Microsemi Offers Switchtec PCIe Switch Linux Drivers and Software Utilities to the Open Source Community

Microsemi Corporation, a leading provider of semiconductor solutions, has recently announced that the open source community will now be able to avail the Switchtec PCIe switch Linux drivers with software capabilities. Unlike the proprietary and vendor specific drivers, the systems built with Microsemi’s Switchtec PCIe switches will now be extending out-of-the-box support for a wide array of applications. These include enterprise storage, communications, defense, server, data center, and industrial systems.

Furthermore, Microsemi has collaborated with various industry leaders including Facebook and the Open Compute Project (OCP) for fostering innovation. Users can now download NVMe JBOD (just a bunch of flash) hardware designs free of cost at

http://www.opencompute.org/wiki/storage.

“Open collaboration and sharing of technology are key to fostering innovation and rapid system development,” said Derek Dicker, vice president and business unit manager for performance storage at Microsemi. “By offering open source Linux drivers and open hardware designs in collaboration with Facebook and the Open Compute Project (OCP), Microsemi enables customers to harness the power of distributed peer review and transparency to develop high reliability, high performance systems at an accelerated pace and lower cost.”

Interestingly, these PCIe switches are the industry’s highest density and lowest power switches and can provide solutions for a wide range of systems ranging from scalable JBOFs to general purpose applications with low power and high reliability needs. Some of the typical applications include server and data center equipment, workstations, video production and broadcasting equipment, enterprise storage, access networks and core networking.

As per the Worldwide Solid State Drive Forecast, 2015-2019, the industry is transitioning towards PCIe-based solid state drives (SSDs) whereby these devices are estimated to go above 40% of enterprise SSD revenue by the year 2019. Microsemi’s Switchtec PCIe switches are engineered to scale PCIe flash in high performance data center applications, providing high reliability PCIe with advanced error containment capabilities, the industry’s most flexible port bifurcation and lowest power, and the industry’s highest port and NTB density.

Product Availability

Microsemi’s Switchtec PCIe switch Linux drivers and software utilities are available to the public via the open source community now at no cost. Switchtec PCIe Switch Linux kernel patches can be found at http://marc.info/?a=126996651800002&r=1&w=2 and Switchtec open source software utilities are located at https://github.com/sbates130272/switchtec-user.

About Microsemi

Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world’s standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services.