PCIe switch works with multi-host GPU and NVMe SSD systems

Microsemi Corporation announced enhancements to its Switchtec PCIe advanced Fabric Switch (PAX), which now provides high-performance fabric connectivity and composability for multi-host graphics processing unit (GPU) and NVMe solid state drive (SSD) systems. Microsemi will be showcasing a demonstration of the new device during the Open Compute Project (OCP) Summit March 20-21, 2018 in San Jose, California.

As the use of GPUs for deep learning, artificial intelligence and machine learning make groundbreaking improvements in areas of image classification, speech recognition, autonomous driving, bioinformatics and video analytics, the need for efficient parallel GPU computing continues to grow. Microsemi’s Switchtec PCIe advanced fabric switches provide a scalable, low-latency and cost-effective multi-host interconnect for a network of GPUs, NVMe SSDs and other PCIe endpoints. The Switchtec PAX product can be used to create a flexible fabric interconnect to a shared pool of GPUs and/or NVMe SSDs using standard operating system drivers. System management is simplified through a fabric application programming interface (API), significantly reducing time to market and development cost for multi-host systems.

 

Features
Microsemi’s Switchtec PAX family comprises switches from 96 lanes to 24 lanes, providing:

• High-performance PCIe fabric connectivity overcoming the limitations of the PCIe Specification for multi-host systems
• Multi-host sharing of SR-IOV NVMe SSDs, GPUs and other PCIe endpoints
• Virtualization of host PCIe domains and SR-IOV endpoints
• Software development kit (SDK) for virtualization of SR-IOV endpoints, and for enclosure management
• One of the industry’s most flexible port bifurcation, from x2 to x16 lanes per port
• High port density, with up to 48 ports
• Advanced error reporting
• Error containment for surprise-plug and unplug to prevent system crashes
• Advanced diagnostics and debug features to identify, diagnose and fix problems
• Separate Refclk Independent SSC (SRIS) for cabled PCIe and lower cost system designs

Microsemi’s Switchtec PAX advanced fabric PCIe switches are sampling now to lead customers. For more information, visit https://www.microsemi.com/products/storage/switchtec-pcie-storage-switches/switchtec-pcie-advanced-fabric-switches or contact sales….@microsemi.com.