August 20, 2019
ADLINK Keeps COM Express Type 2 Alive
ADLINK Technology, Inc., announces two new COM Express Type 2 computer-on-module, based on the highly popular 6th and 7th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors (formerly “Skylake” and “Kaby Lake”). The new Express-SL2 and Express-KL2 modules support all Type 2 related legacy I/Os and thereby allow customers to extend the production life of existing Type 2 based systems for at least another 10 years.
“The early COM Express Type 2 specification, supporting PATA IDE and PCI-bus, has been one of the most successful computer-on-module form factors since the PICMG COM.0 form factor’s inception in 2005”, says Alex Wang, product manager at ADLINK. “Even today it is still widely used in industrial automation, transportation and specialty device markets. Around 8 years ago more modern interfaces, such as HDMI and DisplayPort, appeared and that is why most new projects nowadays have transferred to the newer COM Express Type 6 pinout.”
Type 2 however remains indispensable for many system integrators and OEMs that have ongoing production systems with carriers based on the COM Express Type 2 pinout. “With the recent discontinuation of the hugely popular 3rd Gen Intel® Core™ Processor (formerly “Ivy Bridge”), many customers are now frantically searching for a new Type 2 module to keep existing systems up and running. These customers are in need of a drop-in solution at both hardware and software levels (Intel-to-Intel) with equivalent or improved performance and a better thermal envelope to simplify their transition. The new Express-SL2 and Express-KL2 Type 2 modules solve this problem,” continued Wang.
The new Express-SL2 and Express-KL2 feature the 6th and 7th Gen Intel® Core™ Processors (as well as Celeron® and Xeon® options) and support the Type 2 pinout with legacy interfaces such as PCI-bus, PATA, and VGA. In addition to hardware compatibility, the Express-SL2 and Express-KL2 support diverse operating systems including Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, WES 7, Embedded Linux through the industry standard Yocto Project (https://github.com/adlink), Ubuntu LTS and CentOS. With legacy standard and essential software support, the Express-SL2 and Express-KL2 meet customer needs for a facilitated system migration with performance enhancement.
ADLINK’s business model has always been to support legacy designs as long as is required by our customers. With the Express-SL2 and Express-KL2, we are ready to help customers make a successful transition from other vendor’s EOL’d COM Express Type 2 modules. As can be expected from ADLINK, we go out of our way to support customers with system bring-up, possible backporting of software, BIOS modifications, and whatever else is needed to make the changeover to the new module as smooth as possible.
The Express-SL2/KL2 is available in both commercial (0°C to 60°C) and Extreme Rugged (-40°C to +85°C) versions.
For more information, please visit: https://www.adlinktech.com/en/Computer_on_Modules.aspx.
