COM-HPC PMI
July 21, 2021
Blog
The PICMG COM-HPC team has met another key milestone. The Platform Management Interface (PMI) specification has been ratified and published! This marks the first time that platform management capabilities are defined for a Computer-on-Module standard. PMI enables critical edge server requirements including reliability, availability, maintainability, and safety (RAMS). COM-HPC® IPMI is an addendum to the COM-HPC open standard, which provides a framework of platform management features for COM-HPC modules. The framework is intended to guide how to achieve interoperability between COM-HPC modules from different vendors and combinations of carrier boards. In addition to targeting an intelligent platform management interface, this specification also touches on Redfish implementation.
IPMI is a collection of side-band/out-of-band management commands that are used to interact with the system. IPMI firmware generally runs on a board management controller, a discrete integrated circuit that is accessed via a network connection and/or serial interface, and/or LPC/eSPI. The last revision of the IPMI specification was released in 2013. Redfish, a standard managed by DMTF, provides a restful interface for the management of systems. Redfish is still under active development, and it continues to evolve as new use cases are discovered.
The document describes three different types of modules and two different types of carrier boards. The goal of describing these different combinations of modules and carriers is to allow interoperability between multiple module vendors Management capabilities, a carrier board design, and the ability to implement additional management capabilities in their carrier board designs. The different module management capabilities are broken down by their adherence to a set of IPMI commands listed below. Modules that would like to describe themselves as compliant with the specification should ensure that they implement the necessary IPMI commands listed below. The same applies to carrier board implementations.
The COM-HPC base, Embedded EPROM, Platform Management specifications, and Design Guide are available for download on the at picmg.org/openstandards/com-hpc/. A preview document and additional resources, including the COM-HPC Academy video tutorial series are also available on the PICMG website.
Jessica Isquith is the President of the PICMG consortium of companies and organizations that collaboratively develop open standards for embedded computing applications. She has over twenty years of leadership experience in the Embedded Computing industry. Her roles have included President of Aurora Technologies and Vice President of Marketing at Carlo Gavazzi / SIE Computing Solutions. Jessica is the founder of TISOAA, which provides strategic marketing services to a wide array of emerging technology companies. She holds bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from Tufts University.
