LeCroy intros address translation services support for PCI Express protocol analysis and test

PCI-SIG DevCon, SANTA CLARA, USA: LeCroy Corp. announced a new feature added to its PCI Express (PCIe) protocol analyzer and exerciser line of products that will support PCI Express Address Translation Services (ATS) for testing and debugging PCI Express specification-based applications.

LeCroy had previously supported some aspects of the Address Translation Services specification from the PCI-SIG on its protocol analyzer line. The announcement now includes updates from the new specification and extends that functionality to LeCroy's Summit Z3-16 PCI Express 3.0 protocol exerciser.

"The Address Translation Services specification provides a better mechanism for controlling I/O addressing for PCI Express devices," said Al Yanes, president and chairman, PCI-SIG. "We are pleased that companies such as LeCroy are working to quickly deliver protocol analysis and test tools that will help bring ATS enabled products to the marketplace."

The Address Translation Services (ATS) specification provides a set of extensions or transactions that support the remote caching of address translations on an endpoint or add-in-card. Translating or re-mapping these addresses in a PCI Express endpoint provides a more effective memory to I/O implementation to minimize latency and increase performance in I/O operations. Devices that implement ATS can provide more functions with better response time to PCI Express-based systems.

The Summit Z3-16 protocol exerciser can emulate ATS-enabled devices. Having access to an ATS emulated endpoint or ATS add-in-card gives system developers a controlled way to test protocol operation and check out corner case failures between host and device. The Summit Z3-16 is programmable through a rich scripting language. For example, the Summit Z3-16 exerciser can be configured to emulate a device that is inserted into a system under test. An exerciser script can be written so that test software running on the system under test can execute any of the various scripted ATS procedures running on the exerciser that is emulating a device. The system under test is actually writing to the exerciser's memory and/or configuration spaces providing an emulated programmable DMA and complete inband control of the Device Emulator's behavior.

"I/O Virtualization has been an important direction to the PCI Express development community. Adding support for Address Translation Services widens the coverage the Summit analyzer and exerciser line of products addresses for high performance products," said John Wiedemeier, product marketing manager for the Interconnect Communications Group, LeCroy. "We are committed to enhancing the Summit Z3-16 and providing the emulation tool of choice for PCI Express device development and test."

LeCroy protocol analyzers and exercisers have been at the forefront of PCI Express product development. All LeCroy protocol analyzers feature a hierarchical display, real-time statistics, protocol traffic summaries, detailed error reports, powerful scripting, and the ability to create user-defined test reports which allow developers to troubleshoot intricate problems and finish their projects on time.