Pigeon Point Systems

Pigeon Point Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Actel, providing software and hardware for the system management market. Founded in 1997 and acquired by Actel in 2008, Pigeon Point's product portfolio includes world-class management components for modular platforms based on the AdvancedTCA® (ATCA), AdvancedMC™, and MicroTCA™ architectures, plus consulting and design services. Pigeon Point focuses on products and services supporting the adoption of open modular platforms and is headquartered among the redwoods in Scotts Valley, California.

Pigeon Point's focus on providing dependable, proven solutions for the mandatory management controllers in these architectures enables our customers to concentrate on value-added aspects of their products. Extensive expertise in these architectures ensures compliance and interoperability in the components we deliver. Pigeon Point participates actively in defining the open modular architectures. An executive member of PICMG, Pigeon Point is a leader in the ATCA, AdvancedMC and MicroTCA subcommittees and is active in many other technical subcommittees. Pigeon Point is also a contributing member of the Service Availability™ Forum and active in its HPI Working Group.

Having acquired the leading provider of TCA management components, Actel now offers a more comprehensive solution for proprietary and standards-based system management implementations in the telecommunications, military, industrial, and medical markets.

Actel and Pigeon Point are working together to develop and market Actel Fusion®-based solutions to speed the design of ATCA board and AdvancedMC carrier board management controllers, with production development kits shipping in September. As future development projects mature and are announced, the combined portfolios of Actel and Pigeon Point bring development kits, reference designs, easy-to-use development environments, and expert design services to customers. Designers can address system and power management issues at the component, board, and firmware levels.

Pigeon Point Systems has more than 140 customers around the world, including 6 of the top 10 global communications OEMs.

These solutions are part of a series of widely implemented and thoroughly validated Pigeon Point Board Management Reference (BMR) solutions for PICMG management controllers. The particular PICMG controllers in this case are ATCA Intelligent Platform Management Controllers (IPM controllers or IPMCs) and AdvancedMC Carrier IPMCs, which handle local management responsibilities on ATCA boards and ATCA AdvancedMC carrier boards, respectively. These solutions are based on Actel Fusion P1AFS600 and P1AFS1500 devices, which are Fusion variants enabled for both Cortex™-M1 processor and Pigeon Point BMR functionality.

The Pigeon Point BMR-P1AFS-ATCA solution includes:

• Schematics for a complete IPM controller subsystem, ready for integration into the design of your board or other intelligent Field Replaceable Unit (FRU), such as a power entry module, with adaptation as necessary.
• Firmware for that subsystem, delivered in source form and with development tools, ready for simple and quick adaptation to the specific requirements of your product.
• One-stop support for hardware, firmware, and software used in developing and delivering your Pigeon Point BMR-based IPM controller.

The Pigeon Point BMR-P1AFS-AMCc solution augments the BMR-P1AFS-ATCA IPM Controller to enable it to manage and represent AdvancedMCs installed on an ATCA-based AdvancedMC carrier; the solution includes:

• Schematics for the Carrier IPMC additions, ready for integration into the design of your AdvancedMC carrier, with adaptation as necessary. The BMR-H8S-ATCA reference design is acquired separately as a base for these additions.
• Firmware in source code form and one-stop support for the corresponding hardware, firmware, and software for your Pigeon Point BMR-based Carrier IPMC.

In addition to the world-class functionality, interoperability, and compliance for which Pigeon Point BMR solutions are already prized, the BMR-P1AFS solutions provide key benefits, such as these:

• Outstanding flexibility of a mixed-signal FPGA-based management controller, including PICMG-optimized intellectual property blocks and the potential to integrate custom logic for your specific board into the FPGA. This flexibility can translate into direct footprint and BOM cost reductions for the management subsystem on your board.
• Comprehensive support for serial over LAN configurations, allowing LAN-based interactions with serial interfaces on the payload processor of your board, including the industry's first support for serial over LAN using the new Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI) specification from the Distributed Management Task Force (www.dmtf.org).