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Six 9s High Availability Fault Tolerant Ventus ATCA Shelf chassis
Released 10 December 2004

APW Electronic Solutions has announced the latest addition to its Ventus family of Fault Tolerant/High Availability chassis, the 12U Ventus ATCA 014 Shelf, designed for use in 19" or 23" rack mount applications.  Available in 14 and 16 slot versions, the ATCA 014 Shelf unit uses APW's patent pending Serial Parallel Fan Arrangement to hold the maximum internal temperature down to 55°C in a fully populated system with ATCA boards dissipating 200W/slot.  Fan life is extended by using intelligent monitoring and control to match fan speeds to load requirements, and the maximum 55°C will be maintained even if a single fan fails.  The redundant DC input pluggable Power Entry Modules, each rated at 3200W, extend fault isolation by delivering power in four isolated segments, providing the Shelf with the reliability required for six 9s available platforms.  

All fan modules and DC converters are FRUs, managed by Pigeon Point System's IPM Sentry system, which offers the Shelf level monitoring and communication to the ATCA plug-in boards, the Fan Trays and the Power Entry modules through IPMB communication over redundant pair dual bus architecture.  IPM management architecture offers flexibility in scaling and modification of the Shelf without redesigning the Shelf management by simply adding additional FRUs onto the dual bus; the system management carrier FRU interconnects are also simplified.

The backplane is configured as standard as a Dual Star base and fabric design offering excellent performance at 3.125Gb/s with margin beyond 4Gb/s.  Options for Dual-Dual, Full Mesh and customer-specified configurations are available.  The system supports 8U x 280mm front-pluggable ATCA modules and 70mm rear transition modules.

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Notes to Editors.

For further information:

Tim Froome	
APW Electronic Solutions
Electron Way
Chandlers Ford
Hants
SO53 4ZR

tel: + 44 (0)23 8026 6300
fax:+ 44 (0)23 8026 5126
tim.froome@apw.com
www.apw.com/electronicsolutions

Agency contact:
Nigel May	
Parkfield Communications Limited
Parkfield House
Damerham
Hants
SP6 3HQ

tel: + 44 (0)1725 518321
fax: + 44 (0)1725 518378
nigel.may@parkfield.co.uk
www.parkfield.co.uk

APW is a recognized leader in the design, manufacture and integration of electronic products on a global basis.  APW has core competencies in both product and system design, precision sheet metal fabrication, electrical and mechanical integration and thermal management solutions.  APW not only provides design and manufacturing services for OEMs but also standard product solutions for customers in markets such as telecommunications, data communications, semiconductor manufacturing, medical, ATM, industrial and military.  APW operates in 17 locations throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.