PLX Technology 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.