connectivityZONE Products for the week of March 14, 2005
IDT Says…
PCI "Express Train" Gains Momentum: IDT's
Family Of PCI Express-Based Switches And Bridges Are Optimized For Server
And Storage Markets
IDT has demonstrated proof of its commitment to standards-based
serial switching with the introduction of four PCI Express bridging and
switching solutions. Aimed at high-performance computing, server and storage
applications, the IDT devices will be the first to provide cost-effective
PCI-Express I/O expansion and bridging solutions. IDT will also offer customers
a complete hardware/software development kit that includes evaluation boards,
software drivers and a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables complete
system configuration and optimization. The solutions will be offered at
price points that meet the needs of mainstream server and storage system
OEMs, with the intent of lowering the overall cost per Gigabyte of switching.
"Alternative PCI Express bridging and switching solutions have taken the form of general-purpose devices - they provide a host of features to service a myriad of applications, most of which are not necessary in today's high-performance computing and storage applications," said Mario Montana, director of marketing for the IDT serial-switching division. "The result is an over-architected, expensive device. We have worked closely with our customers over the past year to apply our switching systems expertise and software proficiency to develop optimized solutions that meet the critical needs of the server and storage markets."
IDT PCI Express Bridging and Switching Solutions
The company's initial family of PCI Express bridging and switching solutions
includes four devices, which are all backwards compatible to PCI-X standards.
IDT is offering two 3-port PCI Express fan-out switches, including 12-lane and 24-lane devices. The IDT PCI Express switches provide I/O expansion to augment "north bridge" devices with additional high-performance I/O connectivity.
The family also includes a PCI Express to PCI-X 2.0 mode 1 bridge and a PCI Express to PCI-X 2.0 mode 2 bridge. The PCI Express to PCI-X 2.0 mode 2 bridge is the first of its kind and is an ideal solution for high-performance server applications. These devices bridge high-performance PCI Express ports to legacy peripherals, enabling designers to maintain CPU performance while leveraging existing and commoditized peripherals with legacy interfaces. This process is commonly referred to as "forward bridging." The devices also aid in the task of "reverse bridging" - acting as an interface between legacy north bridge ports, typically in the form of PCI-X, to newer PCI Express-based peripherals.
Hardware and Software Development Support
Each IDT PCI Express bridging and switching solution will be supported with
an optimized hardware/software development kit, which contains several components.
A hardware evaluation board is customized for product demonstrations, software
development and initial system-performance benchmarking. Board form factors
and specifications will enable interfacing to off-the-shelf components for
robust system emulation. The development kit also includes Linux- and Windows-based
software drivers. These are re-usable by customers to reduce software development
efforts and costs. Additionally, IDT is offering a GUI-based software application
environment to enable system configuration and optimization.
analogZONE Says . . .
I have my issues with PCI-Express, but it may end up becoming the fourth element of the current holy trinity that you don't bet against -- copper, TCP/IP, and CMOS. And IDT's release of a family of bridging and switching products has added momentum to the "Express Train" by providing some excellent building blocks for next-generation Express-based systems. They are especially well-timed that they should do well because they fit an important, and rapidly-growing segment of the PCI-Express ecology.
IDT's first family of PCI-Express switching elements are intended to increase the fanout between root and endpoint nodes in PCI Express systems, and also enable bridging to legacy PCI-X/PCI elements. Their aim is to provide the extra connectivity in high-capacity systems and reduce the cost of switching in cost-conscious markets. They have wisely avoided the temptation to produce the feature-laden "Swiss Army Knife" approach found in earlier products from other companies, and stuck to the basic functions needed to get most jobs done in a cost-effective manner. These lean-and-mean chips focus on apps with single processor and multiple end points using "transparent mode" where endpoints are all memory-mapped in the processor's memory. They also support "non-transparent" bridging through a second port for redundant CPUs in mission-critical applications.
Of course keeping it simple means that these chips do have their limits. For example, the switch chips are not really useful for supporting more complex inter-processor communications, such as multi-port mastering (required for true multi-processor applications). But since these applications comprise a minority of the market for the moment, IDT seems to have wisely targeted their offerings at the place where they can grab the largest market share. The products they will roll out later will probably support multi-port mastering, as well as track the new "I/O Virtualization" standard (under development in PCI Express SIG ) that allows two processors to share the same I/O.
The two other introductions are bridges for PCI-X mode 1 and 2. Mode 2 gives you up to 2 Gbyte/s transfer rate over 8 lanes of PCI Express. Mode 1 carries 1G over 4X PCI-E. These bridges will find lots of applications providing legacy support and flexibility in designs during the transitional period between parallel and serial processor busses. They will likely be handy for I/O expansion to lots of high-performance peripherals, and forward bridging a PCI Express CPU to PCI/X peripheral. And, as the release points out, they'll also be useful for "reverse bridging" of newer I/O to older PCI/X busses, a feature that will come in handy for re-use of many storage elements during these transitional times.
These products are a good example of how IDT has made good use of both internally-developed technologies and those from some smart acquisitions to move the company's product mix away from generic products towards larger, more complex value-add elements such as packet processing, switch fabrics, and essential "glue" elements. It's probably a good idea to mention that some of the secret sauce in IDT's newly-established "Serial Switching Division" is the result of a careful blending of the expertise from Zetacom & Internet Machines technologies (which were some of the most formidable packet processing engines and switching products in their day) with its internal expertise in MIPS processors. One great example of this is the on-chip parity scheme, which provides CRC, End-to-end CRC, error detection, and a proprietary internal datapath error correction for 2-bit detect 1-bit correct on all soft errors on chip. The internal parity capability is most likely sharing genetic code from Zettacom, which had internal error correction as well. But wherever it came from, the added data integrity will be an important differentiator for mission-critical applications now, and may well eventually become a "must-have" feature in enterprise-class server and SAN products.
These parts will be right at home in ATCA and other chassis-based applications, thanks to their compliance with PCI-E hot swap and hot plug requirements. This makes them well-suited for their target markets in mid-high-end servers, and blade servers, as well as SAN, NAS and RAID subsystems. They'll also find many other applications in other embedded designs where a CPU chipset's I/O capabilities need to be greatly augmented.
The PES24N3 and PES12N3 are sampling in Q2 and Q3 2005 with production in Q3 and Q4 priced at $38 and $26, respectively, in 10-k piece lots. The PEB20N2 and PEB20N1 are sampling in Q4 2005 with production in Q1 2006 priced at $45 and $22, respectively, also in 10-k piece lots
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