VersaLogic EBX Single Board Computers - The Next Generation

Author - Laura

As part of their ongoing mission to provide reliable, cutting edge Single Board Computers (SBC) for the most demanding applications, VersaLogic has introduced two new EBX format boards.

Designed as a migration path for the Mamba, Python and Sidewinder boards, which are all now in the End of Life phase of their life cycle, the Anaconda and the Copperhead both offer a variety of I/O interfaces, multiple expansions buses, and thermal management options providing systems designers with flexibility and lower overall system cost.

VersaLogic's embedded computers are designed for the most demanding applications. From ultra small (credit card size) to industry-standard PC/104, EPIC and EBX format boards, their x86 compatible computers are used whenever reliability counts. They thrive in the harshest environments including temperature extremes (-40° to +85°C), shock, vibration, and humidity.

All VersaLogic computers are x86 compatible, allowing you to use standard Windows or Linux operating systems and your familiar development tools to create applications. Careful design and parts selection enables VersaLogic to manufacture most products for 5 to 10 years. VersaLogic backs every product with a 5-year minimum production life guarantee, as well as an industry leading 5 year warranty on all SBCs and expansion modules.

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on +44 1672 511166 or send us an email.

DAVE Embedded Systems is a Certified Member of Xilinx Alliance Program

Xilinx Alliance Program Members are qualified companies worldwide that have a proven track record of delivering products and services on Xilinx programmable platforms. Members have to demonstrate qualified expertise on the latest Xilinx devices and implementation techniques and consistently deliver high quality products and services on Xilinx programmable platforms.

DAVE Embedded Systems has been certified as a member of the Xilinx Alliance Program, following their success with the new Xilinx Zynq-based BORA and BORA Express modules.

Certified Members have invested in passing a comprehensive 320-point review of their technical, business, quality, and support processes and have committed engineers to passing the same rigorous training used by Xilinx Field Application Engineers worldwide. Certified Member engineers annually refresh Certification training to ensure they have updated expertise on the latest products and technologies from Xilinx.

For more information about DAVE Embedded Systems and the Xilinx Member Alliance Program please contact the Sarsen Team on 01672 511166, or email us with your question.

Industry Article - How to evolve a risk-based FPGA strategy into a value add strategy

Fixnetix is a leading managed service provider for the global financial community, with a team of highly skilled professionals tasked with developing and providing dynamic products and solutions to meet the ever changing requirements of the banking industry.

Dr Marcus Perrett, Director of Technology and Development, provides an insight into the use of FPGA technology in the finance industry.

How Fixnetix has evolved their risk-based FPGA strategy into a value add strategy 

The use of FPGAs in finance was originally driven by regulation. Brokers were encouraged (or mandated by regulation) to have controls in place to monitor and, if required, cancel or stop clients trading. As clients had traditionally enjoyed direct access to the market via a broker, a system that was positioned between a trading system and the exchange needed to be a fast as possible to reduce the impact to a client’s trading strategy. Hence, FPGA technology was employed to great effect in a number of configurations; some banks built their own systems and several vendors built their own.

Fixnetix has enjoyed success using that model in Canada, where regulation has driven the need for a low latency risk solution for latency sensitive clients trade flows via a broker.

However, regulation alone has not proven to be the only driving factor for the use of FPGA in the finance area. For example, in Japan, the native exchange (TSE) utilises a complex and verbose protocol called arrowhead. In addition, the rules around erroneous trades and protocol discipline are onerous and for potential new entrants into that market it can be a daunting task to overcome.

Several brokers have solved this issue by offering FIX to arrowhead translation services to allow easy and ubiquitous trading, the downside being that such systems are very slow due to the amount of processing required to perform the translation into arrowhead and even more so in generating FIX compliant messages in the return path; this requires Persistence (storage of incoming FIX tags for later use) and Enrichment (calculation of values not available in arrowhead message such as Average Price).

What did Fixnetix do?

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Altera Stratix® V GX/GS PCIe Board with Dual QSFP+

BittWare's S5-PCIe (S5PE) is a PCIe x8 card based on the high-bandwidth, power-efficient Altera Stratix V GX or GS FPGA. 

For more information please contact Sarsen Technology on 01672 511166, or send us an email with your enquiry.