Polaris releases an enhanced version of ATCA Tester, fully
compliant with PICMG® Specification 3.0 Revision 3.0 and
tested with Pigeon Point Systems’ SmartFusion-based
bench top IPMC and Carrier IPMC solutions.
Lexington, Massachusetts, Jan 11, 2012 – Polaris Networks, a leading provider of test tools for networking equipment, released an enhanced version of the PNCT-ATCA-300, its
industry-leading test tool for AdvancedTCA Shelf Manager and IPM Controllers (IPMCs).
This version has a number of improvements and additions emphasizing the ease of use by
pinpointing the causes of test failures through an interactive interface.
The Polaris ATCA Tester tests the Shelf Manager, intelligent FRUs, AdvancedMC (AMC)
carrier boards and AMC modules in ATCA shelves for compliance with the hardware
platform management requirements (Section 3) in the PICMG 3.0 Rev 3.0 specification.
PNCT-ATCA-300 features a user-friendly GUI for the Windows operating system. The
Tester includes more than 375 test cases, with each test case mapped to one PICMG 3.0 Rev 3.0 requirement. It provides detailed test results with complete decoding of IPMI and RMCP messages.
Polaris Networks has partnered with Pigeon Point Systems (PPS) to meet its objective of
providing robust and up-to-date test tools to the ATCA community. The Polaris ATCA
Tester has been rigorously tested with the Pigeon Point Systems Board Management
Reference (BMR) IPMC solutions (Microsemi SmartFusion-based) to ensure that it
interoperates with widely-used, commercial ATCA platforms and is ready-to-use before
it is made generally available in the market.
“Pigeon Point Systems had always been a valuable customer and partner for Polaris
Networks,” commented Vinay Gupta, CTO, Polaris Networks. “Polaris Networks is
always committed to enhancing its automated test tools to the latest PICMG
specifications, so that hardware manufacturers can be certain that they adhere to the latest
standards and thus achieve greater platform independence and interoperability”
“Polaris Networks’ ATCA Tester plays a valuable role in the ATCA industry of
providing an automated and independent way for developers and customers of ATCA
hardware platform management functionality to check specification compliance,” said
Mark Overgaard, Founder and CTO of Pigeon Point Systems. “Pigeon Point brings to
this partnership our in-depth understanding of the ATCA/AMC hardware platform
management and ten years of interoperability experience, with the tens of thousands of
delivered Shelf Managers and boards/modules based on our management solutions.”
Polaris Networks is committed to regular updates and enhancements of its ATCA Tester.
In the upcoming releases, PNCT-ATCA-300 will include Advanced E-Keying Tests
based on PICMG 3.1 R2.0 (which is still a draft specification). It will also include tests
based on PICMG IRTM R1.0 specification to test the Hardware Platform Management
capabilities of Intelligent (MMC-based) Rear Transition Modules. When available,
Polaris also plans to add tests based on ATCA Extensions initiative (which will be
covered by PICMG 3.7 Rev 1.0); this initiative aims to augment ATCA for use in
enterprise and other application areas that were not its initial focus.
About Polaris Networks
Polaris Networks has played a key role in promoting and facilitating the widespread
adoption of new technologies. Polaris’ range of xTCA Test Tools are widely used by
system integrators and manufacturers for their internal testing and QA of ATCA,
microTCA and AMC based building blocks and systems. From testing open standards for
telecom platforms, the HPI and AIS tester verifies service availability standards as
specified by the SA Forum, for telecom middleware. Apart from these xTCA Testers
Polaris Networks provides comprehensive end to end test solutions for LTE equipment
manufacturers and operators.
For more information on Polaris Networks, please visit www.polarisnetworks.net
