September 16, 2026
Off-the-shelf development enables rapid platform integration and qualification of small form factor prototype systems.
FREMONT, Calif., Sept 2026 – Elma Electronic has released the rugged VersaPLUS Deployment Kit, the first VNX+ application-ready kit available that facilitates the integration, qualification and deployment of systems based on the VITA 90 small form factor standard.
Available off-the-shelf, the Deployment Kit seamlessly enables development-to-deployment within the same system, bringing compact, mission-ready applications to market at a fraction of the time typically needed to deliver an embedded computing system. Specific applications include drones, unmanned ground and maritime systems, wearable and dismounted systems as well as C4ISR edge nodes.
Weighing less than six lbs, the kit comes pre-assembled and configured with a Raspberry Pi CM5-based VNX+ Single Board Computer giving developers access to a mature Linux ecosystem. An additional payload slot allows for different expansion modules, including GPU, FPGA or high-speed I/O, depending on the intended application.
Mark Littlefield, Director, Embedded Technology, for Elma Electronic, stated, “Architecturally, VNX+ follows the same design principles as OpenVPX, giving developers a familiar baseline when working on small form factor systems. VersaPLUS builds on that familiarity by providing a streamlined path for VNX+ application development to quickly move from integration to qualification to field deployment.”
The VersaPLUS features a chassis and backplane aligned to SOSA to support open standards-based upgrades and facilitate rapid technology insertion as well as ensure long life cycle support.
The VersaPLUS also includes a 320W power supply in a dedicated VITA 90.3 PSU slot and a VITA 46.11 Tier-3 Chassis Manager with an integrated maintenance port aggregator that provides out-of-band management through the front panel.
The included cabling kit breaks out each rugged front panel connector into a commercial I/O interface for use with standard lab equipment during system development.
The Kit’s architecture features a 40G BASE-KR4 Data Plane, a 10GBASE-KR Control Plane and a PCIe Gen4 Expansion Plane. VersaPLUS is qualified to MIL-STD-810, MIL-STD-461, MIL-STD-704, MIL-STD-1257 and D0-160 sec.