Agilent Technologies Inc. (www.agilent.com) is proud to launch an automated compliance test package designed for PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 physical-layer transmitter compliance testing, including measurement support for the new PCIe 8GT/s interface.

Devices operating at 8GT/s pose new measurement challenges, requiring new procedures and tools for jitter margin analysis and proper validation. Advance access to measurements allows engineers to develop cutting-edge solutions to address potential issues in the design cycle. The PCI Express specification defines a high-speed serial bus primarily used for data communication between a PC’s main CPU and high speed peripheral components like graphics, storage and networking adapters. The PCIe is capable of operating at data rates between 2.5GT/s and 8GT/s.

The Agilent N5393C compliance test software designed for Infiniium 90000 Series oscilloscopes performs a broad range of oscilloscope-based tests for the PCIe standards (1.x, 2.x, and 3.0). It also delivers early 8GT/s physical layer transmitter measurements for those  designing to the PCIe 3.0 specification’s requirements.

”We are pleased with Agilent’s continued backing for the broad adoption of the PCI Express architecture,” said Al Yanes, president and chairman of PCI-SIG. ”The PCI-SIG and its members benefit from test and measurement equipment vendors’ support for our compliance workshops, such as that from Agilent, where products from a variety of our members are tested for electrical and protocol interoperability, among other tests. In the near future, the PCI-SIG plans to roll out its PCIe 3.0 testing procedures and related tools as high-volume products implementing this technology become available.”