1. Introduction
Over the last 3 years, a number of protocol standards have emerged, aiming to address the growing demand for higher data throughput and more efficient data movement. While CCIX, Gen-Z, and OpenCAPI are relative newcomers, PCIe has been around for almost 2 decades. With the imminent release of version 5.0 of the PCIe Specification, SoC designers have a variety of options for supporting bandwidths in excess of 400 Gbit/s while improving overall communication efficiency.
In this article, we look into the various protocols by providing a brief history, a quick technical comparison, and the latest deployment status. We also offer our perspective on the evolution of these protocols.