PCI-SIG releases CopprLink cable specification

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In November of last year, PCI-SIG convened the SC23 conference at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, USA, where they showcased PCIe technology demonstrations and introduced a new naming scheme for PCI rapid cables, underscoring PCIe’s status as the preferred interconnect for high-performance computing. PCI-SIG announced that the new naming for internal and external cables would be “CopprLink,” with specifications under development to meet the requirements of PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 standards.

PCI-SIG has now finally released the CopprLink internal and external cable specifications, compatible with the PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 standards, offering signal transmission rates of 32/64 GT/s, and employing the established industry standard connector sizes maintained by SNIA. Originally intended for release within 2023, the launch has been delayed by several months.

Al Yanes, President and Chairman of PCI-SIG, stated that the CopprLink cable specifications seamlessly integrate PCIe cabling with the PCIe electrical base specification, providing extended channel coverage and topological flexibility. The CopprLink cables are designed to evolve with the same connector form factor, adapting to future PCIe technology developments and meeting the demands of emerging applications.

CopprLink Internal Cable Specification

  • Supports PCIe 5.0 and 6.0 technology signaling at 32.0 and 64.0 GT/s
  • Includes the SNIA SFF-TA-1016 connector form factor
  • Maximum of 1m reach within a single system
  • Example implementations include motherboard-to-add-in-card, motherboard-to-backplane, chip-to-chip and add-in-card-to-backplane in a self-contained server platform node
  • Target applications include storage and data center compute nodes

CopprLink External Cable Specification

  • Supports PCIe 5.0 and 6.0 technology signaling at 32.0 and 64.0 GT/s
  • Includes the SNIA SFF-TA-1032 connector form factor
  • Maximum of up to 2m reach in rack-to-rack connections
  • Example implementations include CPU-to-storage, CPU-to-memory, CPU-to-accelerator, and accelerator fabrics in disaggregated server platform nodes
  • Target applications include storage and data center AI/ML use cases

CopprLink internal and external cable specifications are now available for PCI-SIG members to download. Additionally, work on CopprLink cables for the upcoming 128 GT/s PCIe 7.0 standard is underway, demonstrating PCI-SIG’s commitment to the CopprLink cable specifications.

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