PCI-SIG announces PCIe 7.0 and optical interconnect revision for AI and data centres
The PCI-SIG has announced a new revision of its optical interconnect specification, designed to enhance the performance of PCI Express (PCIe) technology as well as the PCIe 7.0 specification to support the bandwidth demands of AI at 128.0 GT/s transfer rates.
The Optical Aware Retimer Engineering Change Notice (ECN) amends the PCIe 6.4 specification and the new PCIe 7.0 specification to include a PCIe timer-based solution, providing the first industry-standardised method for implementing PCIe technology over optical fibre.
“We saw a need for an industry-standard optical interconnect based on PCIe technology, and the Optical Aware Retimer ECN is the first step to add a modular optical solution,” said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG President and Chairperson. “We expect initial adoption to occur in data centre applications like AI/ML and cloud. As PCIe technology becomes more widely available over time, we foresee innovative use cases across many market segments.”
The PCIe retimer ECN seamlessly enables various optical technologies for optical interconnection between PCIe 6.4 and 7.0 specification-compliant Switch, Root-Complex and Endpoint silicon designs. The specifications provide extended reach across racks and pods as well as multiplexing and data mapping across electrical and optical domains. They also enable more compact implementations than electrical copper options.
The new PCIe 7.0 specification targets data-driven applications, including AI/ML, 800G Ethernet, cloud computing, and quantum computing. Pathfinding for the PCIe 8.0 specification is already in progress to continue supporting the industry’s investments and product roadmaps in the PCIe technology ecosystem.
The PCIe specification delivers a raw bit rate of 128.0 GT/s and up to 512 GB/s bi-directionally via an x16 configuration. It utilises PAM4 signalling and Flit-based encoding, enables improved power efficiency, and maintains backwards compatibility with previous generations of PCIe technology.
“PCIe technology has served as the high-bandwidth, low-latency IO interconnect of choice for over two decades, and the release of the PCIe 7.0 specification continues our long-standing tradition of doubling the IO bandwidth every three years,” said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG President and Chairperson.
“The rise in the demand for both compute and networking, enabled through PCIe technology, is at an all-time high, despite the complexities of creating standards in the industry around high-speed signalling,” said Ian Cutress, Chief Analyst and CEO of More Than Moore. “Datacenters are ready to start deploying networks built on PCIe 7.0 technology, and almost every ASIC company I talk to is already engaged with the IP providers. Even with the popularity and focus that went into PCIe 6.0 deployment, the PCIe 7.0 specification has more enthusiasm than any previous version.”
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