Microchip Technology launched the XpressConnect family of low-latency PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 and Compute Express Link 1.1/2.0 retimers. According to the announcement, XpressConnect retimers triple the reach of PCIe Gen 5 electrical signals, which enables data center equipment providers to harness the next generational advancement in compute IO performance.
Providing lower engineering costs
The XpressConnect family delivers extended reach at 80% lower latency than the PCIe specification, with a pin-to-pin latency less than 10 nanoseconds. XpressConnect retimers are available in multiple lane count variants of up to 16 lanes of PCIe Gen 5 to connect to a wide range of PCIe and CXL devices.
Andrew Dieckmann, associate vice president of marketing and applications engineering for Microchip’s data center solutions business unit, said,
“With increasing storage, compute and memory bandwidth demands, hyperscale data center, server and storage providers have continued to look to Microchip for leading compute, storage and memory connectivity solutions. Microchip is uniquely positioned to deliver seamless interoperability with XpressConnect retimers given our extensive portfolio of PCIe Switchtec and Flashtec products and our close relationships with industry partners, providing lower engineering costs and faster time to market for our customers.”
Microchip has partnered with Intel to develop an XpressConnect reference design in a standard riser card form-factor that will be available to customers on Intel’s Resource and Design Center.