PCI-SIG Exploring Optical Interconnect to Enable Higher PCIe Technology Performance

PCI-SIG announced the formation of a new workgroup to deliver PCIe technology over optical connections.

The PCI-SIG Optical Workgroup intends to be optical technology-agnostic, supporting a wide range of optical technologies, while potentially developing technology-specific form factors.

“Optical connections will be an important advancement for PCIe architecture as they will allow for higher performance, lower power consumption, extended reach and reduced latency,” said Nathan Brookwood, research fellow, Insight 64. “Many data-demanding markets and applications such as cloud and Quantum computing, hyperscale data centers and HPC will benefit from PCIe architecture leveraging optical connections.”

“We have seen strong interest from the industry to broaden the reach of the established, multi-generational and power-efficient PCIe technology standard by enabling optical connections between applications,” said Al Yanes, president and chairperson, PCI-SIG. “PCI-SIG welcomes input from the industry and invites all PCI-SIG members to join the Optical Workgroup, share their expertise and help set specific workgroup goals and requirements.”

Existing PCI-SIG workgroups will continue their generational march towards a 128GT/s data rate in the PCIe 7.0 spec, while this new optical workgroup will work to make the PCIe architecture more optical-friendly.

PCI-SIG members can join the new Optical Workgroup in the members workspace. To become a member of PCI-SIG and participate in technical workgroups, visit this webpage.