PCI Express takes on Apple/Intel Thunderbolt and 16 Gtransfers/sec at PCI SIG while PCIe Gen 3 starts to power up

By _EDA360 Insider

June 24, 2011

Two articles from EETimes give an exciting picture for PCI Express’ short- and long-term future. On the most immediate front, 23 adapter cards and 19 systems from PC and peripheral makers participated in the most recent PCIe Gen 3 plugfests. These are prototypes so it’s still early days for this interface standard, which moves data at 8 Gtransfers/sec. There are still many more chips, boards and systems to be designed using the PCIe Gen 3 standard. One of the two articles quotes Ramin Neshanti, chairman of the PCI SIG‘s serial communications working group, as saying “PCI Express Gen 3 is more sophisticated in its electrical design [than past PCI SIG standards], so we are giving members more feedback on how they are doing” with their first products. (Just a side note: PCIe Gen 3 designs clearly benefit from thorough verification before silicon implementation. To do that, you need good verification IP.)

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