FAQ - PCI-SIG Compliance and Interoperability Program

Compliance Workshop FAQ

1. QUESTION: I plan to attend a plugfest for the first time. What is the overall goal of a PCI-SIG Plugfest?

ANSWER: The overall goal of PCI-SIG Plugfests is product Compatibility across all PCI Express, PCI and PCI-X products within the industry.

2. QUESTION: The product I am bringing to the plugfest is a prototype. What are the usual procedures at a plugfest the PCI-SIG provides to help us control access to our products which we bring to the plugfest?

ANSWER: Overall, each vendor is responsible for maintaining their own desired level of confidentiality for their products at a plugfest. The PCI-SIG does provide some basic procedures that should be helpful to vendors in accomplishing this. When submitting products for testing, each vendor provides their own naming convention for the product to be tested. The product name can be as descriptive or as abstract as the vendor desires. Testing at the plugfest is usually handled within private testing rooms at a hotel. Each vendor participant doing testing is issued a badge with the person's name and company name. Testing participants should limit access to the test rooms to only participants that have a proper badge. Testing with a specific vendor is optional.

3. QUESTION: Now that Compliance Checklists are no longer required as one of the requirements for a product to be added to the Integrator's List, why does the PCI-SIG now require submission of a Product Listing Request Form following a Compliance Workshop?

ANSWER: The Product Listing Request Form provides a means for each company to indicate their preference as to how they would like their qualifying product/s listed. It also allows each company some control as to when their product/s will be listed. Waiting to submit the Product Listing Request Form ensures that products will not be added to the Integrator's list until they are ready. 

4. QUESTION: My product passed the tests at the last plugfest but I do not find my product on the Integrator's List yet, am I missing something?

ANSWER: Two things are required to get a product on the Integrator's List. The first is passing the required plugfest tests (both compliance and interoperability tests) and the second is to submit a correctly filled out Product Listing Request Form (reminders for these requirements are presented in the morning technical update session on the first day of each plugfest). If your product passed all of the testing requirements, then it is possible PCI-SIG has not yet received your Product Request Form. We require that you fill out an electronic copy of the Product Listing Request Form and attach it to an E-mail note. The Product Listing Request form is provided on the PCI-SIG website in the Compliance section.