Pigeon Point Systems Delivers First AdvancedTCA Shelf Manager Supporting Just-Adopted Specification Revision.

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. -- Pigeon Point Systems, the leading supplier of shelf and board management solutions for AdvancedTCA(R), AdvancedMC(TM) and MicroTCA(TM), announces availability of release 2.3.0 of its market-leading Pigeon Point(TM) Shelf Manager, supporting the ATCA(R) specification revision that was just adopted by PICMG(R) in May, 2006. As with every previous major revision of the AdvancedTCA specification since its original adoption in 2002, Pigeon Point is, once again, the first in the industry to deliver a compliant Shelf Manager. Among the refinements in the specification revision - formally known as PICMG ECN 3.0-2.0-002 or ECN-002 for short - are advanced facilities for managing the cooling of an ATCA shelf. These ECN-driven enhancements are combined with Pigeon Point innovations to implement market-leading cooling management capabilities in the new release, which has already been successfully tested in the labs of major Telecom Equipment Manufacturers (TEMs) and their suppliers. The new release 2.3.0 will be available to upgrade any of the thousands of Pigeon Point Shelf Management Mezzanines (especially the second generation Pigeon Point ShMM-500) that manage the majority of the world's AdvancedTCA shelves.

The cooling-related extensions in ECN-002 support a built-in definition within an ATCA shelf of how the fans it implements relate to the boards it can house. This definition enables a shelf-independent Shelf Manager, such as the widely used Pigeon Point Shelf Manager, to automatically boost cooling from the particular fan or fans that affect a particular board that is too hot. This is just one of a wide range of specification improvements in ECN-002. Along with many other enhancements in addition to ECN-002 compliance, the new Shelf Manager supports a new cooling management algorithm that automatically finds the range of stable fan levels that minimizes fan speeds and the corresponding fan noise, while respecting the temperature thresholds defined by installed boards. Algorithms like this are crucial to meeting stringent carrier requirements on acoustic noise for a fully loaded shelf, while preserving the MTBF ratings of the boards it houses.

"We and our major TEM customers have intensively tested the new release of the Pigeon Point Shelf Manager and actively collaborated on the cooling management improvements it includes," said Laurie Burger, Director of Business Development, Pentair Technical Products. "Our partnership with Pigeon Point continues to be a vital contributor to the market-leading success of our Schroff and Electronic Solutions AdvancedTCA shelf offerings."

"Once again, with this new ECN-002 and the release of an ECN-compliant Pigeon Point Shelf Manager just a couple of months after PICMG adoption, Pigeon Point Systems is demonstrating their strong commitment to the maturation of hardware platform management for AdvancedTCA," stated Jeff Munch, CTO of ADLINK Technology and Chair of the PICMG AdvancedTCA subcommittee. "Pigeon Point's involvement in the management aspects of this specification revision was intensive and crucial. It is no surprise that their products demonstrate this same commitment to compliance and interoperability."

For additional information, contact Mark Overgaard, Pigeon Point Systems, Tel: [phone]; [e-mail]; www.pigeonpoint.com.

About Pigeon Point Systems

Pigeon Point Systems delivers world-class management components for modular platforms based on the AdvancedTCA(R), AdvancedMC(TM) and MicroTCA(TM) architectures to leading companies, worldwide. Pigeon Point's focus on providing dependable, proven solutions for the mandatory management controllers in these architectures allows customers to concentrate on the value-add aspects of their products. Deep expertise on these architectures ensures compliance and interoperability in the Pigeon Point components.

Pigeon Point, an executive member of PICMG, is a leader in its AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC and MicroTCA subcommittees and is active in many other technical subcommittees. Pigeon Point is also a contributing member of the Service Availability(TM) Forum and the Communications Platform Trade Association. For more information about Pigeon Point, visit www.pigeonpoint.com or call 831-438-1565.

Pigeon Point is a trademark of Pigeon Point Systems.