Product category:
Communications ICs (Wired)
News Release from: IDT | Subject: Precise
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 07 March 2005
Chips promise cost-effective bridge to
PCI Express
New from IDT, the Precise family of PCI Express solutions consists of four bridging and switching products, demonstrating its commitment to standards-based serial switching.
New from IDT, the Precise family of PCI Express solutions consists of four bridging and switching products, demonstrating its commitment to standards-based serial switching Aimed at high-performance server and storage applications, the IDT devices will be the first to provide cost effective PCI-Express I/O expansion and bridging solutions
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 24 Jul 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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IDT has released a complete hardware/software development kit for its three-port, 24-lane Precise PCI Express switching solution.
IDT will also offer customers a complete hardware/software development kit that includes evaluation boards, Linux- and Windows-based software drivers and a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables complete system configuration and optimisation.
The solutions will be offered at price points that meet the needs of mainstream server and storage system OEMs, with the intent of lowering the overall cost per gigabyte of switching.
IDT is offering two three-port PCI Express fan-out switches, including the PES12N3 (12-lane) and PES24N3 (24-lane) devices.
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The IDT PCI Express switches provide I/O expansion to augment "north bridge" devices with additional high-performance I/O connectivity.
The Precise family also includes the PEB20N1, a PCI Express to PCI-X 2.0 mode 1 bridge and the PEB20N2, a PCI Express to PCI-X 2.0 mode 2 bridge.
The PEB20N2 is the first of its kind and is an ideal solution for high-performance server applications.
These devices bridge high-performance PCI Express ports to legacy peripherals, enabling designers to maintain CPU performance while leveraging existing and commoditised peripherals with legacy interfaces.
This process is commonly referred to as "forward bridging".
The devices also aid in the task of "reverse bridging" - acting as an interface between legacy north bridge ports, typically in the form of PCI-X, to newer PCI Express-based peripherals.
The initial family of PCI Express bridging and switching are all backwards compatible to PCI-X standards.
"Alternative PCI Express bridging and switching devices have taken the form of general-purpose devices - they provide a host of features to service a myriad of applications, most of which are not necessary in today's high-performance computing and storage applications", said Mario Montana, Director of Marketing for the IDT Serial-Switching Division.
"The result is an overarchitected, expensive device".
"We have worked closely with our customers over the past year to apply our switching systems expertise, and software proficiency, to develop optimised solutions that meet the critical needs of the server and storage market".
"Intel has been a long-time proponent of standards-based serial switching because it leads to broader, more cost-effective adoption of the latest technology", said Jim Pappas, Director of Initiative Marketing for Intel's Digital Enterprise Group.
"With companies such as IDT now delivering products that support PCI Express, enterprise server and storage equipment makers will be able to provide cost-effective I/O expansion and bridging solutions".
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