Viavi Solutions Inc. announced the first demonstration of protocol analysis for the recently completed PCI Express 5th generation data communication standard.
PCIe 5.0 – the next revision of the ubiquitous serial computer expansion bus standard – will double the capacity over a PCI Express link to 32 gigabits per second per unidirectional channel or greater than one terabit per second across the common 16-lane bidirectional slot interface. This acceleration of speed correlates with the performance demands of emerging bandwidth and compute-intensive applications such as 400-Gigabit Ethernet, IoT, hyperscale and AI. Component manufacturers need test platforms that will validate performance according to the standard, while maintaining familiar user interfaces and management environments to minimize training needs and startup costs.
The VIAVI demonstration is based on the widely used Xgig platform, enabling detailed functional and performance analysis of the PCIe 5.0 protocol, supporting operation at 32 giga-transfers per-second. The VIAVI family of protocol analyzers has addressed all of the test requirements of the PCIe 4.0 ecosystem. The Xgig 4K16 offers complete visibility into PCIe 4.0 traffic flows with advanced trace and analysis and jamming, supporting lane widths of x1, x2, x4, x8, and x16 at link speeds of 2.5 GT/s, 5.0 GT/s, 8.0 GT/s and 16 GT/s.
“The ability to test computing and storage network equipment and identify how and when a system fails is key to developing the most robust, high-performance solutions possible for data-heavy applications,” said Tom Fawcett, Vice President and General Manager, Lab and Production Business Unit, VIAVI Solutions. “What really puts VIAVI at the forefront of the industry is our willingness to be both market-focused and standards-focused – while the industry is still preparing for PCIe 5.0, we are involved with the key enablers of that ecosystem, participating in standardization efforts but also working with our customers to validate early prototypes.”
For more information, visit: www.viavisolutions.com
