learned much with VPX over the past 20 years and are preparing to take it to the next level for the next generation based on the gained experience.
In this issue, we delve into the process used by VITA to develop and maintain standards. VITA has evolved its policies and procedures for standards development to keep current with best-in-industry practices, even leading in establishing patent ex-ante licensing disclosure policy. After nearly 40 years, VITA has developed nearly 100 industry-recognized standards, closer to 300 if you count the associated dot standards. As Ray Alderman, VITA’s chairman of the board, would say, “VITA has aged like a fine Scotch!”
The world’s economies are entering into a new state of uncertainty as we emerge from COVID-19 and deal with the political challenges that are happening around the world. VITA has published two market reports that go into more detail at multiple levels. The first is analyst Brian Arbuckle’s quarterly “VITA Market Developments” (https://www.vita.com/VITA_Market_Development) report, focusing on the VITA members and new products. The second is Ray Alderman’s “2022 State of the VITA Technology Industry” (https://www.vita.com/VITA_Technology_Industry) second-half report, in which Ray delves into economic and technology issues at a macro level. Both reports have interesting perspectives as we navigate through the current global challenges. One piece of good news: The military and aerospace markets look to be strong for the foreseeable future. Advances in technology innovation by VITA members is sure to keep the markets strong.