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May 19, 2009--The PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) has selected 3M's recently introduced Ultra Hard Metric (UHM) Socket Connector for the upcoming PICMG 2.30 CompactPCI PlusIO standard.
The draft standard is based on the current CompactPCI standard, PICMG 2.0, and will define the pin assignment and the function of the user pins on the J2 connector for 32-bit system slots. The J2 connector can then be used for transmission of a high density of high speed serial signals, such as PCI Express, SAS/SATA, USB, and Gigabit Ethernet.
3M says its UHM socket connector, in its J2 configuration, was chosen as the basis for the new standard due to its signal transmission quality and backward compatibility. In addition to maintaining PCB footprint compatibility and intermateability with current CompactPCI standard, PICMG 2.0, the UHM socket connector shields each pin or pin pair individually, enabling greater than 7 Gbits/sec signal performance in existing 2-mm hard-metric system designs. As a result, says 3M, end users of CompactPCI equipment can leverage their existing investment in PCI bus cards while using the same system for newer high speed serial data applications.
According to Manfred Schmitz of the PICMG CompactPCI Plus Working Group and MEN Mikro Elektronik, "The connector's impedance is ideally suited for transmitting single-ended as well as differential signals. Forward and backward compatibility is incorporated into the design, and PCI Express, SATA, USB and Ethernet are now available on the backplane in addition to the legacy PCI bus."
Adds Barbara Schmitz, chief marketing officer with MEN, "Because the UHM socket connector is designed to be mechanically intermateable to the hard-metric connector for CompactPCI, we can easily upgrade the performance of our existing designs."
3M introduced the UHM Socket Connector at the Embedded World Conference in Nuremberg, Germany in March. Patented and patent pending "virtual coaxial box" shielding technology is designed to significantly reduce crosstalk commonly experienced by 2-mm hard-metric connectors at 1 to 1.5 Gbits/sec speeds.
The UHM socket connector is available in 5-row (A, B, CL, CR, AB) and 8-row (D, E, DE, FL, FR) form factors, allowing 101 signals per linear inch for the 8-row and 63 signals per linear inch for the 5-row.
On the Web: www.3m.com/UHM
