Full-speed Ahead to 40G: Four Key Requirements for ATCA

In the telecommunications industry, we are witnessing a shift to next-generation networks to meet the rapidly escalating demand for more bandwidth. Accompanying this ongoing increase in bandwidth utilization is the increase in mobile apps available on today’s smartphones. These days there seems to be an app for just about everything. Today the majority of the telecommunications industry operates on 10G systems, and it is now looking to 40G systems to support these higher bandwidth applications in video, 3G and 4G wireless and security applications. The commercially proven, ATCA open hardware specification was designed to meet the demanding needs of evolving networks.

The four requirements for 40G
As the industry transitions from 10G to 40G, RadiSys has identified four key requirements for developing a 40G platform. Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) should also consider these requirements when evaluating a potential 40G ATCA system.

1. The first requirement is investment protection. There are many ATCA platforms currently in the market, and the 40G platform must be backwards compatible with existing boards and ecosystem products. This will guarantee NEPs a smooth and easy transition from their current 10G platforms to 40G platforms.
2. The second requirement is the 40G backplane itself. The backplane should have full node connectivity to all of the slots that support 10G KR as well as 40G KR4.
3. The third requirement is a switch. The switch must be capable of delivering both 10GBASE-KR and 40GBASE-KR4 switching to the node slots.
4. The fourth requirement for 40G platforms is that there are node slots capable of supporting next generation packet processing and CPU processing capability.

Now is the time for NEPs to make key decisions on their next-generation platforms. CP-TA and RadiSys can serve as a resource for NEPs as they move full-speed ahead to 40G.