If you have not updated your system to PCI Express 3.0 yet, then maybe now is the time as the follow-on generation to PCI Express 3.0, aptly named 4.0 is already in the works.
According to PCI-SIG chairman Al Yanes with whom we spoke yesterday, initial work on PCI Express has already begun and the real work on the specification should begin around year end. If all pans out the way it is planned, then we should see the first product supporting the 16 Gbps basic per lane speed in 2015 or 2016 according to Yanes.
There still remains some optimization work for both connectors and silicon. According to Yanes it is important to get to a specification that can not only deliver fast products, but also products that are cheap and easy to manufacture.
So far we have not heard anything from AMD or Intel about when we can expect support for PCI Express 4.0 in their chip sets. With SATA-IO also having moved to PCI Express this also paves the way for an update of SATA Express when the coming specification runs out of steam at its current 8 Gbps per lane.
We can only dimly envision the massive speeds from SSD storage arrays that will be possible with this interconnect specification.S|A
Mads Ølholm
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