PCI Express 3.0 delayed until 2011

Interim release addresses issues with 8 GHz spec

Rick Merritt, EETimes
(06/23/2010 3:42 PM EDT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Pushing the widely used PCI Express interconnect to the next big speed level has proved harder than anticipated.

The PCI Special Interest Group recently released an interim 0.71 version of the PCI Express 3.0 specification that supports up to 8 GigaTransfers/second. The PCI SIG aims to start testing products for compliance in early 2011, about a year later than originally anticipated.

The new speed grade will be needed to support adapter cards for the 40 and 100 Gbit/s Ethernet standard recently approved by the IEEE. It will also be used for high-end graphics cards, next-generation Infiniband interconnects, flash drives and other applications that demand high throughput.

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