PLX Demos PCI Express 2.0

SAN FRANCISCO -- PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLXT), the leading global supplier of PCI Express (PCIe®) switch and bridge silicon, will demonstrate at this week’s Intel® Developer Forum (IDF) its ExpressLane™ PCIe switching devices in a multitude of high-performance interconnected functions. Additionally, PLX introduced this week the industry’s broadest family of PCIe 2.0 (Gen 2) switches for a wide range communications, server, storage, and board-level applications.

PLX’s IDF demonstration (booth #439) features PCIe Gen 1-based servers and storage systems interconnected to provide a modular, cabled backplane and a software RAID system using commercially available components. One server, incorporating ten economical PCIe-SATA controllers, disk drives and PLX® PCIe switches, is blended with RAID software (levels 0, 1 and 5) to showcase how PLX PCIe switches can substitute for more-expensive RAID controllers, while achieving the drives’ cumulative transfer of 4.8 Gigabits/s. The demonstration also highlights how such a storage system can be scaled upwards with additional inexpensive drives and realize similar cost-effectiveness. A high-speed fiber-optic link, enabled by two PLX PCIe switches, interconnects the storage server to the demonstration’s second server, supporting data bursts between the two of up to 5.6 Gigabits/s.

New Gen 2 Switches Extend PLX’s PCI Express Leadership

PLX’s new Gen 2 switches now bring to 26 the number of PLX® PCIe products available, the majority of which are in full production today. To date, more than one million PLX PCIe switches and bridges have been shipped.

The new ExpressLane™ PCIe Gen 2 switches feature devices with lane counts ranging from 12 to 48 lanes, and from three to 12 ports. The switches all are based on PLX’s proven PCIe architecture and include unmatched features such as the industry’s lowest latency and power consumption, highest throughput, integrated non-transparent ports and Hot-Plug controllers, Flip-Chip packaging, and highly flexible port configurations up to x16. These features help system and board makers meet the stringent requirements of next-generation graphics, backplane, server, storage, HBA/NIC, and embedded-system designs. (See separate announcement at www.plxtech.com/about/news/pr/?y=2007&rel=0917.)PLX Technology Inc.