Intel offers ExCA card-swap spec to PCMCIA

Electronic News, May 17, 1993 by Craig Stedman

BOSTON--The PCMCIA committee appears to be leaning toward adopting Intel's Exchangeable Card architecture (ExCA) specification as the formal framework for building x86 and Pentium machines complying to the memory and peripheral card standard, while also looking at applying ExCA to non-Intel MPUs such as AT&T's Hobbit and devices from Apple supplier Advanced RISC Machines (ARM).

The latter move would create a single multi-platform development guide for system vendors, since ExCA was said to put a tighter definition on R&D options than the existing PCMCIA spec. Adopting ExCA as a standard design framework would be a means of ensuring that PCMCIA cards could interoperate between systems from different vendors--a somewhat thorny issue at present that committee chairman John Reimer views as "one of the most important things we're facing."

Nevertheless, PCMCIA officials said further talks must be undertaken before ExCA is adopted as an across-the-board standard. "Whether it's architecture-specific and we'd need something else (for other devices), that's not clear yet," Mr. Reimer said. "We're still in the middle of those discussions on whether it could be generalized or has to remain centric to x86."

Renee Bader, a committee member and strategic marketing manager for portables at NEC Technologies, added that the multi-platform issue would be looked at "very closely, because it is a major concern. You need to be exchangeable with other architectures."

Virtually all of the portable machines shipping today are x86-based, and ExCA is already seen as a de facto standard for those systems. However, personal communicators based on other MPUs are coming to market with PCMCIA slots, and RISC notebooks are in the works.

A vote on adopting ExCA is expected at the next PCMCIA committee meeting June 19 in Munich, Ms. Bader said. She sees "significant momentum" in favor of accepting ExCA, which was offered to the committee by Intel free of charge. Jim Weisenstein, director of flash card systems at Intel and PCMCIA president, couldn't be reached for further comment.

The PCMCIA spec currently allows for some flexibility in various aspects of system design, which has contributed to interoperability problems with some early machines and cards. With ExCA, "some of the things that were left flexible are firm," Ms. Bader noted.

Having tighter guidelines would also allow the committee to set up compliance test suites and hardware certification procedures. A new subcommittee has been set up to work on that issue, with Mr. Reimer hoping to develop a logo that could be put on complying products.

The PCMCIA organization "would almost certainly rename" ExCA, to provide separation from Intel, "and there would probably be some changes to it," Mr. Reimer said. Adapting the architecture so it could apply to other platforms is one potential example.

While building ExCA into the standard would virtually mandate use of the controller devices that Intel and second sources such as Vadem are marketing in support of the architecture, the company's offer is being portrayed by PCMCIA as relatively magnanimous. "They know (interoperability) needs to exist, and the way to jumpstart the committee is to just give it to them and let them take it," Ms. Bader said. Also expected to help is the recent finalizing of software-level specs governing card and socket operations.