Parade Technologies Offers Best-in-class latency for CXL Retimer Solutions

Parade’s PS8936 offers latencies that are only a fraction of those of the competition

Parade Technologies, Ltd. (Taiwan OTC: 4966.TWO), a leading high-speed interface, video display, and touch controller IC supplier, has demonstrated the lowest latencies in the industry with its new PS8936 PCIe/CXL re-timer solution.

PS8936 retimer chip developed for PCI Express Rev. 5.0 and Compute Express Link (CXL), supporting sixteen bidirectional lanes. In addition to supporting the 32 Gbps data rate offered by the PCI Express 5.0 specification, it also supports all lower data rates, to provide backward compatibility with earlier PCI Express revisions.

The PS8936 is the PCI Express Gen 5 retimer addition to Parade’s PS8926 and PS8925 PCI Express 4.0 16-lane and 4-lane retimer family currently in production, and the PS8570 PCI Express 4.0 4-channel linear redriver, which is currently sampling. The PS8936 is in full compliance with the PCI Express 5.0 specification and has been successfully tested in multiple OEM systems and PCI Express 5.0 CPU platforms. It is designed for use in enterprise systems including compute servers, accelerators, and data storage, as well as high-performance workstations. Retimers are required to maintain signal integrity in these systems which often include longer PCB traces, connectors, and cables. The doubling of data rate that PCI Express 5.0 offers compared to PCI Express 4.0 only increases the challenge of error-free signal propagation. This is why retimers are an integral part of the PCI Express 5.0 specification and system implementations.

“The promise of CXL is to enable scalable, high-performance coherent memory,” said Jimmy Chiu, Executive VP of Marketing at Parade Technologies. “While CXL can rely on the continual advances in PCIe Express to address its ever-increasing bandwidth needs, access time is an equally critical factor for memory performance. As larger CXL architectures are built, they will inevitably encounter situations where signal integrity places limits on both scale and flexibility, and retimers will be needed. With Parade’s patented low-latency retimers, these systems can be built without compromising signal integrity or performance.”

Including both adaptive CTLE and DFE equalization allows the PS8936 to compensate for up to 36 dB channel loss at Nyquist frequencies. And, in addition to supporting PCI Express specification-compliant retimer operation for both common and separate (SRIS/SRNS) clocking configurations, PS8936 features a bit-level retiming mode, activated automatically and regardless of link partners, that provides a near-0 latency path for all data transfers.

Availability

The PS8936 is available in an 8.9mm x 22.8mm 354-ball BGA package and is sampling now, offering support for -40 to +85 deg. ambient temperature range.

About Parade Technologies

Parade Technologies, Ltd. is a leading supplier of mixed-signal ICs for a variety of increasingly used high-speed and display interface standards used in network and storage systems, computers, automotive, consumer electronics, and display panels. Parade is a fabless semiconductor company founded in 2005 and publicly listed on Taipei Exchange (TPEx) in 2011 (stock code: 4966). Parade’s portfolio of signal conditioning IC products serves the growing demand for high speed data integrity solutions for HDMI™, DisplayPort™, USB, CXL, and PCI Express interface applications.

Parade leverages its close relationships with market leading Tier-1 OEMs to develop ICs that enable competitive system capabilities. Parade is also a key contributor to industry standards development organizations. The company’s devices integrate proprietary technologies that offer superior signal integrity as well as improved system integration and power efficiency. As a result of the company’s “standards-plus” design philosophy, Parade ICs have been designed into products offered by nearly every leading computer and display vendor worldwide.

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