PFX-I PCIe switches address industrial and automation markets

Microsemi announces the availability of its Switchtec PFX-I Gen3 PCIe switches with support for extended industrial temperature range.

The new PM857x PFX-I PCIe switches support the feature set of Microsemi‘s PFX PCIe fanout switches, and are designed to operate in harsher environments demanded by applications including automation, defence, healthcare and industrial computing.

The Switchtec PFX-I extended industrial temperature PCIe Gen3 switch family has passed thermal cycle testing, interval testing at various extreme temperatures and vigorous temperature humidity testing of several hundred hours to ensure durability at different humidity levels and wide temperature ranges.

Thus, the switches operate over an extended temperature range of -40˚C ambient to 105˚C junction, supporting up to 48 ports, 48 Non-Transparent Bridges (NTBs), 24 virtual switches, advanced error handling, hot- and surprise-plug controllers, dynamic port bifurcation and dynamic partitioning.

“With the PFX-I family, Microsemi is expanding our addressable application space for Switchtec PCIe switches into new markets including industrial, security and defense,” said Pete Hazen, vice president and general manager of the data center division at Microsemi. “The extended industrial temperature support enables use of our Switchtec family of PCIe switches in an even broader set of applications that include harsh environmental requirements.”

Medical imaging, instrumentation, security and radars

Microsemi‘s new PFX-I device is suited for a variety of industrial and defence applications, such as medical imaging, instrumentation, security and radars.

According to market research firm IndustryARC, the radar semiconductor market will grow from $433 million in 2017 to $505 million in 2022.

The firm expects the equipment market for other industrial applications to continue expanding as well during this forecast period, with medical imaging anticipated to grow from $21.8 billion to $25.5 billion, instrumentation to expand from $1.07 billion to $2.34 billion and video surveillance to grow from $23 billion to $35.9 billion.

Microsemi‘s Switchtec PM857x PFX-I family comprises switches from 96 lanes to 24 lanes, providing:

* The most flexible port bifurcation in the industry, from x2, x4, x8, x16 lanes per port;
* The highest port density, NTB density, and switch partition density;
* Advanced error containment and hot- and surprise-plug support to prevent system crashes;
* Advanced diagnostics and debug features to identify, diagnose and fix problems; and
* Separate Refclk Independent SSC (SRIS) for cabled PCIe and lower cost system designs.