|MODULAR APPLICATIONS
cards and FPGA modules,
which the company also
physically implements
in a COM Express Basic
footprint. The modular
concept makes the
Christmann RECS
Box 4.0 server family
extremely scalable.
These examples illustrate
the tremendous benefits of
designing edge gateways and
servers on the basis of COM and
SOM. For large-scale applications,
even the fusion of modules with
dedicated carrier boards is a common
strategy. So why not follow a similar
approach for large-scale applications
such as 5G wayside edge servers or
for consumer-grade e-mobility
vehicles, implementing first a COM
and carrier design for R&D, and later
a full custom design by COM and
carrier fusion? Embedded computer
vendors such as Congatec are ready
to support such a paradigm change
from proprietary designs towards
closed-loop engineering with open
modular platforms. ■
5G Server-on-Modules
address even 5G
wayside edge servers
Industrial 3.5“
Single Board Computer
generation– required after three to
five years as technology
enhancements evolve rapidly – is
expected to cost only about 50% of
the initial investment, because a
simple replacement of the processor
modules will be all that’s required in
most cases.
To open up the potentials of
significantly reduced total costs of
ownership, Christmann rackmount
servers can be equipped flexibly with
up to 27 CPU microservers with x86
or ARM architecture. In addition,
the offering includes standardized
modular options for parallel
processing in the form of GPGPU
High-end 8th Gen Intel® Core™ processors
Designed for harsh environments
Long-term availability of 10+ years
High performance module
for high performing digital signage
congatec.com/intel-whiskey-lake
Annual Showcase 2020 | Intertraffic World 223
performance and functionality on
a standardized form factor.
First systems are based on
modules with Intel Xeon D15xx
processors with up to 16 cores and 32
threads. Alternative configurations
are based on the Intel Atom C3xxx
processors. Featuring up to 16 cores,
these processors are the ideal fit for
all installations that have to handle
smaller package sizes in parallel
while consuming as little energy as
25W TDP. The design of these
systems is basically a smaller boxed
system, but even edge systems in
server racks can benefit from such
a COM approach.
Situational awareness
In rack server designs, standardized
COMs can drastically reduce the
long-term investment costs for
infrastructure servers used in
wayside applications such as video
surveillance systems that are being
equipped with AI to improve
situational awareness.
For such microserver installations
at the infrastructure edges, vendors
such as Christmann also
rely on Server-on-Modules
(SOM) based on the
vendor-independent
COM Express Type 7 as
well as the upcoming
COM-HPC standards.
What speaks in their
favor is not just the
flexibility to adapt to recent
AI needs, but also the longterm
perspective: the second
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