Elma helps with PCI Express development

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Apr 14, 2003

Elma Electronic and PLX Technology have formed an alliance to develop and validate PCI Express-based AdvancedTCA (ATCA) solutions for next-generation telecomms systems.

Elma Electronic and PLX Technology have formed an alliance to develop and validate PCI Express-based AdvancedTCA (ATCA) solutions for next-generation telecomms systems.

The recently announced PLX PCI Express I/O interconnect silicon will use AdvancedTCA backplanes from Bustronic, Elma's backplane division in the Americas, as both a validation platform and a system verification tool.

This partnership was created to ensure silicon quality, as well as prove chassis-level operation of PCI Express.

PLX and Elma each will be committing engineering and marketing resources to support this effort.

"This exciting partnership enables us to provide system designers and manufacturers with an optimal, low-risk, cost-effective solution", said Larry Chisvin, vice president of marketing at PLX Technology.

"This alliance, coupled with the technical expertise of both parties, helps assure rapid development of products using our combined solution".

In order to assure silicon success, today's engineers need a stable platform to validate their silicon designs.

ATCA is a natural choice because it provides ample real estate and exceptional power and cooling characteristics.

Furthermore, ATCA will be the preferred platform that many end users will use to implement their communications solutions.

PLX is partnering with Elma and will be conducting silicon evaluation of its PCI Express switch and bridge designs using the Elma chassis.

"Elma is excited to continue working with PLX on new solutions like PCI Express", commented Shan Morgan, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Elma.

"Our expertise in high-performance backplane and chassis design is a strong fit with PLX's expertise in high-speed interconnects".

Elma Electronic has developed a PICMG 3.4-compliant, 14-slot Dual Star ATCA chassis, designed to run PCI Express protocol.

The ATCA platform is a 19in rack-mount shelf that is 12U high x 400mm deep.

Designed to hold fourteen 8U x 280mm blades on 1.2in spacing, it also has rear I/O options for 8U x 70mm cards.

Three plug-in fan trays, each with dual 180ft3/min high-performance fans, provides front to rear cooling for the chassis.

Designed for redundant operation, the fan trays are located below the cards and provide alarm output for shelf management.

PLX's PCI Express interconnect design in Elma's ATCA unit will demonstrate multi-gigabit performance in a single chassis, showing how the silicon will operate in real-world applications.

Additionally, the partnership will demonstrate PLX PCI Express silicon's full compliance with the PCI Special Interest Group specification.

The combination of Elma's system-level leadership and PLX's semiconductor expertise will help to ensure standardised, efficient system operation, resulting in reduced time to market for system designers and manufacturers.