Press release

PCI-SIG® Achieves 32GT/s with New PCI Express® 5.0 Specification

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Sponsored by Businesswire

PCI-SIG®
today announced the release of PCI
Express
® (PCIe®) 5.0
specification, reaching 32GT/s transfer rates, while maintaining low
power and backwards compatibility with previous technology generations.

“New data-intensive applications are driving demand for unprecedented
levels of performance,” said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG Chairman and President.
“Completing the PCIe 5.0 specification in 18 months is a major
achievement, and it is due to the commitment of our members who worked
diligently to evolve PCIe technology to meet the performance needs of
the industry. The PCIe architecture will continue to stand as the
defacto standard for high performance I/O for the foreseeable future.”

“For 27 years, the PCI-SIG has continually delivered new versions of I/O
standards that enable designers to accommodate the never-ending
increases in bandwidth required for next generation systems, while
preserving investments in prior generation interfaces and software,”
noted Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. “Over that
period, peak bandwidth has increased from 133 MB/second (for the first
32-bit parallel version) to 32 GB/second (for the V4.0 by16 serial
version), a 240X improvement. Wow! The new PCIe 5.0 standard doubles
that again to 64 GB/second. Wow2. We have come to take this
increased performance for granted, but in reality, it takes a
coordinated effort across many members of the PCI-SIG to execute these
transitions so seamlessly.”

PCIe 5.0 Specification Highlights

  • Delivers 32 GT/s raw bit rate and up to 128 GB/s via x16 configuration
  • Leverages and adds to the PCIe 4.0 specification and its support for
    higher speeds via extended tags and credits
  • Implements electrical changes to improve signal integrity and
    mechanical performance of connectors
  • Includes new backwards compatible CEM connector targeted for add-in
    cards
  • Maintains backwards compatibility with PCIe 4.0, 3.x, 2.x and 1.x

The new specification increases performance in the high-performance
markets including artificial intelligence, machine learning, gaming,
visual computing, storage and networking.

To learn more about the PCIe 5.0 specification, visit www.pcisig.com.
PCI-SIG members can download the full specification here.

About PCI-SIG

PCI-SIG is the consortium that owns and manages PCI specifications as
open industry standards. The organization defines industry standard I/O
(input/output) specifications consistent with the needs of its members.
Currently, PCI-SIG is comprised of over 700 industry-leading member
companies. To join PCI-SIG, and for a list of the Board of Directors,
visit www.pcisig.com.

PCI-SIG, PCI Express, and PCIe are trademarks or registered
trademarks of PCI-SIG. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.

Supporting Quotes for PCIe 5.0 Specification

AMD

“AMD congratulates PCI-SIG on the release of the PCI Express 5.0
specification to the industry and the future 2x increase in performance
it is expected to deliver. We expect to bring our first PCIe 4.0
specification CPUs to market this year and look forward to meeting the
future bandwidth demands of end-users with PCIe 5.0 technology.”

~Gerry Talbot, AMD Corporate Fellow, Technology & Engineering Group, AMD

Astera Labs

“Completed in under 2 years, PCI Express 5.0 technology is poised to
quickly become the connectivity backbone in the next generation of
servers. Astera Labs, a provider of innovative connectivity solutions,
supports the new technology and emerging heterogeneous compute
topologies with purpose-built signal conditioning products that enable
robust PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 interconnects.”

~Sanjay Gajendra, Chief Business Officer, Astera
Labs

Cadence

“PCI-SIG’s announcement of the PCI Express 5.0 specification is a
significant step that addresses the increasingly demanding requirements
for compute and networking applications. The doubling of bandwidth to
32GT/s can significantly reduce the I/O bottleneck and bolster
overall application performance. As an ongoing contributor to the
development of the PCI Express specification, Cadence supports this
latest release with complete, high-quality PHY and
controller IP, and verification IP including
the TripleCheck verification technology. This
comprehensive Cadence offering allows customers to get to market faster
with a robust, high-performance solution while reducing
development costs and risk.”

~Amjad Qureshi, Corporate VP, R&D in the IP Group at Cadence
Design Systems

Diodes Incorporated

“Diodes Incorporated is the leading supplier of PCI Express products
including signal conditioning, timing, signal and packet switches for
over a decade. Huge growth in cloud computing is demanding higher
performance storage and networking infrastructure, hence driving the
need for faster peripheral connectivity. We are pleased that the PCI-SIG
is releasing PCIe 5.0 specification at 32GT/s to drive faster
connectivity.”

~Kay Annamalai, Senior Director of Marketing, Diodes
Incorporated

Epson

As a world leader in timing products, Epson is proud of its involvement
with PCI-SIG in the development of the PCI Express 5.0 specification.
The evolution of PCIe 5.0 technology to 32GT/s, while maintaining
backward compatibility, enables customers to drive innovation in 5G,
cloud and enterprise datacenter, AI, and other data-driven applications.
With low noise products that ease jitter budgets and simplify the design
challenge, Epson stands ready to help as our customers determine their
timing needs in support of this new standard. ~Daisuke Yamaguchi,
Director of Marketing & Sales, Microdevices,
Epson
America, Inc.

Genesis

“Genesis supports the PCI Express 5.0 specification release by already
providing products that double the bandwidth to 32GT/s and focusing on
the next evolution of products in the greater ECO system of solutions of
PCIe.”

~Mick Felton, Director of Engineering, Genesis
Connected Solutions

Intel

Intel believes that open standards foster platform innovation,
create healthy ecosystems, and accelerate market growth. As a founding
promoter of PCI Express architecture, we fully support the
newly-released PCIe 5.0 specification, and look forward to continuing
the PCI Express specification tradition of high-performance,
multi-platform, open interconnect.”

~Dr. Debendra Das Sharma, Intel Fellow and Director of I/O Technology
& Standards, Member of PCI-SIG® Board of Directors,
Intel
Corporation

PLDA

“With the jump to 32Gbps signaling, the PCI Express 5.0 specification is
bringing new levels of performance for demanding applications in the
HPC, Cloud Computing, AI, and Networking and Storage spaces. PLDA brings
23 years of expertise in IP design and an extensive catalog of products
and services dedicated to PCIe technology to shorten and secure our
customers’ SoC, ASIC and FPGA development cycles. PLDA interface IP for
the PCIe 5.0 specification are available today and are already being
integrated into SoCs due for tape-out in early 2020.”

~Stephane Hauradou, CTO, PLDA

Mellanox Technologies

“The exponential growth of data and the ever-increasing demands for
higher data center performance, require the fastest data speeds between
the compute, the interconnect and the storage infrastructures. The
combination of Mellanox high-speed InfiniBand and Ethernet solutions,
and PCI Express 5.0 technology, will empower the next generation of
high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, cloud, database,
storage and other applications.”

~Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing, Mellanox
Technologies

NVIDIA

“PCI Express 5.0 technology will advance graphics and high-performance
computing by doubling its bandwidth to approaching 64GB/s while
maintaining socket compatibility with prior versions of the PCIe
specification. We are proud to be part of the PCI-SIG team and look
forward to the innovation that will be sparked by this next evolution.”

~Michael Diamond, senior director of strategic partnerships at NVIDIA
and member of the PCI-SIG® board of directors,
NVIDIA

Silicon Labs

“One of the outstanding features of the PCI Express 5.0 specification
that sets it apart from other communication standards is the inclusion
of the Refclk performance in the specification. By fine tuning various
system parameters to minimize the amount of reference clock noise that
contributes to data transmission eye closure, PCI-SIG has been able to
retain lower cost reference clock technology than competing standards at
similar data rates. In addition, because PCI-SIG specifies the reference
clock performance as part of the standard, companies like Silicon Labs
which supply PCI Express technology reference clocks for a variety of
applications, can further reduce cost by consolidating volume across
multiple customers even though they use PCIe transceivers from different
vendors.”

~Greg Richmond, Director of Engineering for Silicon Labs and
contributing member of the PCI-SIG® Electrical Working Group,
Silicon
Labs

Synopsys

“As an active member of the PCI-SIG for more than a decade, Synopsys has
been heavily involved with helping to define the PCI Express 5.0
specification. By providing a complete DesignWare Controller, PHY, and
Verification IP solution for PCIe 5.0 to the market early, we have
already enabled many customers to successfully tape out their advanced
32 GT/s SoCs, with many more expected this year.”

~John Koeter, vice president of marketing for IP, Synopsys

Tektronix

“Tektronix is excited about the role of PCI Express 5.0 technology in
enabling the next generation of datacenters. The doubling of bandwidth
to 32GT/s is core to solving datacenter performance and latency
challenges enabling maximum throughput from the Ethernet links running
at 400Gbps and beyond. As the industry migrates to PCIe 5.0
architecture, prior generations of PCIe architecture must be tested to
maintaining backwards compatibility. It is critical that electrical
physical layer testing is performed by a single test platform approved
by the PCI-SIG for multiple generations. Tektronix is looking forward to
partnering with customers to bring PCIe 5.0 solutions to market with a
single approved hardware test platform that scales across all
generations of PCIe technology.”

~Amy Taylor, General Manager, Wired Communications & Mil/Gov, Tektronix

Teledyne LeCroy

“Teledyne LeCroy is fully supportive of the PCI Express 5.0
specification and is proud to supply tomorrow’s tools today that will
expedite product development utilizing the new speed of 32 GT/s.
Teledyne LeCroy is driving new technologies with its test equipment and
customer supportive solutions like our currently available PCIe 5.0
Summit M5x Protocol Analyzer.”

~Joe Mendolia, Vice President of Marketing, Protocol Solutions Group, Teledyne
LeCroy