High density and low power, Microsemi's PCIe switch is here

Microsemi has just announced the availability of its Switchtec PFX PCIe switch, providing a high density, low power PCIe switch for data center, communications and industrial applications.

According to Microsemi PFX enables PCIe solutions for a wide variety of systems from scalable JBOFs (just a bunch of flash) to general purpose applications that require low power and high-reliability PCIe switching.

Derek Dicker, vice president and business unit manager of performance storage at Microsemi, says the company’s PFX PCIe switches provide industry-leading capabilities required for high performance data center solutions.

"As we work with top tier customers in the ever-growing data center market, we will continue to utilize our expertise to deliver unique performance features and innovative solutions that align with their specific needs."

Microsemi says the Switchtec family comprises switches from 24 lanes to 96 lanes, providing:

• The most flexible port bifurcation in the industry, from x2 to x16 lanes per port
• The highest port and Non-Transparent Bridge (NTB) density, with up to 48 ports and 48 NTBs
• The highest switch partition density, with up to 24 for efficient use of system resources
• Advanced error containment and surprise-plug and unplug support to prevent system crashes
• Advanced diagnostics and debug features to identify, diagnose and fix problems
• SRIS for cabled PCIe and lower cost system designs

The company also mentions that with target applications including PCIe SSD enclosures and flash arrays, its new switches are engineered to scale PCIe flash in high-performance data center applications.