PCIe Switches Flaunt High Port Count

Thought to be the highest available, the company’s latest two PCIe Gen 2 switches provide 24 ports: PEX 8625 (24 lanes, 24 ports) and PEX 8636 (36 lanes, 24 ports). Both switches gain support via visionPAK, allegedly the market’s only software suite of system debug tools, evaluation, and signal-integrity utilities. They also provide the ability to multicast and integrate a multi-host feature. Multi-host switches provide multiple upstream ports to connect to several CPUs, thereby reducing the number of system components and minimizing latency. Volume prices for the PEX 8625 and PEX 8636 are $58.03 and $73.72, respectively. They are currently sampling and will be in full production later this quarter. PLX TECHNOLOGY INC., Sunnyvale, CA. (800) 759-3735.