LightSpeed offers ASIC with PCI-X core for high-bandwidth applications

LightSpeed offers ASIC with PCI-X core for high-bandwidth applications
By Semiconductor Business News
January 11, 2000 (12:06 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000111S0006

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- LightSpeed Semiconductor Corp. here today claimed to be the first ASIC vendor to offer fully tested, full-speed PCI-X functionality.

The PCI-X standard, adopted last fall, extends the 66-MHz PCI standard to include 32/64-bit, 133-MHz performance and is targeted at high-bandwidth applications such as Gigabit Ethernet, storage area networking (SAN), routers, and switches.

LightSpeed, a fast-turn ASIC house, has licensed Corex-V10 PCI-X inellectual property from DCM Technologies of Newark, Calif., and offers a 133-MHz netlist version of the PCI-X core for implementation in its module based arrays (MBAs)..

"As processors get faster, external bus speeds need to increase as well," said David P. Lautzenheiser, vice president of marketing at LightSpeed. "The PCI-X standard addresses this with a 133-MHz, 64-bit bus, while remaining backward-compatible with the slower PCI standard. Designers wishing to take advantage of the benefi ts of the PCI-X standard need to access it at full speed."

PCI-X functionality at 66MHz is available on some programmable logicdevices (PLDs). But PLDs and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) traditionally lag the performance of ASIC devices. The LightSpeed PCI-X solution can be implemented in a wide range of systems, not just high-end system-on-chip (SoC) designs, Lautzenheiser said.

"Our MBA architecture and design methodology shorten product development time and ramp to volume production while simplifying standard ASIC design flows to provide high-density, high-performance solutions," he said.

PCI-X will be the next major bus standard in both the computing and communications industries, said Hemant Bharat Ram, CEO of DCM Technologies, the U.S. arm of IC design company DCM Data Systems, of New Delhi, India. "LightSpeed's fast-turn, low-NRE approach to ASIC development now enables a broad audience of designers to finally realize a full-speed implementation of our Corex-V10 PCI-X IP."

Li ghtSpeed offers the PCI-X core through its InstantCore IP program, which provides pre-verified netlist versions of IP cores at a significant discount compared to RTL versions, while providing the fastest means to successful integration and ramp to volume production.

The PCI-X design kit and netlist are available now. Pricing for implementation of the PCI-X IP in an MBA is based on customer-specific requirements.