I was a few months ago and did not really get the concept, but I have now and I'd like to try to explain this
technology for you now...
Traditionally, system designers have been using low
cost motherboards with Intel or AMD chip sets
to implement gaming, medical, digital signage,
data acquisition and other solutions...
The problems associated with this development line, is the possibility of a new motherboard, every time new processor technology is available... Unfortunately, this will most likely be a full driver install or a full Windows install! Time and Resource costs money in real terms...
COM Express will reduce costs!
COM Express takes the Processor, memory, graphics and all other peripherals away from the motherboard, the motherboard becomes an simple Input and Output motherboard, very simple to design, the COM Express or Computer on Module provides the complete functionality of the PC! However, if graphics performance is the most important aspect of the system COM Express will still allow PEG, PCI Express Graphics interface.
So where is the advantage? It’s clear to see in the diagram below, there is more room for IO devices with a COM Express solution, alternatively the motherboard would be able to “shrink” if a smaller number of devices were to be used!
Small Form Factor or SFF designs would benefit from COM Express or QSevenTechnologies, I'll talk about QSeven in another BLOG.
The Intel or AMD processor comes included with the COM Express module, allowing either economy or performance implementations using the same motherboard, the BIG step is that once the motherboard design is fixed, future generations of COM Express modules would be accepted with little or no development activities... This is significant, as the scalability of COM Express allows the same design to be used in different products with different performance and IO requirements, saving design resource and increasingproduct sales performance.
If you found this BLOG interesting, please leave a comment or a question, which I'll answer as quickly as I can.
If you require further information, please visit our site www.congatec.com or you can
email me at bob@solutionconcepts.co.uk
