February, 2007
Overview
1.2
Overview
This data book describes the PEX 8532, a fully non-blocking, low-latency, low-cost, and low-power
8-port, 32-lane PCI Express switch. Conforming to the PCI Express Base r1.0a, the PEX 8532 enables
users to add scalable, high-bandwidth I/O to a wide variety of products, including servers,
communication products, storage systems, routers, blade servers, and other embedded products.
The PEX 8532’s flexible hardware configuration and software programmability allow the switch to be
tailored to suit a wide variety of applications.
1.3
Lane Configuration
The PEX 8532 switch is suitable for host-centric and peer-to-peer communication. The PEX 8532
contains 32 PCI Express lanes and up to eight ports.
Figure 1-1 illustrates the way in which the PEX 8532 flexible-lane configuration feature supports a
variety of switch applications. Figure 1-1 (a) illustrates a host-centric port configuration, where a wide
PCI Express link is fanned out into smaller ports with different bandwidth requirements. Figure 1-1 (b)
illustrates backplane port configuration, where the wide PCI Express port provides a high-bandwidth
path to a host or a switch fabric from a large number of line cards with smaller ports. Figure 1-1 (c)
illustrates an 8-slot symmetric backplane, with x4 links traveling to each slot for peer-to-peer
applications.
Figure 1-1. PEX 8532 Flexible-Lane Configuration
ExpressLane PEX 8532AA/BA/BB/BC 8-Port/32-Lane Versatile PCI Express Switch Data Book
Copyright © 2007 by PLX Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved – Version 1.6
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