Microsemi Corporation, a provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, announces the availability of its Switchtec PAX advanced fabric Gen3 PCIe switch providing high-performance fabric connectivity for scalable, multi-host systems and just a bunch of flash (JBOF) supporting single root input/output (I/O) virtualisation (SR-IOV), NVMe and multi-function endpoints. The new device will be showcased in Microsemi’s booth #213 at the Flash Memory Summit Aug. 8-10, 2017.
Switchtec PAX switch
Hyperconverged systems are evolving towards composable/disaggregated infrastructures (C/DI) such as rack scale architecture to meet the rapidly changing demands on resources and storage capacity of next-generation applications. PAX advanced fabric PCIe switches provide a scalable, low latency and cost-effective solution to the disaggregation of computing, networking, graphics processing units (GPUs) and storage resources. These PAX PCIe switches, which are flexibly interconnected with configurable high-speed fabric links, virtualise PCIe domains and SR-IOV endpoints. System development is simplified through a fabric application programming interface (API) and the ability to utilise off-the-shelf NVMe host drivers, significantly reducing time-to-market for complex multi-host systems.
“As we work closely with industry leaders, it became clear there’s demand for Microsemi to expand our PCIe switch portfolio to support next-generation disaggregated architectures,” said Derek Dicker, vice president and business unit manager for performance storage at Microsemi. “Our PAX advanced fabric PCIe switch is pin-compatible to our PSX storage and PFX fanout PCIe switches, providing our customers a simple upgrade path to building SR-IOV-enabled and composable disaggregated systems while supporting our ability to gain market share.”
According to market research firm IDC's February report titled, “Composable/Disaggregated Infrastructure (C/DI)—Addressable Market Opportunity,” the total worldwide addressable opportunity for vendors with C/DI is $34.5 billion in 2017. The firm also expects this opportunity will grow at a modest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.4 percent and reach $45 billion in 2020. Microsemi’s Switchtec PAX advanced fabric PCIe switch is well-aligned to these growth trends, as it enables customers to leverage the device for the development of next-generation C/DIs.
Product features
Microsemi’s Switchtec PAX family comprises switches from 96 lanes to 24 lanes, providing:
- High-performance PCIe fabric connectivity overcoming the limitations of the PCIe Specification for rack scale multi-host systems
- Multi-host sharing of SR-IOV and multifunction endpoints
- Virtualisation of PCIe domains and SR-IOV NVMe solid state drives (SSDs)
- Software development kit (SDK) for virtualisation of other SR-IOV endpoints, and for enclosure management
- The most flexible port bifurcation in the industry, from x2 to x16 lanes per port
- The highest port density, with up to 48 ports
- Advanced error reporting
- Error containment for surprise-plug and unplug to prevent system crashes
- Advanced diagnostics and debug features to identify, diagnose and fix problems
- Separate Refclk Independent SSC (SRIS) for cabled PCIe and lower cost system designs