通讯设备大厂华为(Huawei)的高层主管在一场专题演说中表示，为了因应移动通信与视频传输流量需求，无线网络服务业者在2015年左右就会需要新一代的高阶系统；此新一代系统将需要具备乘载200~400Gbps数据传输速率的能力，这种系统应包含500~1,000W等级的主板 (board)，其尺寸会是目前符合Advanced TCA标准之主板的两倍，而且会需要用到液态冷却系统。
“我们可能会在接下来的五年看到因行动视频传输需求所驱动的、高达50倍的网络流量成长，并显然需要新一代的高阶服务器；”华为资深产品经理Staffan Skogby在一场美国举行的Advanced TCA高峰会上表示，他曾在5月份的一场 Scope Alliance (一个电信系统厂商组成的产业团体)研讨会上演示文稿过此一新概念，当时获得不少其它设备商的认同，包括Emerson Network Power。
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华为已着手向该联盟针对新概念正式提案，如获通过，将会有一个像是负责监管目前使用之Advanced TCA (ATCA) 主板与机箱标准的PCIMG (PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group)产业标准组织成立。Skogby表示，他已经向Scope董事会与PCIMG成员正式讨论过新概念：“我想在产业界制造一些影响力，朝着这个方向进一步实现一个标准规格。”
电信业者对他们网络的不同部分，有着看似矛盾的各种需求。举例来说，很多布建 4G 无线网络的业者所使用的是数量众多的微型基地台，而非他们在3G网络所使用的、数量较少的全尺寸基地台。但在另一方面，电信业者又要求系统设备厂商将多种功能汇集到单一个ATCA机箱中，以节省成本。
“我们已经在服务器应用程序采用ATCA规格，一切适合，未来也会持续循此模式，为该平台添加更多的应用程序；”Skogby表示：“在此同时，我们看到来自网络上大量装置与新服务所带来的行动接取与视频传输需求挑战，要克服这些挑战，我们的结论是需要一种能支持媒介与使用者层面的新平台。”
Skogby 指出，其高阶服务器的概念可能是在目前的ATCA机箱标准上，添加高阶规格，现有标准仍需要持续并用；他补充指出，华为已经在此议题上研发多年，有部分已经进入实作阶段，有部分已经商业化，还有其它部分仍在演进中。华为一直是ATCA的大力支持者，该公司已经设计了70种采用该标准的产品，到目前为止销售了3,500套ATCA系统。
华为在标准组织中的角色越来越积极；举例来说，该公司最近加入Linux Foundatio，并同意在IEEE担任推动关键云端运算标准的主导角色。Skogby先前曾担任Ericsson的高层主管，现在则是执掌华为旗下最大的欧洲研发据点。
编译：Judith Cheng
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
参考英文原文：Huawei proposes video server standard，by Rick Merritt
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Huawei proposes video server standard
Rick Merritt
SAN JOSE, Calif. – To keep up with mobile and video traffic, wireless carriers will need a new class of high-end systems by 2015, according to a Huawei executive who sketched out a concept he is proposing to other vendors and industry groups.
The next-generation system will need to carry data rates of 200 to 400 Gbits/second. To do that, it should include boards that can handle 500 to 1,000 Watts. They could be as much as twice the size of today's boards based on the Advanced TCA standard and probably will need liquid cooling.
"We could see 50x growth in network traffic over five years driven by mobile video--that definitely calls for new high-end servers," said Staffan Skogby, a senior Huawei product manager, speaking in a keynote at the Advanced TCA Summit here.
Skogby said he presented his concept at a May workshop of the Scope Alliance, a group of telecom system makers. A handful of other vendors liked the concept, including Emerson Network Power, he said.
Huawei is in the early stages of formally proposing the concept to the alliance. If the proposal is approved, it would likely go to an industry standards group such as the PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group (PICMG) that supervises the Advanced TCA (ATCA) standards for boards and chassis used by network carriers and others.
Skogby said he has talked informally about the concept with the Scope board on which he serves as well as with PICMG members. "I would like to create some impact in the industry to go forward with a standard specification in this direction," said Skogby.
Carriers have a variety of seemingly conflicting requirements for different parts of their networks. For example, many carriers are rolling out 4G wireless networks using many micro base stations rather than the few, full-sized base stations they used for 3G nets. In other parts of their networks, carriers are asking systems companies to converge multiple functions into a single ATCA chassis to save cost.
"We have adopted ATCA for server apps where we see a good fit, and will continue to go that way, adding more applications to the platform," Skogby said. "At the same time, we see the new challenge from number of mobile devices on the Net and new services driven by mobile access and video, and to meet those challenges we have concluded we need this new platform for the media and user plane," he said.
The high-end server concept could be a high-end addition to today's ATCA chassis standards which need to continue to evolve in parallel, said Skogby. At Huawei "we've had research on this for several years, part of it we are implementing, parts are already in commercial use and other parts are still evolving," he added.
Huawei has been a significant supporter of ATCA. It has designed 70 products based on the ATCA standard and has sold 3,500 systems based on it to date.
The company has been taking an increasingly pro-active role in standards groups. For example, it recently joined the Linux Foundation and agreed to chair a key cloud computing standards effort at the IEEE. Skogby is a former Ericsson executive who remains based in Stockholm, now the location of Huawei's largest European R&D group.
