Cyclone Microsystems' PCIe2-2720 is a 2 U low-profile PCI Express (PCIe) Gen2 Expansion system that supports supports the addition of up to ten low-profile PCI Express I/O cards to a single host computer. Most host computers contain few PCI Express slots making them poorly suited for building complex systems requiring many different I/O boards and co-processor resources. The PCIe2-2720 Expansion System has been designed for applications requiring multiple low-profile x4 and x8 PCIe I/O and co-processing resources.

The PCIe2-2720 system is composed of three elements: a PCI Express Host Bus-to-Cable Adapter, an Expansion cable, and an Expansion Chassis. After inserting the Host Bus-to-Cable Adapter card into a host computer's x16 PCIe Gen2 slot and connecting the x16 PCIe expansion cable, the PCI host in functionally linked to the expansion chassis at 160 or 80 Gb/s. The expansion chassis can be populated with up to ten  x8 low profile boards.

The expansion system's architecture uses low latency PCIe Bus repeaters and a non-blocking PCI Express switch for excellent peer-to-peer I/O bandwidth. For host computers with modern BIOSs, the PCIe2-2720 Expansion System is recognized by the host system upon boot-up, requires no hardware specific drivers, and is entirely operating system and host processor independent.

The PCIe2-2720 is powered by a single 400W AC power supply or daul redundant 420W supplies. The dual power supply option also supports an optional system monitoring board. The slim 2U chassis features a replaceable fan filter, and optional rack mounting and shelf glides.

Why use a PCI Express Expansion System?

PCIe2-2720 Block Diagram