PCIe SmartLink

PCIe SmartLink Revolutionizes Connectivity

The PCIe SmartLink is Magma’s solution to ultimately replacing the 10Gigabit Ethernet network with PCI Express technology and be the network fabric of the Enterprise Server architecture.

Many advantages to such an approach with PCIe SmartLink
There are overwhelming advantages to such an approach. The PCIe SmartLink allows for communication between two separate and independent system memory resources by two Root Complex Processors at wire speeds. This approach is highly scalable by regulating the communication bandwidth with the addition of PCI Express Lanes as dictated by latency requirements of your system network architecture. The maximum bandwidth achievable in such a configuration is 8 Giga Bytes/sec for simultaneous transmit and receive with PCIe Gen 2 technology.

Solutions with PCIe SmartLink
The combination of PCIe SmartLink cards installed in PCI Express backplanes of servers and workstations provide a reliable data link path that allow for Clustering and Virtualization applications. Inquire about Magma’s own clustering solution of up to 4 nodes currently. Other similar solutions can be conceived by users of the PCIe SmartLink cards. Virtualization is another area where the PCIE SmartLink comes as immensely useful.

Communication latency with PCIe SmartLink
The robust inherent datalink protocol built into the PCI Express specification makes the TCP/IP protocol stack absolutely redundant when communicating between two or more Host Platforms. The elimination of this stack reduces CPU overhead and makes the data transfers exceedingly efficient. RDMA further enhances this by further off-loading the CPU from this task.

Solution cheaper than 10 Gigabit Ethernet
PCI Express is fast becoming ubiquitous in the embedded world with more and more devices having it built-in to their interface. This is contributing to a significant cost advantage for solutions using PCI Express technology as compared to 10Gigabit Ethernet.