[Arm-netbook] EOMA server standard

[luke.leighton]

ok, right.  i've been talking to some companies and the need for a
standard which covers data centres - e.g. has 10Gigabit Ethernet - has
come up.

it turns out that 10GBase-T is 500mhz and 16-way PAM over each of the
2-twisted-pairs that go onto a standard RJ-45.  so, *fast*, but also
staggeringly power-hungry.  this 10GBase-T PHY IC has one variant at
2.4 watts and another at 6 watts:
   http://www.solarflare.com/Ethernet-Controllers-LOMs

so the question i'm raising is: what would people see as being the
most appropriate general-purpose and lowest-common-denominator
"upgradeable" interfaces to have on an EOMA standard?  and, what case
would be good to re-use?

for the pin-outs i figured that at least one 10GBase-T interface (8
pins plus 8 GND spacers) would be acceptable, as would SATA-3 (4 pins
plus 4 GND spacers).  that's 24 pins already (!).  PCI-Express 4x is
64 pins.  that's up to 88 *already*.  adding in USB3, it's not
unreasonable to imagine this would be a 100-pin standard.

so this is going to need some really careful thought.

l.