PCI-SIG announces progress on Mobile PCIe specification

PCI-SIG® and MIPI® Alliance today announced the start of procedural reviews of the M-PCIe™ (Mobile PCI Express®) specification, leading to its completion and availability. The new specification enables PCI Express (PCIe®) architecture to operate over the MIPI M-PHY® physical layer technology, extending the benefits of the PCIe I/O standard to mobile devices including thin laptops, tablets and smartphones. The M-PCIe specification is expected to be available to PCI-SIG members in early Q2 on the PCI-SIG website.

The adaptation of PCIe protocols to operate over the M-PHY physical layer provides the Mobile industry with a low-power, scalable solution that enables interoperability and a consistent user experience across multiple devices. The layered architecture of the PCIe I/O technology facilitates the integration of the power-efficient M-PHY with its extensible protocol stack to deliver best-in-class and highly scalable I/O functionality for mobile devices.

“M-PCIe brings the necessary architecture to support advancement in tablets and smartphones as they take on the role of primary computing devices,” said Al Yanes, Chairman and President, PCI-SIG. “The Mobile market is rapidly evolving and so are consumer expectations, placing an emphasis on low-power with increased performance for a better user experience.”

“M-PCIe offers developers power-efficiency with high scalability using the PCIe protocol,” said Brian O’Rourke, Senior Principal Analyst, IHS. “The implementation of M-PCIe will provide the Mobile industry with truly scalable PCIe solutions to meet consumer demand for next generation mobile devices.”

“The M-PCIe specification provides the Mobile industry with decades of innovation in PCIe technology coupled with the proven M-PHY physical layer that meets low-power requirements needed for today’s mobile device platforms,” said Joel Huloux, Chairman of the Board, MIPI Alliance. “Device manufacturers can drastically reduce the time for product development and validation, and MIPI Alliance is pleased to deliver this specification in partnership with PCI-SIG.”

M-PCIe is an Engineering Change Notice to the PCIe 3.0 Base specification. The initial application of this technology is anticipated to be high-performance wireless communications with other applications based on device design requirements. Implementations are expected in the handheld device market, including smartphones, tablets and other ultra-low power applications.

Implementers of this technology must be members of both PCI-SIG and MIPI Alliance in order to leverage member benefits, including access to licensing rights and specification evolutions.