Interview with Christian Eder, Director Product Marketing at congatec and Chairman of the COM‑HPC Workgroup of PICMG
The PICMG presented the new COM-HPC Mini standard at the recent embedded world trade show. What features does this latest expansion of high-performance computing module standards offer?
Christian: The most significant innovation is that there is now a high-end form factor for credit-card-sized Computer-on-Modules. Like all other COM-HPC module standards, it is positioned above the performance classes targeted by COM Express. So, as far as credit-card-sized modules are concerned, it is positioned above COM Express Mini. The new COM-HPC connector supports transfer rates of more than 32 Gbit/s, which means that it fully covers PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5, and probably even Gen 6. The interface selection includes a plan for 16 such PCIe lanes, in addition to three graphics interfaces and various fast USB 3.2 or USB 4.0 interfaces. That packs extremely high performance into such a small computing module.
The third generation of credit-card-sized modules is coming: Despite their small dimensions – 95 x 60 mm, according to the current plan – COM-HPC Client modules in Mini format will offer a comprehensive set of interfaces. On the roadmap are, among others, 16x PCIe, 3x graphics and several USB4 interfaces.
