Product Suite Facilitates PCI Express Test

Nov. 24, 2003

At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held in September in San Jose, Agilent Technologies showed off a range of test and measurement capabilities. The E2941a Soft-touch mid-bus probe, an industry-first item, increases protocol test coverage...

Roger Allan

At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) held in September in San Jose, Agilent Technologies showed off a range of test and measurement capabilities.

The E2941a Soft-touch mid-bus probe, an industry-first item, increases protocol test coverage and eliminates the need for time-consuming test-board setups. With it, users can connect Agilent's E2960A protocol analyzer either through slot interposer probe boards or through the connectorless mid-bus probe. Engineers also can use the probe to analyze high-speed PCI Express chip-to-chip communication without influencing the signal. Expected to ship in January, the probe costs $19,000.

Agilent also demonstrated PCI Express products like the E2969A protocol test card, the N4228A half-size mid-bus connector, the E2960 protocol analyzer and exerciser, the industry-first KVM 1.0 integrated remote management software, and the E2688A serial-data-analysis option for Agilent's 54850 Infiniium scopes.

Additionally at IDF, Agilent was the first company to demonstrate bidirectional PCI Express traffic capture on Intel's x16 test platform. Agilent is collaborating with Denali Software to develop a comprehensive validation process for PCI Express technology to speed up chip designs as well.

Agilent Technologieswww.agilent.com (800) 452-4844, ext. 7843

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About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.