diff --git a/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/BaseMatterhornServer.h b/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/BaseMatterhornServer.h
index 8ea72b8a0..5c48751b9 100644
--- a/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/BaseMatterhornServer.h
+++ b/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/BaseMatterhornServer.h
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 #pragma once
 #include "ArmBusCommunication.hpp"
 #include "DetectorServer.h"
+#include "MatterhornDefs.hpp"
 #include "MemoryModel.hpp"
 #include "RegisterDefs.hpp"
 #include "SPICommunication.h"
-#include "SpecializedTemplates.h"
 #include "TCPInterface.h"
 #include "fmt/format.h"
 #include "sls/logger.h"
@@ -84,11 +84,13 @@ class BaseMatterhornServer
 
     // TODO: for now in MatterhornServer and not generic Server but can be
     // templated on different IPCore types for each detector
-    BusCommunication<IPCore, MemoryModel> busCommunication{};
+    BusCommunication<MatterhornDefs::MatterHornIPCores, MemoryModel>
+        busCommunication{};
 
     using SPICommunicationClass = std::conditional_t<
         std::is_same_v<DerivedServer, VirtualMatterhornServer>,
-        SPICommunication<VirtualSPICommunication<MatterhornSPIRegisters>>,
+        SPICommunication<
+            VirtualSPICommunication<MatterhornDefs::MatterhornSPIRegisters>>,
         SPICommunication<HardwareSPICommunication>>;
 
     SPICommunicationClass spiCommunication{};
diff --git a/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/MatterhornDefs.hpp b/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/MatterhornDefs.hpp
index 7123af31a..fd283b78f 100644
--- a/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/MatterhornDefs.hpp
+++ b/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/MatterhornDefs.hpp
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
 #pragma once
+#include "RegisterDefs.hpp"
+#include "SPIRegisterDefs.hpp"
+#include <array>
 #include <cstdint>
 
 namespace sls {
@@ -7,6 +10,9 @@ namespace MatterhornDefs {
 
 constexpr uint8_t NUM_CHIPS_PER_MODULE = 8;
 
+// TODO: should probably be a specialized template struct
+
+/// @brief list of Matterhorn SPI registers
 struct MatterhornSPIRegisters {
 
     constexpr static std::array<SPIRegister, 10> spiregisters{
@@ -25,6 +31,18 @@ struct MatterhornSPIRegisters {
         MatterhornDefs::NUM_CHIPS_PER_MODULE;
 };
 
+/// @brief list of Matterhorn IP cores
+struct MatterHornIPCores {
+
+    using ipcore_enum_type = IPCore;
+
+    constexpr static std::array<IPCore, 5> ipcores{
+        IPCore::MH_RO_SM_AXI, IPCore::FHDR_AXI, IPCore::AURORA_STATUS,
+        IPCore::AURORA_STATUS2, IPCore::PACKETIZERREG};
+
+    constexpr static size_t ip_core_block_size = IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE;
+};
+
 } // namespace MatterhornDefs
 
 } // namespace sls
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/SpecializedTemplates.h b/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/SpecializedTemplates.h
deleted file mode 100644
index f051ccca9..000000000
--- a/slsDetectorServers/matterhornServer/include/SpecializedTemplates.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,42 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-#include "ArmBusCommunication.hpp"
-#include "MemoryModel.hpp"
-#include "RegisterDefs.hpp"
-
-/**
- * @file SpecializedTemplates.h
- * @short contains specializations of the template classes for the Matterhorn
- * server implementation
- */
-namespace sls {
-
-template <typename MemoryModel>
-struct IpCoreRegisterBlock<IPCore, MemoryModel> {
-
-    std::map<IPCore, MemoryModel> &operator()() { return memoryblocks_; }
-
-    const std::map<IPCore, MemoryModel> &operator()() const {
-        return memoryblocks_;
-    }
-
-  private:
-    std::map<IPCore, MemoryModel> memoryblocks_{
-        {IPCore::MH_RO_SM_AXI,
-         MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(IPCore::MH_RO_SM_AXI),
-                     IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE}},
-        {IPCore::FHDR_AXI, MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(IPCore::FHDR_AXI),
-                                       IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE}},
-        {IPCore::AURORA_STATUS,
-         MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(IPCore::AURORA_STATUS),
-                     IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE}},
-        {IPCore::AURORA_STATUS2,
-         MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(IPCore::AURORA_STATUS2),
-                     IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE}},
-        {IPCore::PACKETIZERREG,
-         MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(IPCore::PACKETIZERREG),
-                     IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE}},
-        {IPCore::UNKNOWN, MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(IPCore::UNKNOWN),
-                                      IPCORE_REGISTER_BLOCK_SIZE}}};
-};
-
-} // namespace sls
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/slsDetectorServers/slsDetectorServer_cpp/include/ArmBusCommunication.hpp b/slsDetectorServers/slsDetectorServer_cpp/include/ArmBusCommunication.hpp
index 3cc5222d7..5b43bf16f 100644
--- a/slsDetectorServers/slsDetectorServer_cpp/include/ArmBusCommunication.hpp
+++ b/slsDetectorServers/slsDetectorServer_cpp/include/ArmBusCommunication.hpp
@@ -14,26 +14,12 @@
 
 namespace sls {
 
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-struct IpCoreRegisterBlock {
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel> class BusCommunication {
 
-    const std::map<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel> &operator()() const {
-        return memoryblocks_;
-    }
-
-    std::map<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel> &operator()() {
-        return memoryblocks_;
-    }
-
-  private:
-    std::map<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel> memoryblocks_;
-};
-
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-class BusCommunication {
+    using IPCoreEnumType = typename IPCores::ipcore_enum_type;
 
   public:
-    BusCommunication() = default;
+    BusCommunication();
 
     void mapToMemory();
 
@@ -41,48 +27,59 @@ class BusCommunication {
     void writeRegister(const Register &register_, const uint32_t data);
 
   private:
-    /// @brief stores register blocks for each IP core
-    IpCoreRegisterBlock<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel> ipcoreregisterblocks;
-
     void bus_w(const uint32_t offset, IPCoreEnumType baseadress,
                const uint32_t data);
 
     uint32_t bus_r(const uint32_t offset, IPCoreEnumType baseadress) const;
+
+    /// @brief map from id of IP Core to memory model for the register block of
+    /// the IP core
+    std::map<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel> ipcoreregisterblocks{};
 };
 
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-void BusCommunication<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel>::mapToMemory() {
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel>
+BusCommunication<IPCores, MemoryModel>::BusCommunication() {
 
-    for (auto &map_elem : ipcoreregisterblocks()) {
+    for (const auto &ip_core : IPCores::ipcores) {
+        ipcoreregisterblocks.emplace(ip_core,
+                                     MemoryModel{static_cast<uint32_t>(ip_core),
+                                                 IPCores::ip_core_block_size});
+    }
+}
+
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel>
+void BusCommunication<IPCores, MemoryModel>::mapToMemory() {
+
+    for (auto &map_elem : ipcoreregisterblocks) {
         map_elem.second.mapToMemory();
     }
 }
 
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-uint32_t BusCommunication<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel>::readRegister(
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel>
+uint32_t BusCommunication<IPCores, MemoryModel>::readRegister(
     const Register &register_) const {
     return bus_r(register_.offset_in_bytes, register_.ip_core);
 }
 
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-void BusCommunication<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel>::writeRegister(
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel>
+void BusCommunication<IPCores, MemoryModel>::writeRegister(
     const Register &register_, const uint32_t data) {
     bus_w(register_.offset_in_bytes, register_.ip_core, data);
 }
 
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-uint32_t BusCommunication<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel>::bus_r(
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel>
+uint32_t BusCommunication<IPCores, MemoryModel>::bus_r(
     const uint32_t offset, const IPCoreEnumType baseadress) const {
-    auto ptr1 = ipcoreregisterblocks().at(baseadress).getMappedMemoryPtr() +
+    auto ptr1 = ipcoreregisterblocks.at(baseadress).getMappedMemoryPtr() +
                 offset / (sizeof(uint32_t));
     return *ptr1;
 }
 
-template <typename IPCoreEnumType, typename MemoryModel>
-void BusCommunication<IPCoreEnumType, MemoryModel>::bus_w(
+template <typename IPCores, typename MemoryModel>
+void BusCommunication<IPCores, MemoryModel>::bus_w(
     const uint32_t offset, const IPCoreEnumType baseadress,
     const uint32_t data) {
-    auto ptr1 = ipcoreregisterblocks().at(baseadress).getMappedMemoryPtr() +
+    auto ptr1 = ipcoreregisterblocks.at(baseadress).getMappedMemoryPtr() +
                 offset / (sizeof(uint32_t));
     *ptr1 = data;
 }