If you're forming an elite team, you need people who are at the top of their specialty, who function as a team and who are flexible to respond to any situation. This is the premise behind Advanced Managed Platforms. Unlike generic platforms comprised of fundamental hardware and low-level software components, Advanced Managed Platforms employ comprehensive management architecture and a suite of feature-complete components to deliver high availability platforms for equipment manufacturers.

When trying to understand an Advanced Managed Platform, it is important to first understand the differences between disparate, simple and advanced groupings. Even with the suite of PICMG® 2.X specifications defining standards-based interfaces for CompactPCI®, components are still complex. Building a platform from disparate components from multiple vendors requires compatibility testing, integration research and development, along with time spent dealing with multiple tech support groups -- all of which are factors that could place your project at risk for time-to-market readiness, compatibility headaches and a lot of integration work.

Figure 1: Disparate Platform

Some CompactPCI vendors have developed multiple components to operate with each other. Simple interoperability includes basic data and/or control communication between components. It may include basic system management information such as health status and power up/down control. A simple platform vendor may depend on OEMing several components from other companies which limits their capability to affect feature changes and to support the product.

Figure 2: Simple Platform

Figure 3: Advanced Managed Platform Architecture

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