PCI-SIG, the organization dedicated to standardizing the PCIe (PCI Express) interface, announced today the creation of a new workgroup to implement PCIe technology over optical connections.

The newly formed Optical Workgroup aims to support a broad array of optical technologies, potentially leading to the development of technology-specific form factors.

Nathan Brookwood, Research Fellow at Insight 64, noted that optical connections would represent a significant progression for PCIe architecture, as these would potentially facilitate enhanced performance, reduced power consumption, extended reach, and minimized latency. This advancement would especially benefit sectors and applications with substantial data demands, such as Cloud and Quantum Computing, Hyperscale Data Centers, and High-Performance Computing.

PCI-SIG President and Chairperson, Al Yanes, affirmed the industry's keen interest in expanding the established, power-efficient PCIe technology standard's reach by enabling optical connections. He invited all PCI-SIG members to join the Optical Workgroup, share their expertise, and help establish specific workgroup goals and requirements.

Meanwhile, existing PCI-SIG workgroups will proceed with their ongoing efforts towards achieving a data rate of 128GT/s in the PCIe 7.0 specification. Concurrently, the new optical workgroup will strive to render the PCIe architecture more compatible with optical connections.