Posts Tagged ‘AdvancedTCA’

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CBT Technology Inc. – The 3 W’s: What? Why? When?

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

We are ‘interrupting’ the ongoing Design Innovation blog series this month to highlight an exciting event at our company.

On October 3rd, amid much fanfare, we announced the launch of CBT Technology, Inc.  This was an important next step for us – to finally break ‘out of the extruded’ box.  Dating back to 1945 (even prior to the incorporation at Extrusion Technology Inc.!) the company’s roots were in leveraging our internal extruding capabilities to address customers packaging requirements.  As our market focus evolved, we established the XTech brand which became synonymous with ‘Extruded Front Panels and Enclosures.’

To be a full service provider to our customers,  we recognized it was critical to expand our front panel offering to encompass a broader range of products.  New architectures like ATCA and MicroTCA highlight the sheet metal front panel solutions typically associated with proprietary telecom and networking platforms.  Now, emerging ruggedized architectures like VPX demanded a new range of front panel options.

In addition – the importance of the extractors in the overall value proposition was becoming clear.  After all, it is the front panel ejector which plays a key role in the interface of the front panel with the chassis – as well as the ability to service/remove a board.  Providing our customers with complete technical solutions – means  more than the panel.  This lead us to key additions to our portfolio – namely Triple E Ruggedized solutions  and Purcell Technologies.  From Purcell PC Brackets to Triple E All Metal Ejectors – both acquisitions enabled us to significantly broaden our front panel offering for our customers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the focus on providing our customers with world class products and services – focused on key elements which attach to and support circuit boards in a full range of modalities from die cast to sheet metal to extrusions -  we had outgrown the company name Extrusion Technology.  With a global footprint and the largest offering of front panel solutions – CBT Technology Inc will continue to focus on you – our customers around the globe…

Please check out the video from Reinhold Hesse,  President and CEO announcing the change.

Please visit our new CBT Technology website.

And download  our new CBT Brochure – “CBT Technology Inc. – Out of the Box.”  Leave a comment below if you or your company have questions about the name change.

Join our employees in celebrating this next step in our company’s journey!

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Posted in Design and Engineering, Ejectors/Injectors, Front Panel | No Comments »

AMC’s – Always Made Custom (Almost) – Installment # 1 – Design Innovation Series

Thursday, July 7th, 2011

By Laurie Burger,  Chief Marketing Officer and Matt Travers,  Applications Engineer

 

AMC’s are finding their way into more and more applications – from embedded controls to ruggedized applications for transportation to high performance telecom base stations.  In almost every one of these applications – designers are challenged by size, mechanical design, and thermal requirements.  And often the answers to the specific design challenge rests in solutions which are ‘outside the standard.’  We have seen so many of these requirements that AMC’s are earning the nickname – Always Made Custom.    Well, at least it seems that way to our applications engineering team.

Matt

 

Checking in with Matt Travers – our roaming technical specialist – to shed some light on the wide variety of customized AMC solutions which our customers are utilizing.

 

Case #1: It won’t fit…

What to do when the form factor of the AMC is not a match for the requirements of the module and supporting hardware?  This was the situation with a customer configuring  AMC hard disk modules and an associated AMC Carrier.  How often have designers said, ‘ I just need a little more real estate on the AMC?’  We hear this theme over and over again.

To address this, our applications engineering team worked with the customer to tackle the challenge not only on the AMC design, but also on the mating carrier.

The customer challenged us to develop a mechanical solution offering significantly more AMC board real estate – while maintaining all the elements required for a standard ATCA Blade.

Standard mechanicals:                        The result:AMC Carrier Board, Before and After

Looks like a straightforward solution, right?  The devil as they say – was in the details.  First, the hard drive modules required a new handle design with a smaller profile…

AMC Custom Handle

Next, we had to develop the mechanical components for the carrier to accommodate a custom factor – and that included the AMC hardware.

When all was said and done – there was a customized AMC carrier mounting (struts etc),  custom front panel and handle solution,  and custom hardware for the AMC.

AMC Panel wiht Custom Handle

Just for some additional real estate…but the bottom line is the solution worked – and provided a reliable, field replaceable solution for ATCA hard drives.

For the next installment in our new series “Always Made Custom” – stay tuned to the XTECH blog.

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Posted in Design and Engineering, Ejectors/Injectors, Front Panel, Product Development | No Comments »

Another Acquisition…

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

By now you may have heard that XTech has acquired another company, making it our second in the last 12 months. These events have proven very exciting for us, as we absorb new technologies, resources, products, people, and customers.

The addition of Purcell Technologies will be no exception. They bring an extensive PCI bracket product line, additional ATCA and cPCI ejector products, increased sheet metal manufacturing capacity in China and the US, as well as an established loyal customer base. One of the immediate benefits to XTech will be the opportunity to utilize some of their sheet metal fabrication equipment for quick turn prototyping. We also look forward to working closely with their engineering group.

While Purcell will continue to operate and support their customers out of their Brentwood, CA office, XTech looks forward to working closely with them to build and improve on the synergies that exist between the two groups.

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