Today`s high performance software applications, particularly high-end graphics, video and music systems, are placing increasing demands on system architectures for added performance.
According to Douglas Downing, a technology specialist at Rectron, in order to deliver acceptable results for users of these systems, a much higher input/output (I/O) device bandwidth than current Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus architectures can provide is required.
One of the latest developments in this arena is PCI Express, a new I/O interconnect technology that has the support of Intel.
"PCI Express provides support for a wide range of high-speed network, storage and other devices that are key to the optimisation of new generation graphics, video and music software solutions," says Downing.
"PCI Express will help users take advantage of the increasing performance provided by new desktop processor platforms which are being used to convert music to digital formats, manipulate digital photographs and video and deliver content-rich, graphics-based learning applications.
"In addition, business users will look to PCI Express for improved productivity, greater system security and improved collaboration with their co-workers and business partners worldwide," he notes.
Downing says support for PCI Express has also come from Microsoft, which is solidly behind the industry`s efforts to architect leading-edge hi-tech products.
"From a technical perspective, bridging and switching devices incorporating flexible, serial I/O features are central to the PCI Express architecture. A PCI Express link is implemented using multiple, point-to-point connections called lanes. Multiple lanes can be used to create an I/O interconnect whose bandwidth is linearly scalable.
"This means the user will be able to stream data from various video and audio sources to deliver video-on-demand and audio re-distribution solutions at cheaper prices."
Downing says a key benefit of PCI Express is its compatibility with all existing PCI-based software. "This will translate into a very low cost implementation for any required bandwidth, enabling smooth integration within future systems," he adds.
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