Firmware supports AdvancedTCA and CompactPCI.

Press Release Summary:




IPM Sentry(TM) Shelf Manager R2.0 provides full support for IPM Sentry ShMM-500 and ShMM-300 shelf managers, as well as support for remote upgrades to all ShMM-500 resident firmware. Extended memory configuration for ShMM-500 provides 128 MB of RAM and 64 MB of Flash, offering headroom for future extensions. Using IPM Sentry components, developers of AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC(TM), and CompactPCI® products can incorporate compliant and interoperable management solutions.



Original Press Release:



New Shelf Manager Firmware And Extended Memory Option For AdvancedTCA Shelf Manager From Pigeon Point Systems Provide Faster Speed, Better Flexibility



Scotts Valley, CA, June 30, 2005 - Pigeon Point Systems(TM), the leading supplier of shelf and board management solutions for AdvancedTCA®, announces Release 2.0 (R2.0) of its IPM Sentry(TM) Shelf Manager firmware, which provides full support for Pigeon Point Systems' high performance IPM Sentry ShMM-500 and its popular predecessor, the ShMM-300. This strong compatibility enables ShMM users to take immediate advantage of the 7X processor speed improvement provided by the ShMM-500.

In addition, Pigeon Point Systems is now offering an extended memory configuration for the ShMM-500 shelf management mezzanine that provides 128 MB of RAM and 64 MB of Flash, up from 64 and 16 MB, respectively, in the base ShMM-500 configuration. This additional memory provides headroom for future extensions of the shelf manager firmware and for ShMM-resident layered applications.

The ShMM-500 is a member of Pigeon Point Systems' IPM Sentry family of hardware and software products that enable cost-effective, interoperable management of open modular platforms based on the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) standard. Using IPM Sentry components, developers of AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC(TM) and CompactPCI® products can quickly and efficiently incorporate compliant, competitive and interoperable management solutions into their systems. More than 55 companies worldwide employ Pigeon Point Systems' IPM Sentry components at the shelf level, board level or both.

In addition to compatible support for the ShMM-500 and ShMM-300, the IPM Sentry Shelf Manager R2.0 firmware includes support for reliable remote upgrades to all ShMM-500 resident firmware. This facility relies on special hardware features built into the ShMM-500. When new firmware is downloaded to the ShMM-500, it is provisionally loaded into flash memory and started. If problems occur during validation of the provisional firmware, the hardware automatically falls back to the previous stable copy of the firmware.

"We have multiple major telecom equipment manufacturer (TEM) customers already successfully using the IPM Sentry ShMM-500 in Schroff AdvancedTCA shelves," said Laurie Burger, director of business development, Pentair Electronic Packaging. "The headroom for future extensions provided by the new extended memory configuration and the increased performance of the ShMM-500 are critical as these Tier 1 TEMs prepare for long-life deployments of our ShMM-500-based AdvancedTCA shelves."

"We are working with major customers of our Ventus AdvancedTCA shelves to aggressively transition to the ShMM-500," said Frank Cooper, president, APW Electronic Solutions. "ShMM-500 reliable firmware upgrade support complements the cooling and management fault tolerance already designed into Ventus. The additional memory capacity of the new ShMM-500 configuration ensures that our customers can add additional features and layered applications as they are needed in the future."

Like all the IPM Sentry ShMM products, the ShMM-500 is available in an IPM Sentry Shelf Management Starter Kit to help OEMs integrate ShMM technology into their own shelves. The starter kit includes schematics, benchtop hardware and complete product support to build ShMM-500-based AdvancedTCA Shelf Managers to suit specific applications and shelf designs.

Pricing for an OEM version of the ShMM-500 with 128 MB RAM and 64 MB Flash is $390 per unit in quantities of 1,000. The starter kit is priced at $15,000. Release 2.0 of the IPM Sentry Shelf Manager firmware is shipping now. roduction deliveries of the extended memory ShMM-500 configuration are scheduled for early Q3, 2005.

For additional information, contact Mark Overgaard, Pigeon Point Systems, Tel: 831-438-1565; mark@pigeonpoint.com; pigeonpoint.com; product briefs: ShMM-500 (pigeonpoint.com/ShMM-500%20ShM%20pb.pdf), starter kit (pigeonpoint.com/ShMM-500%20SK%20pb.pdf).

About Pigeon Point Systems
Pigeon Point Systems (PPS) provides products and services that enable cost-effective management of standards-based platforms-including AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC (AMC), CompactTCA and CompactPCI-and is a leader in the definition of those platforms. With its IPM Sentry shelf management products, PPS offers the first shelf management building blocks that compatibly support AdvancedTCA and CompactPCI, with similar support for CompactTCA to come. The IPM Sentry board management products-also the first off-the-shelf offerings in the industry-enable compact, cost-effective management subsystems for boards and other field replaceable units (FRUs), including AMC carriers and modules.

PPS, an executive member of PICMG, is a leader in the AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC and CompactTCA subcommittees and is active in many other technical subcommittees. PPS is also a contributing member of the Service Availability(TM) Forum. For more information about PPS, visit www.pigeonpoint.com or call 831-438-1565.

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