Prepare your mind to be boggled by some choice computer jargon that is geared towards those of you who enjoy servicing and maintaining network servers and file-sharing mainframes — are there mainframes that don’t share files? If the technical jargon is too much for you or sounds rather obtuse, fear not my loyal readers, it will all make sense. I promise.

Now, this installment of the Advanced TCA information hour will explore the entomology of the name. Advanced TCA, sometimes referred to as ATCA, stands for Advanced (you knew that part) Telecom Computing Architecture. Astounding, no? It gets better. The ATCA is, essentially, a series of industry specifications geared towards the next generation of communications equipment. It is an effort to get as many participating computers and communication devices in perfect synchronization.

Now that more than 100 companies are on board, Advanced TCA is poised to be the go-to platform for high-speed interconnection technology. This means all the good things, like reliability, manageability, and serviceability will become standardized. The Tower of Babel is an exciting story to interject here — just think of what we can accomplish if we used one language, or in this case, one computing architecture platform.

Advanced TCA equipped computers and devices can help speed up development cycles, reduce costs, and even solve pesky design issues. This means more diverse communication applications can be accommodated and upgraded. Business, and communications, both rely upon speed. The fast an order can be processed, the better. Profit waits for no person and the days of the impossibly slow online shopping cart are becoming as archaic as flint stones or rotary phones.

Advanced TCA boards can support a wide range of multiple switch fabric technologies. This means a communication system can evolve, over time, and even merge with older, non-ATCA systems. A typical Advanced TCA board, also referred to as a blade, is approximately 280 mm deep and 322 mm high. This accommodates a massive amount of information and allows the user to support both PMC and AMC expansion mezzanines. Don’t ask.