Telecommunications chassis having mezzanine care interfaces

Abstract

A telecommunications chassis includes an array of mezzanine card interfaces and a carrier module coupled to the mezzanine card interfaces to control and manage mezzanine cards connected to the mezzanine card interfaces.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 detecting that a module has coupled to an interconnect, wherein the interconnect is coupled to a modular platform backplane; and   logically coupling the module to one of a plurality of management controllers resident on the interconnect, wherein each management controller logically appears as a management controller for different interconnects coupled to the modular platform backplane.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein detecting that the module has coupled to an interconnect comprises monitoring a module interface resident on the interconnect and determining the module has coupled when the module is received and coupled to the interface. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein logically coupling comprises mapping the module to one of the plurality of management controllers. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein the interconnect is compliant with the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture Base Specification and the plurality of management controllers comprise Intelligent Platform Management Controllers. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 4 , wherein the interconnect is a carrier card and the module is an Advance Mezzanine Card (AMC) and both the carrier card and the AMC are compliant with the AMC Specification. 
     
     
         6 . An apparatus comprising:
 an interconnect including an interface to receive and couple a module, wherein the interconnect couples to a modular platform backplane; and   a module manager to logically couple the module to one of a plurality of management controllers responsive to the interconnect, wherein each management controller logically appears as a management controller for different interconnects coupled to the modular platform backplane.   
     
     
         7 . An apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the module manager creates a mapping table to logically couple the module to one of the plurality of management controllers, wherein the mapping table is stored in a memory responsive to the plurality of management controllers. 
     
     
         8 . An apparatus according to  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of management controllers communicatively couple to a management bus on the modular platform backplane. 
     
     
         9 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein the modular platform backplane and the interconnect are compliant with the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture Base Specification and the management bus comprises an Intelligent Platform Management Bus. 
     
     
         10 . An apparatus according to  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of management controllers comprise Intelligent Platform Management Controllers. 
     
     
         11 . An apparatus according to  claim 10 , wherein the interconnect is a carrier card and the module is an Advance Mezzanine Card (AMC) and both the carrier card and the AMC are compliant with the AMC Specification. 
     
     
         12 . An apparatus according to  claim 6 , the apparatus further comprising:
 a memory to store executable content; and   a control logic, communicatively coupled with the memory, to execute the executable content, to implement an instance of the module manager.   
     
     
         13 . An apparatus according to  claim 12 , wherein the control logic comprises control logic implemented in a network processor. 
     
     
         14 . An apparatus according to  claim 6 , the apparatus further comprising:
 the interface physically appears to be resident on the module platform backplane.   
     
     
         15 . A system comprising:
 a modular platform backplane;   an interconnect including an interface, the interface to receive and couple a module, wherein the interconnect couples to the modular platform backplane; and   a module manager to logically couple the module to one of a plurality of management controllers responsive to the interconnect, wherein each management controller logically appears as a management controller for different interconnects coupled to the modular platform backplane.   
     
     
         16 . A system according to  claim 15 , wherein the plurality of management controllers communicatively couple to a management bus on the modular platform backplane. 
     
     
         17 . A system according to  claim 16 , wherein the modular platform backplane and the interconnect are compliant with the Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture Base Specification and the management bus comprises an Intelligent Platform Management Bus. 
     
     
         18 . A system according to  claim 17 , wherein the plurality of management controllers comprise Intelligent Platform Management Controllers. 
     
     
         19 . A system according to  claim 18 , wherein the interconnect is a carrier card and the module is an Advance Mezzanine Card (AMC) and both the carrier card and the AMC are compliant with the AMC Specification.