Technological advancement: across numerous industries and vastly different market sectors, this one subject both elates and disturbs users of embedded computing technologies Advancements in embedded computing technology can provide a path to greater efficiency; however, due to obsolescent issues of previous versions, it can also negatively affect the numerous industrial applications employing the older technology. Frequent modifications to hardware configurations can generate additional expenses and work stoppage, which adversely affect productivity and profitability.

To demonstrate our understanding of this real concern, GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms has announced highly affordable, embedded computing solutions that offer customers the flexibility to design in the optimum solution for a wide range of applications, while addressing the long production lifecycle requirements and lower total cost of ownership needs. The new COM Express line, consisting of the bCOM2-L1000 Type 2 COM Express module and CCAR-L1000 carrier board, and the sATX-Q35-ER ATX single board computer benefit from GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' industry-leading Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) program. The optional program guarantees hardware continuity for up to five years – thus eliminating the time and cost incurred by customers in regularly re-certifying hardware caused by component and subsystem obsolescence. PLM also provides customers with influence over revision control and configuration management.

bCOM2-L1000

The bCOM2-L1000 is GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' first COM Express platform, and is designed for applications including industrial, simulation/training, test and measurement, gaming and transportation. It offers a choice of Intel® Core™2 Duo, Core™ Duo or Celeron® processors with up to 2 Gigabytes of memory, and is supported by the CCAR-L1000 carrier board for customer evaluation of the bCOM2-L1000.

The choice of three processors allows users to select an appropriate option depending on the power/heat dissipation and performance characteristics of the intended application. The Intel® Celeron® M option – which sees the processor soldered to the board for even greater reliability – is specifically designed for temperature-critical environments. Two serial ATA ports and an IDE port provide the bCOM2-L1000 with the ability to handle extensive, high performance hard disk storage.

Optimum graphics performance for the bCOM2-L1000 is provided via integrated analog CRT and LVDS interfaces, DVMT 3.0, Intel® Dual-Frequency Graphics Technology (which reduces integrated graphics chipset power) and dual independent display pipes.

The ATX form factor CCAR-L1000 complements the bCOM2-L1000 with a single x16 PCI Express slot, two x1 slots and four PCI 2.3 slots. Rear panel interfaces include mouse/keyboard, serial, Ethernet, USB, VGA and audio, while onboard support additionally includes a parallel interface, CD-in, S/PDIF in/out and IrDA.

sATX-Q35-ER

The sATX-Q35-ER is GE Fanuc Intelligent Platforms' first ATX platform, and is the first in what is planned to be a broad range of ATX and ITX products designed to enable optimum solutions for a wide range of applications. It is an ATX single board computer with PCI Express and PCI expansion slots, and features a choice of Intel® Core™ 2 Quad or Core 2 Duo processors; up to 8 Gigabytes of DDR2 on-demand memory; two Gigabit Ethernet ports; twelve USB ports; two COM ports; a choice of SATA or IDE storage devices; and a wide range of multimedia implementations via the PCI Express x16 expansion slot. The sATX-Q35-ER also offers support for various RAID levels.