2. 1 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 What is Better I/O, and When?

3. 2 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Traditional I/O is Limited Bus Physics requires short and wide –Incompatible with Closed PC boxes Cable connections Most protocols have some weak points –Exposed by Switches and Bridges Deadlock hazards Addressability –Exposed by technological evolution Built-in limitations Speed/timing assumptions

4. 3 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 What Does the Customer Want? Never to open the PC’s box again Plug and Play Stackable Accessories –Connected by (at most) 1 small cable As few Power Bricks as possible! Cables that are –Cheap –Thin –Reliable –Simple –Few

5. 4 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 How can we Deliver? High speed serial point-to-point links –Avoids the bus physics limitations –Keeps cables thin and cheap Protocols that –Provide bus-like services –Scale with technology –Permit concurrent parallel I/O traffic Bandwidth increases naturally with system size Grow bandwidth more by replication, as needed –Have practically no built-in limits Distribute (some) power on data cables

6. 5 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Potential Sources of Technology Scalable Coherent Interface, ANSI/IEEE 1596–1992 Serial Bus, IEEE 1394–1995 Gigabit Ethernet FibreChannel Serial Express, IEEE P2100 Telecom industry

7. 6 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Scalable Coherent Interface ANSI/IEEE 1596–1992, IEC 13961–1999 Proven, in high-end servers, but too expensive Protocol supports mixtures of –Switch –Bridge, and –Ring connections

8. 7 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Serial Bus Isochronous protocols –Multimedia –RealTime applications –Mass-market volumes Thin high-bandwidth cables

9. 8 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Gigabit Ethernet Physical signaling excellent Huge research base RJ45/Cat 5 extremely attractive Protocols designed for networking –Complementary to our needs, different goals –We add new applications, don’t displace existing ones. –We add significant market volume.

10. 9 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 FibreChannel Signaling Cabling Fiber Optic links Extensive research base

11. 10 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Serial Express Now revised for broader applications –More robust –More extensible –Easier to connect to Serial Bus

12. 11 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 What Should We do? Take the best ideas Combine them Leverage past experience Use Open Process –Open Standards –Support them with industry resources patent pool Joint R&D Joint promotion, marketing Joint interoperability tests

13. 12 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Specifically, Take Physical Layers from –Gigabit Ethernet –FibreChannel –Telecom –New High-Speed developments –Parallel-link Implementations Protocols from –SCI –Serial Bus –Serial Express –PCI

14. 13 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Why use Memory-Bus Protocols? What is a Bus? –Read/Write transactions Easily processed by hardware Buses are extremely versatile –Efficient even for small transfers –Low latency –Simple familiar addressing No I/O instruction set support necessary –Packet-switching is easy –DMA emulates channels –Protection easy via usual mechanisms

15. 14 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 We Choose Bus Architecture Packet switching enables low cost –Allows mixing a wide range of applications Versatility allows for unforeseen applications –Can even do clustering efficiently Easily scales to multiprocessor applications Security easily implemented via familiar page protection mechanisms Emulation of buses using point-to-point links avoids physics limits and allows bandwidth to scale indefinitely.

16. 15 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 What are the Components? Arbitration from SCI and Serial Express RealTime/Isochronous from Serial Bus DMA architecture from IEEE P1285 1212.1, SBP-2 Signaling, cabling from Gigabit Ethernet Power distribution similar to Serial Bus –Avoid complications by limiting to 1 hop from Hub Plug & Play based on IEEE 1212/IEC139xx Encryption based on IEEE P1363 & Serial Bus

17. 16 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 How Long Will This Take? The really hard parts (scalable protocols) are ready for polishing and review –Experience from previous standards available –Detailed draft specs exist now. –Easily extensible, with backward compatibility –Custom applications can use standard infrastructure –All known requirements to date have been met! Physical Links will need continuing work –RJ45/Cat 5 done now, ready for review –Higher Bandwidth Cables and Connectors TBD

18. 17 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Protocol Goals Achieved Random wiring by untrained customers Can intermix devices with different speeds Initialization and addressing are software-friendly RealTime/Isochronous data supported Arbitrary topology, arbitrary mix, of –Switches –Hubs –Daisy-chains Encrypted traffic freely intermixed with unencrypted Arbitration is efficient and technology independent.

19. 18 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Protocol Goals Achieved Resource allocation guarantees no nodes starved Cache coherence can be added when needed. Can be scaled up transparently by using –paralleled serial links or –parallel links Hubs/switches/routers can range from –cheap and simple to –smart with higher performance Hub-based wiring is assumed Leverages open standards work (1596, 1394, P2100, 1212, 1212.1, P1285, P1996, etc.)

20. 19 S DBG 990208 Local Area Memory Port—P2100 Author Contact Info David B. Gustavson, IEEE P2100 (LAMP) Chair CFO & Secretary, SLDRAM Inc. Executive Director: SCIzzL, the association of Local Area Memory Port developers, manufacturers and users Santa Clara University 1946 Fallen Leaf Lane Los Altos, CA 94024-7206 tel: 650-961-0305 fax: 650-961-3530 email: dbg@SCIzzL.com