Press Release

PCI-SIG BUILDING TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT SCALABLE E-BUSINESS DEMANDS

PCI-X and PCI Hot-Plug technologies allowing faster, more robust Web server architecture - see live demo of PCI-X at PCI-SIG Booth #740 provided by Compaq Computer Corporation

Intel Developer Forum, San Jose, CA; August 22, 2000 - The PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) will be highlighting PCI-X and PCI Hot-Plug, recent advancements to the PCI Local Bus standard for system I/O, at this week's Intel Developer Forum. In recognition of the conference theme, "Powering the Net. Connecting the Net." the PCI-SIG will demonstrate PCI-X - a technology that helps enable servers to meet increasing e-business application processing demands - at its booth #740 during the Demo Showcase sessions on equipment provided by Compaq Computer Corporation.

E-business applications rely on rapid, efficient processing and transmission of data within servers. PCI-X brings an immediate solution to the I/O bottleneck that is hampering processing speed between the CPU and its peripherals. By designing a more efficient protocol, PCI-X is able to handle more than 1 Gbyte/second of sustainable I/O bandwidth at 64-bits and 133 MHz. PCI-X leverages existing drivers based on the standard PCI specification and backward compatibility with existing slots to provide I/O performance enhancements today.

While not on display at IDF, the PCI-SIG is currently working on a new revision of the PCI Hot-Plug specification that will incorporate Hot-Plug support directly into the OS. PCI Hot-Plug allows the removal and insertion of devices without having to turn off a server, therefore maximizing uptime and minimizing downtime and allowing IT managers to build redundancy within a server, meeting demands of today's mission critical e-business applications. Currently, Systems OEMs are required to supply drivers to allow an OS to support the Hot-Plug controller. Incorporating Hot-Plug support directly into the OS will help enable increased interoperability for Hot-Plug enabled devices.

"PCI-X and PCI Hot-Plug are yet more examples of how the PCI-SIG is enabling the industry to move forward in this Internet economy," said Roger Tipley, PCI-SIG Chairman. "These technologies handle the performance, reliability, availability and serviceability needs of I/O devices used to both create website content and to form the server and communications infrastructure of the Internet."

PCI-X is currently being developed and products should appear in the marketplace as early as Q3 2000. Testing and development tools are currently out on the market and can be seen on the PCI-SIG's product commitment list online at www.pcisig.com. PCI Hot-Plug is currently being worked on to develop a single programming model for the hot-plug controller. The latest version of PCI Hot-Plug should be released sometime in 2001. Both the PCI-X addendum and PCI Hot-Plug specification are available to PCI-SIG members for download at www.pcisig.com.

Formed in June 1992, PCI-SIG is the industry organization that owns and manages the PCI Local Bus specification. More than 940 industry-leading companies are active PCI-SIG members. The organization is chartered to support new requirements while preserving backward compatibility for all PCI revisions, maintaining the specification as an easy-to-implement, stable technology, and contributing to the technical longevity of PCI while supporting its establishment as an industry-wide standard. For more information visit the PCI-SIG Web site at http://www.pcisig.com.