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PLX Launches PCI Express Switches with Integrated DMA
[August 18, 2008]

PLX Launches PCI Express Switches with Integrated DMA


TMCnet Contributing Editor
 
PLX Technology (News - Alert), Inc., a supplier of PCI Express switch and bridge silicon, today launched three new PCIe switch devices with an integrated direct memory access engine.


 
Each switch provides four DMA channels that support high data rates required in storage systems, servers, networking, control plane and embedded markets, according to PLX. By offloading the DMA function, PLX’s DMA-capable switches increase system performance and create new options for next-generation PCIe designs, company officials say.

 
The ExpressLane PEX 8619, PEX 8615 and PEX 8609 PCIe Gen 2-compliant switches offer flexible and configurable ports ranging from x1 to x4 on all three devices, with up to x8 on the PEX 8619.
 
The four DMA channels can support high-speed data transfers between I/O devices connected to any of the available ports, officials say, and without needing unique transparent switch functionality.
 
Additional features include a low latency maximum of 140ns and power requirements down to 1.2W typical, two virtual channels per port, spread spectrum clock isolation through dual clock domains, and end-to-end guaranteed data integrity.
 
The DMA engine in these devices implements a descriptor ring approach, while each of the four DMA channels can saturate a x8 link at Gen 2 speeds in one direction.
 
Each descriptor supports large transfer sizes enabling users to transfers large data to memory to device, device to device, or memory to memory. Descriptors can exist in host memory or inside the DMA switch. Up to 256 descriptors are supported internally in PLX DMA switches, which also support 32-bit and 64-bit transfers as well as programmable QoS.
 
“Since its inception nearly two decades ago, DMA has been highly successful in boosting performance across countless industry sectors,” said Steve Berry, president of Electronic Trend Publications. “PCI Express technology has evolved to the point where it addresses far more applications than anyone had anticipated, thanks in large part to silicon vendors integrating tried-and-true technologies such as DMA, as PLX Technology has done with its new switches.”
 
“By allowing processors to focus on computational tasks instead of managing the constant delays required of DMA functionality, PLX’s new switch technology offers the opportunity to take up this slack in system latency while delivering a scalable, high-bandwidth, non-blocking Gen 2 performance interconnection,” said Krishna Mallampati, senior product marketing manager of PLX. “As PCIe switches have become a fundamental building block in today’s designs, these feature-rich PLX chips can help in preliminary architectural considerations.”
 
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Arun Satapathy is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Arun's articles, please visit his columnist page.

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