Serial Cables Introducing Gen5 PCIe/CXL x16 Retimer Board with QSFP-DD Cable Interface

Serial Cables LLC announced an industry’s first HHHL Gen5 PCIe/CXL x16 retimer board.

This advancement enables PCIe Gen5/CXL developers to test their new memory expansion devices/solutions outside of the server and over a cabled interface. This retimer board was developed with the flexibility to use multiple different retimer chip companies retimer solutions to cover a wider range of customer needs and implementations. The retimer board supports common clocking, SRNS and SRIS as well as 2×8 and 1×16 configurations.

The company’s Gen5 PCIe/CXL x16 retimer boards currently use either Astera’s Aries PT5161LXS or Parade Technologies PS8936 Gen5 PCIe/CXL x16 retimer chips but others could certainly be available upon request. An onboard mCPU has been implemented for updating firmware and the onboard CLI will give the user many statistics about link health and help in trouble-shooting any linkup type problems.

“Serial Cables has been at the forefront of enabling our customers early development of next-generation technology for many years” says Paul J. Mutschler, CEO. “And thanks to our collaboration with several of the storage/memory companies which are developing Gen5 PCIe and CXL devices, the Serial Cables Gen5 PCIe/CXL x16 retimer card is another example of our commitment to remain an industry leader in this area and why our customers depend on us with the introduction of each generation of PCIe and CXL.”

PCIe/CXL Gen5 adapter

The company also announced the availability of an additional PCIe/CXL Gen5 adapter that can adapt the QSFP-DD cabling to a x16 PCIe AIC slot for cabling any external x16 PCIe or CXL device. (Coming soon will be the same type adapter w/x16 EDSFF 4C receptacle) This adapter has 12V power selection (either AIC slot or external) as well as PERST# control and it has a clever optional metal base to make it stable when plugging boards and cables into it.