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It is my great pleasure to announce a new PICMG program honoring key contributors to PICMG growth and success. Accumulating more than 23 years of Open Standards development for Embedded Computing, PICMG members have collaborated on nine major families of specifications. Hundreds of people have participated in subcommittees, providing key contributions which have led to billions of dollars of computing solutions.

As Embedded Computing changes and people move to new phases of their careers, the Officers felt it was important to acknowledge the many members, both active and inactive, who have been instrumental in the development and leadership of PICMG. For our first year of the program, we selected a large and deserving group as our initial honorees, reflecting the quantity of contributions that drive PICMG’s leadership in the industry. This proficient group contains founding members, leaders of previous successful efforts, and current initiative leaders.

Through the end of 2017, we will highlight honorees in this distinguished group, with information about their valuable contributions and accomplishments by publishing monthly articles in our newsletter and on our website. We will also establish a process to nominate future honorees.

I would like to personally thank all of them for their contributions to our 23 years of success.

Dennis Aldridge
Curt Alexander
Alan Beverly
Steve Cooper
Rob Davidson
Chris Engels
Wayne Fisher
Lou Francz
Chuck Hill
Jerry Hitchcock
Roger Hurlbert
Andreas Lenkish
Pierre McMaster
Jim Medeiros
Mark Overgaard
Joe Pavlat
Dan Pirro
Dick Somes
Bob Sullivan
Eike Waltz

Active Member Honorees:

Kevin Bross
Chuck Byers
Heiko Korte
Ray Larsen
Jeff Munch
Michael Munroe
Bob Pebly
Doug Sandy
Manfred Schmitz
Michael Thompson

The Embedded Tech Trends (ETT) media event was held in New Orleans last week and it should come as no surprise that the event was very well attended!  The quality of the presentations and media interaction was superb.  Three of the PICMG officers were in attendance.  With the new PICMG leadership, there were very important messages we wanted to convey to our colleagues in attendance.

1. Activity & presence

We intend for PICMG to be much more active and be more vocal about our efforts.  There are a lot of hidden gems and hot spots of activity for the various PICMG specifications.  We want all of you to hear about the successes, the trends, and the upcoming efforts in the community.

2. Work more closely with the publications & our members

The PICMG leadership wants to work closely with all of the various publications across the electronics spectrum.  Do you know of a new program using a PICMG technology?  Let us know and when appropriate we will help spread the word!

3. Closer communication with VITA and other groups

Jess Isquith and I spoke with VITA’s Jerry Gipper about closer collaboration between the groups.  With significant overlap of members and many of the same goals, it makes sense for the two organizations to explore areas of collaboration for mutual benefit.

4. PICMG – Commercial | Industrial | Rugged

You may notice PICMG using these words — Commercial, Industrial, Rugged.   While VITA is almost completely Mil/Aero, we want to remind the industry that PICMG is well diversified in Industrial, Transportation, Mil/Aero, Medical, Physics/Research, Energy, Communications, and many other industries.

5. We are Rugged too

With the incredible success of the xTCA specifications in Communications, many in the industry forget that PICMG has very rugged implementations of CompactPCI/Serial, AdvancedTCA, MicroTCA, PICMG 1.3, and COM Express.  CompactPCI Serial for Space and Rugged COM Express are on the way.  Let’s not forget that its CompactPCI on the Mars Rover over 225 million kilometers away.

We at PICMG look forward to many exciting advances to come in 2017 and beyond.

Justin Moll, VP of Marketing

2017 marks significant changes for PICMG. As your new president, I am excited to work with incoming VP of Marketing, Justin Moll, returning officers Doug Sandy and Michael Munroe, and our 150+ members. Our key organizational initiatives for this year include modernizing and updating our specifications distribution, creating user groups for standards and families, encouraging collaboration with complementary standards organizations, and starting a university outreach program.

Active standards work will lead to substantial enhancements of COM Express, MicroTCA, CompactPCI Serial Space and AdvancedTCA. PICMG-based product shipments are positioned for a strong year due to the continued growth of COM Express, the adoption of CompactPCI Serial, and the steady deployments of other standards. Over one third of PICMG members will exhibit at Embedded World in March, and we officers will there to support and meet with you.

If you are interested in any of the initiatives and activities mentioned, please contact me at [email protected] or all of the officers at [email protected]. Participation and member driven innovation are the keys to our future success and we thank you for your support.