Interconnect technology, the nervous system for any computing, networking, and consumer device, transfers control messages and data within the system and ensures there are no choke points. Increasing bandwidth and the unique requirements of data centers, networking, computing, storage, and embedded systems are driving a host of interconnect technologies. With these diverse requirements and competing stakeholders, interconnects are likely to be specialized for the target applications. At the same time, several of these interconnects will lose out or become niche solutions.

The new edition of "A Guide to High-Speed Interconnects" examines the leading high-speed interconnect technologies—including PCI Express (PCIe) switches, RapidIO switches, PHYs for 40G Ethernet (40GbE) and 100G Ethernet (100GbE), active optical cables for Ethernet, and Light Peak technologies. The report provides an unbiased analysis of their strengths, future potential, and projected market position. In addition, within each interconnect, we examine the key vendors offering silicon products. Within each interconnect we analyze market leaders and their products as well as identify technology leaders. We provide market forecast and share our picks for future winners in each established interconnect segment.

Vendors covered include Alpen, Altera, Aprius, Avago, Cortina, Ensphere, Finisar, IDT, Intel, IPtronics, Luxtera, Mercury, NetLogic Microsystems, NextIO, Pericom, PLX Technology, Semtech, Texas Instruments, Tyco, Virtensys, and Xilinx.

Changes within the interconnect market are likely to introduce disconnects and present opportunities for new leaders to emerge in the affected interconnects. These changes include the adoption of Light Peak, MR-IOV, 40GbE/100GbE, PCI Express Gen2 and changing architectures within the data center.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Fig.s vii
List of Tables ix
About the Authors xi
About the Publisher xiii
Preface xv
Executive Summary xvii

Chapter 1.   High-Speed System Design
        Signal Integrity  1
        System-Interconnect Design Issues  4
        PCB and Connectors 5
        Signal Transmission  6
        Signal Conditioning  7
        Clock and Data Recovery 10
        Semiconductor Technologies  11

Chapter 2.   Interconnect Standards
        RapidIO 13
        PCI and PCI Express 19
        Ethernet 24
        Physical-Layer Interfaces 30
        Optical Modules 31
        Light Peak 32
        OIF CEI 33
        Network Interfaces 34

Chapter 3.   HSI Applications
        What Is High-Speed Interconnect? 37
        System-Transceiver Applications 38
        Chip-to-Chip Interconnects 40
        Chip-to-Module Interconnects 41

Chapter 4.   Interconnect Products
        Interconnect Switch Chips 43
        Optical-Module Components  45

Chapter 5.   Technology and Market Outlook
        Technology Trends  49
             PCI Express  49
             40G and 100G Ethernet Technology Trends  51
             RapidIO  52
             Light Peak  52
        Market Outlook  53
             PCI Express  53
             RapidIO  55
             40GbE and 100GbE  56
             Light Peak  57

Chapter 6.   PCIe and Rapid IO Switches
        IDT  59
             Company Background  59
             PCI Express Products  60
             PCIe Switch Design Details 62
             RapidIO Products 63
             RapidIO Switch Design Details 66
             Product Roadmap 67
             Conclusions 67
        Pericom  68
             Company Background  68
             Switch Products 69
             Conclusions 70
        PLX Technology  70
             Company Background  70
             Switch Products  71
             System Design 73
             Product Roadmap 74
             Conclusions 75
        Other Vendors:  75
             Mercury Computer  75
             Texas Instruments 76

Chapter 7.   I/O-Consolidation Products
        Aprius  79
             Company Background  79
             Product Details 80
             Conclusions 81
        NextIO  81
             Company Background  81
             Product Details 82
             Conclusions 83
        Virtensys  83
             Company Background  83
             Product Details 84
             Conclusions 86

Chapter 8.   Light Peak
        Intel  87
        IPtronics 88
        Ensphere  89

Chapter 9.   40GbE and 100GbE PHYs
        Cortina  91
             Company Background  91
             Product Details 92
             Conclusions 93
        NetLogic  93
             Company Background  94
             Product Details 94
             Conclusions 95
        Other Vendors  96
             Xilinx  96
             Altera  97
             Semtech 98

Chapter 10.   Active Optical Cables
        AlpenIO 101
        Avago  102
        Finisar  104
             Company Background  104
             Product Details 104
             Conclusions 106
        Luxtera  107
             Company Background  107
             Product Details 107
             Design Details 109
             Conclusions 110
        Tyco Electronics 110

Chapter 11.   Product Comparisons 
        PCI Express Switch Chips  113
        PCI Express I/O-Consolidation Products  115
        Active Optical Cables  117
        40GbE/100GbE Retimers  118

Chapter 12.   Conclusions
        Interconnect Trends 121
        PCI Express Switch Vendors 122
        RapidIO Switch Vendors  123
        40GbE and 100GbE Vendors  124
        Closing Thoughts  125
Appendix: Further Reading  127
Index 129

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 1-1
 Transmitted data eye and received data eye after two connectors and 40 inches 2
Fig. 1-2
 Transmitted eye with pre-emphasis and received eye 8
Fig. 1-3
 Impulse response and equalization 9
Fig. 1-4
 Broadcom's 10Gbps data eye, using FR4 dielectric 9
Fig. 1-5
 Conceptual phase-locked loop 10
Fig. 2-1
 Interconnect examples using RapidIO 15
Fig. 2-2
 RapidIO three-layer model 16
Fig. 2-3
 PCI Express system connections 20
Fig. 2-4
 IEEE 802.3 basic frame format  24
Fig. 2-5
 Ethernet physical layer 26
Fig. 2-6
 10G Ethernet physical layer 28
Fig. 2-7
 40G/100G Ethernet layer model 29
Fig. 2-8
 Standard line-card interfaces 34
Fig. 3-1
 Block diagram of transceivers in switch applications 39
Fig. 3-2
 Block diagram of PCI Express switches used in servers 39
Fig. 3-3
 Block diagram of wireless baseband card using RapidIO switch 41
Fig. 3-4
 Diagram of Light Peak assembly 42
Fig. 4-1
 Block diagram of a generic optical module 45
Fig. 4-2
 Block diagram of serializer and deserializer for 25Gbps 47
Fig. 5-1
 Revenue forecast for PCI Express bridge and switch chips, 2008–2014 54
Fig. 5-2
 Market share of PCIe bridge and switch chips, 2009 54
Fig. 5-3
 Revenue forecast for serial RapidIO switch chips, 2009–2014 56
Fig. 5-4
 Forecast for 40GbE and 100GbE ports 56
Fig. 6-1
 Block diagram of IDT's 24-port switch for PCI Express v2.1 63
Fig. 6-2
 IDT's RapidIO products in a simplified baseband card 66
Fig. 6-3
 Block diagram of multihost PCI Express system 74
Fig. 7-1
 Diagram of Virtensys PCI Express rack switch 84
Fig. 10-1
 Photo of AlpenIO's paddleboard 102
Fig. 10-2
 Photo of Finisar's C-Wire cable 106
Fig. 10-3
 Photo of Luxtera's OptoPhy module 108
Fig. 10-4
 Diagram of Luxtera's transceiver and QSFP+ module 109