M-Modules are standardized as ANSI/VITA 12-1996 expansion cards and are especially suited for adding any kind of real-world I/O to a system in a flexible way.
The mezzanine approach to placing multiple functions in a single card slot has been around for a long time both in proprietary and open standard forms.
The M-Module is one open standard that is gaining increasing popularity for applications in the fields of analog and digital I/O, instrumentation, robotics, motion functions and fieldbuses.
This standard was originally developed in Germany by MEN Mikro Elektronik for VMEbus applications and was soon expanded to support the CompactPCI bus as well.
Perhaps the greatest advantage of an M-Module mezzanine instrument is the ability of both the vendor and the user to become "Platform Agnostic".
From the vendor's perspective, it is only necessary to develop one instrument, say a Pulse Generator, and with the use of carriers he can produce the same product into VXI, PXI, VME, LXI and other applications.