Jess Isquith

Another year, more open standards. In the coming days we will make significant announcements on three PICMG specifications: 400G AdvancedTCA, CompactPCI Serial, and the IoT.x family of specifications. Keep your eyes peeled for news releases that detail the work product of thousands more hours of contributions from multiple member companies across our vast and growing community.

PICMG’s commitment to fostering collaboration and advancing embedded computing technologies is truly making an impact. The integration of open standards and partnerships with organizations like DMTF, Open Group, VITA, and SGeT certainly accelerates the development of innovative solutions and ensures that the industry can keep up with the rapid pace of technological change.

The upcoming Embedded World event in Nuremberg will be an incredible opportunity for attendees to see firsthand the latest advancements in the industry, particularly with the demos and exhibits from over forty member organizations. It will also be a rare opportunity for talented individuals from across the PICMG family to interact in person, and the organization wants to facilitate those valuable exchanges.

On Wednesday, March 12th at 12 PM Central European Time (CET) PICMG will be hosting a networking lunch in the Mitte entrance (train side of Nuremberg Messe) lobby. We invite all PICMG members, as well as individuals from companies and organizations who would like to learn more about our work with open standards, to attend.

The PICMG booth at 5-320 will likely be another likely hotspot for those wanting to learn more about the standards and how they are shaping the future of embedded systems. And if that weren’t enough, there is once again a conference track dedicated to PICMG (and SGeT) technologies taking place on Thursday, March 13th from 9:30 AM to 11:15 AM CET.

If you’re attending the event, don’t be a stranger. Reach out to [email protected], [email protected] or schedule a meeting https://calendly.com/brandon-picmg/30min.

We’d love to hear from you! See you in Nuremberg!

As PICMG’s 30th anniversary comes to a close, it’s worth reflecting on the incredible progress and momentum built over the past three decades. Today, we are a vibrant, diverse community of engineers and innovators with member companies from more than 20 countries. These organizations are responsible for expanding PICMG’s global influence, as well as the sustained adoption of PICMG specifications and products in key growth areas.

These growth areas include:

* IoT Expansion
* Edge Computing
* Automation and AI
* Security

The ongoing adoption of open standards is driven by the same core principles that have guided PICMG for three decades: flexibility, vendor-neutral competition (no lock-in), long lifecycle support, and security. We’re proud to support open standards in an embedded computing industry that is forecast to exceed $150 billion USD by 2030—where open standards alone represent about 30% of the market and hardware accounts for a significant portion of that $50 billion.

While we celebrate our successes, we also recognize that many of the early pioneers and members of PICMG are transitioning to new phases in their careers. We thank them for their invaluable contributions and have full confidence that the next generation of engineers will continue to carry forward their legacy of excellence and innovation.

Looking ahead, PICMG remains open to new members. We encourage organizations and companies to get involved, learn more about our work, and explore the many opportunities available to contribute to the future of embedded computing. Visit picmg.org or reach out to me directly at [email protected].

We’re excited for the next chapter in the PICMG journey.

Jess Isquith
President
PICMG
[email protected]

This year PICMG celebrates thirty years of developing open computing specifications. And despite three decades of open hardware specs that are used by thousands of companies and countless engineers worldwide, the organization is still largely an unknown—even in our own industry.

But from behind the scenes, PICMG is responsible for billions of dollars of business. It has reduced time to market in virtually every electronics-driven industry. It has empowered companies to innovate by adopting off-the-shelf technologies, giving them space to focus on their core competencies. It has built markets based on coopetition, where companies collaboratively develop open, interoperable specifications then go toe-to-toe once they are ratified.

Even less recognized are the individuals who donate hundreds if not thousands of hours to the creation of PICMG specifications. These engineers are rarely acknowledged for their contributions. They are truly unsung heroes, and PICMG specifications wouldn’t exist without them.

One of these unsung heroes is Stefan Milnor, who recently retired from his role as VP of Engineering at Kontron. In parallel, he stepped down as the long-time editor of COM Express and COM-HPC specifications. 

Stefan has been involved in PICMG since the beginnings of COM Express, which is undeniably the most successful computer-on-module in a billion-dollar COMs market. As editor, Stefan incorporated input from numerous technical subcommittees over the years and implemented it into specifications that have been adopted by thousands of organizations building embedded systems. It’s a difficult job that requires a rare mix of technical acumen and attention to detail, and his skill and efficiency will be missed by us all—including some who never knew he was the hand behind their downloaded spec.

Stefan has always been a very private individual. In fact, by the time we could reach out to him for comment he had already left. In some ways, it’s a fitting conclusion for someone who performed yeoman’s work for decades without reward. And although he probably isn’t reading this, his contributions to PICMG and the embedded computing industry deserve to be acknowledged.

Thank you, Stefan, for helping make PICMG what it is today: 30 years strong and counting.

— Jessica Isquith, President, PICMG

Admin Note: Contact Doug Sandy, PICMG CTO, at [email protected] to learn how you can get involved in PICMG’s technical working groups. Contact me, [email protected] if you are interested in joining PICMG or have any questions about our organization.