Switches and bridges pass the PCI Express test

Three PCI Express devices from PLX Technology are now fully qualified, having completed extensive reliability, quality, functionality and compatibility testing programmes.

Three PCI Express (PCIe) devices from PLX Technology - the PEX 8111 bridge, and PEX 8516 and PEX 8532 switches - are now fully qualified, having completed extensive reliability, quality, functionality and compatibility testing programmes.

"We're pleased with the continued adoption of the PCI Express standard, as well as the acceptance of our PCI Express switch and bridge products", said David Raun, Vice President of Marketing at PLX.

"Customers started working with samples in late 2004, and since then have begun transitioning to initial production of our fully qualified devices".

The PEX 8111 PCI Express-to-PCI bridge allows legacy PCI devices to be used with PCIe systems in forward-bridging mode.

This allows PLX customers to quickly offer products that can plug into PCIe slots.

Alternatively, it enables conventional PCI processors and chipsets to configure and control PCIe switches and endpoints in reverse-bridging mode.

In the case of an addon card, the reverse mode allows the latest generation of feature-packed PCIe silicon to create legacy cards to service the large PCI installed base.

The lowest-power and smallest PCIe bridge on the market today, the PEX 8111 provides a bridge from a single PCIe lane (x1) to the standard 32bit PCIbus.

The device is compliant with the PCIe base 1.0a standard, as well as the most recent PCI 3.0 specification, and is on the PCI-SIG Integrators List as such.

The device consumes less than 500mW of power and is available in a 10 x 10mm package.

The PEX 8516 (four ports, 16 lanes) and PEX 8532 (eight ports, 32 lanes) are the most versatile PCIe switches on the market.

Applications vary from expanding PCIe slots and end points in servers, to enabling multi-channel cards including Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet, and graphics.

Any port can be configured as x1, x2, x4, x8 or x16 in the case of the 32-lane device.

The port width, as well as whether a port is upstream or downstream, is configured through hardware strapping, software configuration or an optional EEPROM.

Both devices feature a standard hot-plug controller on each port to enable field upgrades; optional end-to-end cyclical redundancy checks (CRC) to support the applications that require the guarantee of data integrity while they move from source to destination; and supports basic as well as advanced error reporting, thus easing system development, debug and optimisation.

The PEX 8516 and PEX 8532 enable quality of service through the mapping of eight traffic classes on the two virtual channels (VCs), with per-port and per-VC arbitration.

Each switch's nontransparent bridge function allows the user to isolate two host or memory domains, enabling use of PCIe technology in intelligent I/O modules, dual-host and multihost architectures.

The PEX 8516 is packaged in a 27 x 27mm, 312-pin BGA package; the PEX 8532 in a 35 x 35mm, 680-pin BGA package.

Each member of the PLX ExpressLane line of PCIe switches and bridges family is available in leaded and lead-free packaging.

Along with qualified-production volume of the PEX 8111, PEX 8516 and PEX 8532, designers also can order PLX rapid development kit (RDK) packages to evaluate each device's features, streamline product development and quickly bring designs to market.

Each RDK comes with a proven, working hardware platform incorporating the specific ExpressLane device, along with a complete set of board schematics, CAD symbols and layout files for hardware design, and an extensive software support package that includes a graphical utility for access to chip registers, sample drivers and support for Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems.

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