Hewlett-Packard said it is dumping a server initiative based on the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture in favor of offering its own series of telecom blade servers. One of the benefits of ATCA is that it creates hardware interoperability that allows customers greater flexibility to mix and match products. For equipment vendors, it can provide similar flexibility to mix and match best-of-breed components.
However, the logic of interoperability is sometimes at odds with market reality and the ambitions of companies to provide their own end-to-end, turnkey solutions to their customers. Some vendors won't offer something like ATCA unless customers demand it, but if the vendors don't promote it much, not a lot of customers will ask for it. ATCA may stay in the background unless someone decides it's worth the same promotional energy that telecom companies have invested in other technologies, like, say, IMS.
For more:
- see this story in Light Reading
Related articles:
- The ATCA market hasn't lived up to lofty expectations