Life in the fast lane

The pace of change in the embedded world is quickening and parallel bus technologies such as PCI and local busses that designers have used for years are fast running out of steam, with limited room to be wider or to run faster. This push for high speed communications is driving the need for a new technology that is cost effective, scalable and easy to lay out on a board, whilst providing a roadmap for even higher performance in future. One solution for next generation embedded systems is PCIexpress (PCIe). Based on the established PCI bus, it makes the transition as simple as possible by maintaining investment in software. PCIe provides a high speed, scalable, serial communications link from processors to other parts of the system. This opens up a profound change in the way systems are designed, with manufacturers claiming that serial technology offers more flexibility and performance headroom. To support this growing change, Integrated Device Technology (IDT) unveiled the first PCIe based system interconnect solutions designed to manage all communications throughout the system. The intention is to enable equipment providers to use PCIe as the primary high performance system interconnect for demanding communications, server, storage and embedded applications.