Integrated Device Technology has announced that its Gen2 PCI Express (PCIe) switches were selected for use in the next-generation high-performance network solutions offered by Dolphin Interconnect Solutions.

The IDT PCIe Gen2 switches feature the industry’s most advanced switch architecture to support root complex isolation and inter-processor communication between PCIe domains. The advanced features enable the construction of multi-processor clusters using PCI Express as an interconnect, either over backplanes or as a cable interconnect linking separate systems. These PCIe solutions provide system architects with unprecedented levels of design flexibility for their multi-root and multi-domain architectures.

The Dolphin Gen2 PCIe networks will include a modular PCIe switch box and a range of standard form factor boards along with Dolphin’s SuperSockets and Software Infrastructure Shared-Memory Cluster Interconnect (SISCI) software. The combination will allow OEM system providers of cloud computing platforms to take advantage of a ubiquitous, high-speed and low-cost Gen2 PCIe connectivity to realize solutions for CPU clustering and next generation PCIe SSD storage arrays.

“IDT is committed to providing strategic customers with solutions tailored to their needs, and we are pleased that Dolphin has chosen our PCI Express solutions for use in their next-generation networks,” said Mario Montana, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Computing Division at IDT. “The combination of the IDT PCI Express leadership and the innovative software from Dolphin provides customers with unmatched support for multi-root communications in embedded systems and cloud computing platforms.”

“PCI Express has many advantages for customers seeking a low-cost, high-performance, low-latency system,” said Hugo Kohmann, COO at Dolphin Interconnect Solutions. “The porting of our SuperSockets and SISCI software to the IDT PCIe switches provides the features and performance required for customers seeking low-latency clustering and shared memory solutions. Our software and PCI Express Gen2 hardware makes it easy for customers to deploy high-speed systems without impacting their existing software infrastructure on Linux and Windows.”

The PCIe switching solutions are based on the IDT partitionable switch architecture that allows multiple PCIe domains and root complexes to be connected through non-transparent bridges (NTB). This architecture also leverages the rich IDT silicon timing heritage to provide the industry’s only PCIe switching solution that includes multiple clock domain isolation and support for multiple spread spectrum clock (SSC) timing domains. The switches also feature an unprecedented eight NTB functions, along with multicast capability and two Direct Memory Access (DMA) functions, to provide unmatched support for multi-root communications in embedded systems.

Dolphin’s SuperSockets software is a unique implementation of the Berkeley Sockets API that utilizes the capabilities of PCIe hardware to transparently achieve performance gains for existing Linux and Windows networked applications. The SISCI Developers kit consists of driver and API software, tools, documentation and source code needed to develop embedded applications utilizing the low latency and high performance characteristics of PCI Express.

Dolphin is planning to develop a range of PCIe Gen2 products in several form factors based on the IDT interconnect solutions, including host adapters and PXI adapters. These products will deliver ultra low latencies in the range of sub-one microsecond from application to application coupled with the high bandwidth capability of PCIe. Dolphin will introduce these new products this quarter with volume production in Q1 2011.