PLX Technology Extends PCI Express Leadership With Industry's Only 48-Lane, 9-Port Switch.PEX 8548: Nine Ports, Highest Lane-Count, Lowest Latency, True Peer-to-Peer Support; Most-Flexible Switch for Server, Storage, Router Applications SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- PLX Technology PLX Technology, Inc., PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLXT) is based in Sunnyvale, California, USA, and is currently the world’s leading supplier of PCI Express and other standard I/O interconnect semiconductors to the communications, server, storage, embedded-control, and , Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :PLXT), the leading supplier of PCI Express A high-speed peripheral interconnect from Intel introduced in 2002. Note that although sometimes abbreviated "PCX," PCI Express is not the same as "PCI-X" (see PCI-SIG and PCI-X for comparison). As a result of the confusion, "PCI-E" or "PCIe" is the accepted abbreviation. [TM] (PCIe) and other standard input/output (programming, operating system) standard input/output - The predefined input/output channels which every Unix process is initialised with. Standard input is by default from the terminal, and standard output and standard error are to the terminal. (I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output ) interconnect silicon, today introduced the PLX PLX Pharmacy, Laboratory, and Radiology (X-Ray) PLX Power Line Exchange [R] PEX 8548, the industry's only 48-lane, nine-port PCIe switching device. The PEX 8548 boasts the industry's highest lane-count, lowest latency (under 110ns) of any high-density switch, true peer-to-peer support (available in no other vendors' switches), and nine highly configurable ports (up to x16 wide) with a programmable upstream port and cross-link capability enabling dual-host configurations. This array of features, unique to PLX, makes the PEX 8548 an ideal choice for server, backplane storage, and router applications. With the debut of the PEX 8548, PLX is further extending its leadership in the PCIe switching and bridging market. PLX's ExpressLane[TM] family features the broadest line of PCIe devices, with switches ranging from eight lanes and five ports to 48 lanes and nine ports. Nine ExpressLane switches and bridges now are either sampling or in full production, more than all other vendors' PCIe-interconnect devices combined. These PLX devices have been designed into hundreds of systems in virtually all technology market segments. "A 48-lane PCI Express switch like the PEX 8548 will provide a useful interconnect solution for applications such as graphics, servers and routers," said Jag Bolaria, senior analyst at The Linley Group. "As a PCI Express interconnect technology leader, PLX continues to build upon its early commitment." Unprecedented Flexibility, Lowest Latency Enable Switching Power, Range The only PCIe switch enabling port configurations from x1 to x16, the PEX 8548's nine ports provide unprecedented flexibility in port aggregation Using multiple transmission paths between network devices in order to increase transmission speed. Port aggregation between a server and a switch requires multiple network adapters (NICs) in the server or adapters with multiple ports. in a wide range of applications. The PEX 8548 supports true peer-to-peer communication, which allows its use in backplane and switch fabric designs. This combination of the device's port flexibility and peer-to-peer capabilities, coupled with its ability to cascade two or more PEX 8548 devices, enables configurations up to 80 lanes and 16 ports. The flexibility of the upstream port allows the use of dual processors, providing CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. redundancy and failover. The PEX 8548 also features an I2C bus (Inter-IC bus) A two-line bus that is widely used to connect chips together on a printed circuit board. Also called the "I-squared-C bus" and developed by Philips in the 1980s, it is used as a control bus for every variety of chip from sensors to microprocessors. , providing an out-of-band interface to ease configuration of the switch. The PEX 8548's enhanced cut-through path, based on PLX's new third-generation PCIe switching architecture, delivers packet latency of less than 110ns. This industry-low latency provides full power to all ports in bandwidth-hungry, latency-sensitive applications such as storage and communication systems. Fully Compliant Device Enables Variety of PCI Express Switching Applications The PEX 8548, which conforms to the latest PCI Express Base Specification (Rev. 1.1), provides a fully non-blocking internal switch fabric to demanding applications. The device can be designed into fan-out, traffic-aggregation, dual-graphics, or peer-to-peer switching applications. In addition to its power, flexibility, and industry-leading features, the PEX 8548 provides quality of service (QoS) through weighted round-robin port arbitration. This QoS feature allows optimal use of the device's bandwidth to improve performance in highly demanding systems. Development Tools Simplify, Speed PEX 8548 Designs The PEX 8548, like most all PLX interconnect devices, is supported by a PLX Rapid Development Kit (RDK RDK Reference Design Kit RDK Red Dragon Karate (compilation of different major styles, mostly based on Shotokan) RDK Reload Delay Kit RDK Report Developer Kit RDK Rapid Deployment Kit RDK Re-Distribution Kit RDK Render Developer Kit ), a package of hardware and software tools that accelerate board and system design cycles. The PEX 8548RDK includes a working hardware platform incorporating the PEX 8548 switch, along with a complete set of board schematics, symbols, and layout files for hardware design. The RDK features PLX's extensive Software Development Kit with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. utility for access to chip registers, sample drivers and a support library for Microsoft[R] (NASDAQ:MSFT MSFT Microsoft (stock symbol) MSFT Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore (Italy) MSFT Multi-Stage Fitness Test MSFT Master of Science in Family Therapy MSFT Macalester Students for Fair Trade ) Windows[R] and Linux operating systems Operating systems can be categorized by technology, ownership, licensing, working state, usage, and by many other characteristics. In practice, many of these groupings may overlap. . Pricing, Availability The PEX 8548 is priced at $65 in volume quantities and is scheduled for sampling in Q4, with production slated for Q1 2007. The PEX8548 RDK will be available in Q4 for $1490. For a description of the PEX 8548 and PLX's entire ExpressLane family, see www.plxtech.com/products/pci_express/default.asp. About PLX PLX Technology, Inc. (www.plxtech.com), based in Sunnyvale, Calif., USA, is a leading supplier of PCI Express and other standard I/O interconnect silicon to the communications, server, storage, embedded-control, and consumer industries. ExpressLane, PLX Technology and the PLX Technology logo are registered trademarks of PLX Technology, Inc., which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other product names that appear in this material are for identification purposes only and are acknowledged to be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. |
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