RapidIO Nudges ARM Into Servers

Rick Merritt, EETimes
7/17/2013 09:21 PM EDT

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- RapidIO is poised to leap from wireless base stations to datacenters as an enabler of everything from greener supercomputers to ARM-based microservers. The effort could fuel the move into datacenter systems for ARM-based SoCs, many of which use or plan to adopt RapidIO.

The trade group behind the interconnect is working on server and switch reference designs it will submit to Facebook's Open Compute Project. Separately, two RapidIO-based supercomputers are already in the works. The designs will use the interconnect in ways that replace PCI Express, Infiniband, Ethernet, and proprietary fabrics used to link chips, boards, and systems in computers and switches.

Freescale, IDT, IP provider Mobiveil, and system maker Prodrive helped start the datacenter and networking task group inside the RapidIO Trade Association. It aims to have its server and switch reference designs in a prototype stage before the end of the year.

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