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Port Configurations

The lane width of each port can be individually configured

through auto-negotiation, hardware strapping, host software

The PEX 8509 supports 4 port configurations:

1) One x1 upstream port and seven x1 downstream ports

2) One x2 upstream port and six x1 downstream ports

3) One x2 upstream port and the downstream ports as one x2

and four x1

4) One x4 upstream port and four x1 downstream ports

Figure 1. Port Configurations

For eight-lane configurations not shown in Figure 1, please

use the PEX 8508 device which offers more configuration

options in an 8-lane switch.

Hot Plug for High Availability

Hot Plug capability allows users to replace hardware modules

and perform maintenance without powering down the system.

The PEX 8509 Hot Plug capability and Advanced Error

Reporting features make it suitable for High Availability

(HA) applications. Ports 1, 2 & 3 include a Standard Hot

Plug Controller. If the PEX 8509 is used in an application

where one or more of its downstream ports connect to PCI

Express slots, Hot Plug Controllers on the three downstream

ports can be used to manage the hot plug event of its

associated slot.

Fully Compliant Power Management

For applications that require power management, the

ExpressLane PEX 8509 devices support both link (L0, L0s,

L1, L2/L3 Ready, and L3) and device (D0 and D3hot) power

management states, in compliance with the PCI Express power

management specification.

SerDes Power and Signal Management

The ExpressLane PEX 8509 supports software control of the

SerDes outputs to allow optimization of power and signal

strength in a system. The PLX SerDes implementation

supports four levels of power – off, low, typical, and high. The

SerDes block also supports loop-back modes and advanced

reporting of error conditions, which enables efficient debug

and management of the entire system.

Port Arbitration

The PEX 8509 switch supports hardware fixed and Weighted

Round-Robin Ingress Port Arbitration. This allows fine

tuning of Quality of Service and efficient use of packet buffers

and the system bandwidth.

Applications

Suitable for docking stations, control plane applications,

multi-function printers, DVRs, industrial control systems,

medical imaging systems, embedded systems & AMC

modules, the PEX 8509 can be configured for a wide variety

of form factors and applications.

Docking Station

The PEX 8509 is the most cost-effective PCI Express switch

that can be used in a docking station application. Figure 2

shows four x1 downstream ports connecting two PCIe end-

points, a Network Card and an ExpressCard to a single x4

upstream port. The PEX 8509’s Hot-Plug feature is extremely

useful for the plugging/un-plugging of ExpressCards.

Figure 2. Docking Station

PEX 8509

x1

PEX 8509

x4

PEX 8509

x2

x1 x1

x2

x1 x1 x1 x1

all x1

PEX 8509

x2

all x1

x1

x1

PEX 8509

PEX 8509

x1

PEX 8509

PEX 8509

x4

PEX 8509

PEX 8509

x2

x1 x1

x2

x1 x1 x1 x1

all x1

PEX 8509

PEX 8509

x2

all x1

x1

x1

4

1

1

Docking Station

1

1

PEX 8509

End

Point

South

Bridge

North

Bridge

CPU

USB/SATA/GE

Memory

Mother Board

Graphics

Network

End Point

4

1

11

Docking Station

11

11

PEX 8509

PEX 8509

End

Point

South

Bridge

North

Bridge

CPU

USB/SATA/GE

Memory

Mother Board

Graphics

Graphics

Network

Network

End Point