Globalcomm: Motorola’s open server platforms get boost from Siemens

Chicago--Motorola displayed its own version of the triple play this week by providing proof-of-concept demonstrations, peeks into the future of its embedded technology strategy and testimonials for its Open Communications Server platforms, such as the one that came today from Siemens.

The Motorola Embedded Communications Computing business has been selected by Siemens Communications Group, the telecommunication division of Siemens AG, as a preferred supplier of AdvancedTCA-based communications servers for Siemens' next-generation telecom architecture.

Motorola will deploy its communications servers to supports Siemens' adoption of standards-based common platform for its next-gen telecom architecture.

As a longtime proponent of AdvancedTCA-based communications servers, Motorola used the Globalcomm forum to display its range of potential applications for Motorola’s AdvancedTCA and MicroTCA communications servers, including implementations in IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), voice-over-IP (VoIP), IPTV and WiMAX infrastructure.

“It’s all about leveraging the entire ecosystem, not just about Motorola’s implementation,” said John Fryer, director of technology marketing for Motorola.

Motorola also demonstrated high-availability failover of multiple high-definition video-on-demand streams and thousands of session initiation protocol-based VoIP calls on a Motorola Avantellis 3000 series ATCA communications server, all of which highlighted the company’s NetPlane Software and Service Availability Forum specification implementations pre-integrated with MontaVista Linux.

MicroTCA represents the future of Motorola’s open server concept, along with a 10 Gb/s switch fabric. Also representing the future was Motorola’s Centellis 3000 series ATCA communications server, which is based on Intel architecture and acts as a single platform for multiple IMS network elements.

The MicroTCA proof-of-concept demonstrated access and host applications, such as a videoconference system and a wireless base transceiver station, based on the open carrier-grade platform. It also showed proof-of-concept for advanced wireless broadband access applications, such as WiMAX 10 Gb/s switching in a Motorola Centellis 3000 series ATCA communications server.

This exercise showed a significant increase in ATCA switching capacity and backwards compatibility with currently deployed 1 Gigabit Ethernet systems. Demo partners Artesyn Technologies, Interphase and Surf illustrated the scalability of Motorola’s communications servers, while Motorola works with early access customers for 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching in its ATCA communications servers.

“Now you’ll have the long, seven-to-ten year lifecycle you need for telecommunications companies to be successful,” Fryer said.

Just last week, Motorola became a founding sponsor of the Communications Platforms Trade Association. The mission of the CP-TA will be to accelerate the development of the telecom industry’s ability to deliver interoperable communications platforms based on open industry standards.

The CP-TA will complement the work Motorola is involved in with another new industry alliance, called SCOPE. SCOPE was recently formed to accelerate the deployment of open carrier-grade base platforms specifically for service providers. Its combines the open platform approach with Free Open Source Software building blocks.

Recent Yankee Group research estimated a 30% improvement in time-to-market and project development costs for telecom equipment manufacturers using standards-based communications servers.