One of the benefits of VPX is lots of pins and possibilities - but it's also a drawback, because there are almost too many choices. Toss in legacy VME boards and it gets even more interesting. Add in further options for slot pitch, cooling options, and ESD control with REDI, and the choices for packaging get numerous as well. How do designers navigate the field of choices and get backplanes, system packaging, single board computers, and I/O boards to work together? Listening to the experts in VPX and VPX-REDI, we'll learn about the key elements of the standards, what's been learned from practical implementations including using legacy VME boards with VPX boards in a system, what new initiatives like OpenVPX mean, and what to consider when architecting VPX systems to make sure implementations go smoothly.