Embedded Market leaders drive innovation in support of the RapidIO standard.
Shanghai, China – October 19, 2009 –
The RapidIO® Trade Association, dedicated to driving the development and adoption of the RapidIO interconnect standard, today announced the release of the latest revision of the RapidIO Technology Specifications 2.1. Driven by the members which include the world’s embedded market leading OEM’s and Suppliers, the Goal was to further enhance the specification by enabling additional high speed link implementations and broaden the market applications.
The consolidated 2.0/2.1 specification will officially be referred to as Serial RapidIO Gen 2 and is fully backwards compatible, Gen 2 adds the following features:
o New higher performance physical layer
-5.0 and 6.25Gbaud rates added with DFE
-Mode to facilitate short 5Gbaud links without DFE and with the IDLE1 control symbol
-Increased robustness of the IDLE2 operation
-2x, 8x, and 16x link width options added
-Data scrambling and new control symbol functionality added
o Significant Data Plane enhancements
-Virtual Channels (VCs) added to Serial Physical Layer
-Virtual Output Queue (VoQ) specification added
-Data Streaming Packet Format (Type 9 packet)
-New Endpoint flow control arbitration and traffic management
“The versatility, performance and breadth of hardware and software solutions supporting the RapidIO standard make it the preferred solution for next-generation systems in a variety of market segments,” said RapidIO Trade Association Executive Director Tom Cox “Our member companies are laying out the roadmap to bring valuable expertise and perspective to our organization while clearly recognizing the value of our established eco-system and the opportunity to contribute to its future direction.”
In addition to the Gen 2 Specification the RapidIO Trade Association has developed a updated Gen 2 Bus Functional Model. The BFM provides interoperability and compliance checking and is supplied as a modular behavioral C model and provide a set of features and functions for simulating and verifying RapidIO systems of arbitrary complexity. The BFM is available to RapidIO Trade Association members in source code or object code form and is designed as a flexible tool for the development, evaluation and verification of RapidIO interface products. For more information visit
Technology Roadmap
The RapidIO Trade Association has a technology roadmap that provides details about RapidIO Specification Gen 2, and previews the development of Specification Gen 3, which will continue to be defined collaboratively over the next 12 months. While the current standard (Specification Rev. 1.3) will continue to dominate embedded applications for the foreseeable future, silicon using the latest revision is expected to debut in 2010. The embedded systems market has a stable and longer lifecycle then PC and Consumer markets, the needs of this market are reflected in the collaborative efforts of the associations members to develop the appropriate technology, cost and performance in a timeframe suitable for the needs of its members. Details can be found at http://rapidio.wpengine.com/education/Roadmap/
About the RapidIO Standard
The RapidIO standard is the embedded interconnect developed by the embedded market specifically for embedded applications. This ISO-certified, open-standard enables best-in-class quality of service and performance in multi-host embedded processor applications – from components to systems – that require reliable, high speed, cost-effective embedded connectivity. The RapidIO interconnect standard seamlessly enables the chip-to-chip, board-to-board, control, backplane and data plane interconnections needed in high-performance networking, communications and embedded systems.
The RapidIO Trade Association enables, supports and drives the development of the RapidIO ecosystem, and provides the information and resources OEMs need to deliver better solutions, faster. Membership in the RapidIO Trade Association provides the inside track on information, the opportunity to shape specifications, access to pooled resources, and superior overall market awareness. Detailed information on the RapidIO specification, products, design tools, member companies, and membership is available at www.RapidIO.org.
RapidIO® is a registered trademark of the RapidIO Trade Association. Product and company names mentioned may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.