Officials at Litton GNC in Woodland Hills, Calif., needed a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) enclosure for a top-secret U.S. military project. They found their answer with the Model 722 industrial rack mount PC metal enclosure from SBS Microalliance in Vista, Calif.
Litton GNC engineers liked the 722`s "size and thermal capacity," says Bob Pauley, project engineer at Litton GNC. The device`s 400 watts of power and PCI slots were also a factor, Pauley adds.
In addition to more PCI slots, customers also want more drive bays, more expansion slots, and a redundant power supply, says Bob Hunold, director of sales and marketing at SBS Microalliance.
COTS has helped SBS Microalliance`s business because putting commercial-grade boards in a rugged package "is exactly what we do," Hunold says. Mostly SBS engineers receive single-board computers with plastic-encapsulated parts that must be protected in a harsh environment, he adds.
"Usually the customer will take our product right off the shelf and make only minimal modifications," Hunold says. Litton GNC engineers customized the SBS enclosure slightly, he adds.
The Model 722 is a high-capacity, rugged unit appropriate for special applications such as file servers or telecommunications systems. This enclosure is capable of housing several separate computer systems, which saves rack space, SBS officials claim.
The SBS device comes with a 20-slot ISA passive backplane, but can accommodate a variety of PCI/ISA backplanes with 4, 6, or 16 PCI slots. The enclosure provides 10 shock-mounted peripheral bays, six of which are accessible through a front-panel door. Another four 3.5-inch drive bays are internal and accessible through the rear panel. The six front-accessible drive bays are mounted on a removable tray for maintenance.
Cooling comes from four high-efficiency, ball-bearing fans. Users can gain access to a removable filter and control panel through the front panel. The controls consist of a recessed power and reset switch with power-on and hard drive LEDs. There is room for additional system controls or special switches and connections to meet customers` specific needs.
A 400-watt, 115/230-volt AC power supply is standard. Dual-redundant hot-swap 300-watt or 24/48-volt DC power supplies are optional. The metal enclosure provides EMI/RFI shielding and line transient protection. Single- or dual-card hold-down brackets add to shock-dampening attributes of the enclosure.
The 722 can accept single-board computers and motherboards from the 80486DX4-100MHz to the Pentium II. - J.M.
For more information on the Model 722 or SBS Microalliance contact Bob Hunold by phone at 888-598-8111, by fax at 760-598-1990, by mail at SBS Micro Alliance, 1384-A Poinsettia Ave., Vista, Calif. 92083, by e-mail at [email protected], or on the World Wide Web at http:// www.sbs-microalliance.com.
The Model 722, a COTS rack-mount PC metal enclosure from SBS Micro-alliance was chosen by officials at Litton GNC for a U.S. military black project.
