Tuesday, January 10, 2012

PLX to Showcase Extraordinary Capacity, Reach of PCI Express Gen3 at Super Computing Event

SUNNYVALE, Calif., November 14, 2011 – PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLXT), a leader in high-speed connectivity solutions for the enterprise data center, today announced it is demonstrating its next-generation data center connectivity concept, based on a PCI Express (PCIe) Gen3 fabric, at the Super Computing 2011 (SC11) event this week in Seattle, Wash.  The PLX® demonstration highlights a PCIe-centric, server-to-server or server-to-IO scenario using off-the-shelf PCIe Gen3 hardware, and with no special software.  PCIe is widely believed to replace and/or complement other standards, such as InfiniBand and Ethernet -- in various high-performance data center applications, including servers, storage and the cloud -- because a PCIe fabric eliminates complicated conversions of other protocols, which inherently add power, latency and cost to designs.
The SC11 demonstration utilizes Avago® high-density MiniPOD™ parallel fiber optic modules, enabled by PLX PCIe Gen3 switches for connectivity down the rack.  The MiniPOD modules extend PCIe data traffic externally, box-to-box over optical cable for 30 meters at an impressive 64GB/s (x8 PCIe connectivity) with no special software.  The remote chassis, featuring a PLX five-bay expansion module, can easily be populated with GPGPUs and linked to generic servers through PCIe fiber optic modules for high-performance compute applications.
Inside the expansion chassis is a host bus adapter (HBA) card, recently introduced by ATTO Technology, which uses a PLX Gen3 switch for fan-out, resulting in unparalleled storage bandwidth.  Reflecting how PCIe is thriving in today’s solid-state disk (SSD) market, the PLX Gen3 switches automatically down-train to Gen2, thus enabling future-proof, market-ready SSD solutions.  Additionally, the demonstration combines the seamless integration of PLX-enabled SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) adaptors, highlighting the universal appeal and ease of use of PCIe.
Watch videos (YouTube)
Visit PLX for a live demonstration at the SC11 event in Seattle, Wash., November 14-18, 2011, where the company is exhibiting with Avago (booth 5315).  http://sc11.supercomputing.org

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