AUGUST 23--According to a report, "Embedded COTS Systems in Military, Aerospace, and Defense Applications: A Market Demand Analysis," by Venture Development Corporation (VDC; Natick, MA, USA; www.vdc-corp.com), an independent technology-market research and strategy consulting firm, XMC form factor mezzanine cards are projected to begin making an impact on the embedded COTS military market in 2007. PMC mezzanines are the current mezzanine standard, not only for military applications, but for all embedded applications.
PMC cards will remain the dominant technology for several years to come, and the XMC form factor's time for market dominance is seen as beyond 2007, as PMC shipments to Europe and North America in 2007 are projected to be US$ 126 million compared to US$ 6.5 million for XMC shipments. However, the transition to XMC is quickly approaching with the architecture gaining traction in 2007 and growing rapidly from there.
The advantages of the XMC architecture over PMC are increased speed and bandwidth, therefore the architecture will first make inroads into the applications that most benefit from these increased capabilities. Says Eric Heikkila, director of VDC's Embedded Hardware Practice, "Graphics and video capability are largely functions of processing speed and power, so it is not surprising that many of the initial XMC cards sold to the military will be used for this function. Networking cards will follow for the same reason."
Other application segments will likely adopt XMC as the standard becomes better defined, resulting in substantial changes in application market shares beyond 2007.
