PCIe Switch Supports Five Ports/16 Lanes

Emerging as the company's second generation ExpressLane PCI Express (PCIe) switch, the PEX 8518 debuts as the industry’s first five-port, 16-lane PCIe switching device. In a 23 mm x 23 mm BGA package, the device features a cut-through architecture that boosts data throughput while keeping packet latency under 150 ns. The five ports allow matching of each port to an end-point's bandwidth requirements, such as pairing a x2 PCIe port with a 3 Gb/s SCSI interface, and the 16 lanes are configurable as five hot-pluggable ports of varying widths. All ports are configurable as upstream in widths from x1 to x8. Quality of service comes by way of two virtual channels per port. An I2C bus acts as an out-of-band interface for configuring AdvancedTCA chassis and router applications. Implementation support is via the PEX 8518RDK kit that includes a hardware platform with the PEX 8518, a complete set of schematics, symbols, layout files, and a comprehensive software kit. Sampling in January 2006, price for the PEX 8518 is under $30 each in volume quantities. The PEX 8518RDK will also be available in January, priced at $900. PLX TECHNOLOGY INC., Sunnyvale, CA. (800) 759-3735