First PCIe server based on Intel Silicon Photon technology

November 5, 2013, at the annual Fujitsu Forum, the world's first PCIe Express Protocol (OPCIE) based on Intel Silicon Photon technology is available. This Opcie server, with the help of Intel Silicon Photon technology, uses laser and optical transmission data to replace the old, slow electronic cable technology, can effectively improve the server space and power constrained bottlenecks, reduce server component density to better achieve cooling. The advent of this server solution marks the possibility of Intel silicon photon technology making optical data transfer hardware possible, enabling data centers to realize the interconnection of computing and storage nodes between components and achieving full virtualization.

Fujitsu has loaded the Intel Silicon Photonic modules into two standard primergy RX200 servers and configured the Intel-designed FPGA. FPGA mainly realizes the modulation of signal so that the PCI Express channel can be "optically compatible". With the help of Intel silicon Photon technology, they are able to send PCI Express protocol to a PCI expansion box via the MXC interface (see figure below).

In this expansion box is also configured with the http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/15579.html "> SSD" and the Intel Xeon Fusion processor, the advantage of this method is that SSD and Xeon Fusion processors are equivalent to RX200 servers on the motherboard. When photons move at a speed of 186,000 miles per second, the extra latency generated on a few meters long cable is hardly measurable (it can be calculated for about one-five hundred millonth seconds).

New servers equipped with silicon-photon technology can gain more advantages over traditional servers. First, the storage capacity of Fujitsu servers can increase massively, because the expansion box can extend the extra disk drive well. Second, with the Intel Xeon Nuclear Accelerator, the Intel Xeon E5 processor in the EX2000 server can effectively increase CPU efficiency. The third advantage is heat dissipation. Putting SSD into the expansion box can achieve higher energy efficiency, because the heat in the expansion box can be better cooled between 1U racks and fans. The use of light and laser to transmit data faster and farther than traditional pci-express connections enables components to be farther away from the processor. As a result, servers can be smaller and more storage and coprocessor can be installed in a dedicated chassis to reduce power and cooling costs.

Optical fiber technology is generally used in telecommunications networks, with the continuous development of optical fiber technology, gradually began to use in the computer internal and data center, it will be possible to replace the existing copper-dependent technology. With the help of Intel Silicon Photon technology, the Fujitsu solution solves the problem of SSD expansion, CPU efficiency improvement, total heat dissipation and heat dissipation density.

The technology is still in the demo phase, which is a few years away from the actual application. Over time, the technology associated with optical cables and modules will be cheaper. "With the help of photoelectron technology, one day the computer will revolutionize and the transmission between computers will be greeted by a new era," said Mario Paniccia, director of the Intel Academician and Photonics Technology Laboratory. ”