PCA200E Interface Card

These cards are no longer supported. Use one of the C400P/E cards instead. These cards are long deprecated and no longer supported by any OpenSS7 driver. If you are looking for an ATM interface, consider the Optranex248 card instead.

The PCA 200E card is a 155MHz ATM card manufactured by Marconi (formerly FORE). The figure below shows a picture of an PCA 200E card.

(Click image to enlarge.)

The PCA 200E cards have a good level of signalling performance because they have an on-board 25MHz i960 Intel RISC processor performing cell processing using buffer rings in the same manner as an Ethernet controller.

Driver

Features

Following are some features of the PCA200E card:

155 MHz ATM, ST/SC SM/MM and RJ-45 UTP 5
AAL1, AAL2, AAL3 and AAL5 modes.
Integrated 25 MHz i960 RISC cell processor.
Enhance SAR Processor (ESP) ASIC
Special-purpose hardware for AAL5 and AAL3/4, HEC, and CRC calculations.
Dual-ported RAM and Buffer Ring technique similar to Ethernet Controller.
Serial communications emulation.
Supports ABR
ATM cell processing per ANSI T1S1.5/92-002R3, ITU I.361, ATM Form UNI v3.0, 3.1, 4.0

Advantages

Following are the advantages of the PCA200E card:

Inexpensive (about $200 a card).
Supports MTP3b.
Can support 3GPP UMTS Iu User and Control Plane over PVCs.

Disadvantages

Following are the disadvantages of the PCA200E card:

Does not support traditional SS7 links.
Requires external ATM switch or point-to-point ATM connection.

Disclaimer

Note: Some of the information in this hardware selection guide may be incomplete, incorrect, out of date, or inconsistent with the vendor's actual offerings. Also note that this hardware selection guide does not constitute an endorsement of anyone's product or service. The authors of the OpenSS7, their sponsors, agents and representatives will not take responsibility in it.

Please use good business sense when considering any vendor's products and consult with the individual vendor before making any decisions. Please do, however, investigate the product and service offerings of the sponsors listed on our Sponsors page: it is through your support of our sponsors that the OpenSS7 Project exists and is funded to continue.