Upcoming Enhancement in AI Capabilities: XConn to Unveil PCIe Gen 6, Offering Unprecedented High-Speed Data Transmission
The technology landscape is abuzz with the latest development from XConn Technologies – the Apollo 2 switch, a hybrid solution supporting both PCIe Gen 6.2 and Compute Express Link (CXL) 3.1 standards. This innovative switch, showcased at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS25) event, promises to simplify interconnect designs and enhance scalability, critical for AI/ML training, cloud computing, and memory pooling applications.
According to Gerry Fan, CEO of XConn Technologies, samples of the PCIe Gen 6.2 and CXL 3.1 switches are now available. The Apollo 2 switch has been successfully tested for interoperability and performance optimization with leading hardware such as NVIDIA H100 GPUs and ScaleFlux MC500 CXL 3.1 Type 3 memory controllers. This interoperability enables high-performance GPU clustering for AI and HPC applications and demonstrates the switch's low latency, high bandwidth, and power efficiency.
XConn's collaboration with Intel is a strategic factor in validating the switch’s ecosystem compatibility and robustness. Intel’s involvement helps ensure seamless interaction between hardware and software components, promising a reliable end-to-end solution that meets design and performance requirements in production environments.
Key real-world takeaways about Apollo 2’s performance and scalability in AI and data center workloads include:
- Supports high bandwidth and low latency for bandwidth-intensive AI and HPC workloads via PCIe Gen 6.2 and CXL 3.1 integration.
- Enables advanced memory disaggregation and pooling, which is essential for scalable AI infrastructure.
- Demonstrated compatibility and optimized performance with NVIDIA GPUs and ScaleFlux memory controllers, reflecting readiness for production-grade heterogeneous computing environments.
- Collaboration with Intel indicates strong ecosystem validation, which reduces deployment complexity and increases system-level interoperability for AI and cloud workloads.
- Sample availability and public demonstrations (e.g., at FMS25) show that Apollo 2 is transitioning from concept to deployable technology.
While these results highlight the switch’s potential, comprehensive independent benchmarks or large-scale production deployment case studies have not yet been widely published. As such, absolute performance metrics and scalability limits under diverse real-world workloads remain emerging data points.
In summary, the Apollo 2 switch represents a significant advancement in hybrid PCIe/CXL switching technology for AI and data center applications, with early demonstrations confirming its robust interoperability and design scalability in relevant, high-performance environments. The upcoming demo by XConn Technologies will showcase low-latency, high-bandwidth switching for applications such as AI/ML model training, cloud computing, and composable infrastructure. The implications for high-speed storage are significant if the technology delivers, as PCIe Gen 6 could support faster data transfers between storage devices and processing units.
[1] Techpowerup. (n.d.). XConn's Apollo 2 Switch Demonstrates PCIe Gen 6.2 and CXL 3.1 Interoperability. Retrieved from https://www.techpowerup.com/ [2] XConn Technologies. (n.d.). Apollo 2 Switch. Retrieved from https://www.xconntech.com/apollo2 [3] ScaleFlux. (n.d.). ScaleFlux MC500. Retrieved from https://www.scaleflux.com/products/mc500/ [4] NVIDIA. (n.d.). H100 Data Center GPU. Retrieved from https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/data-center/h100/ [5] Intel. (n.d.). Intel and XConn Collaborate to Enable Interoperability for PCIe and CXL Technologies. Retrieved from https://newsroom.intel.com/
*The article was published via Techpowerup.
- The hybrid solution, supported by the Apollo 2 switch from XConn Technologies, offers promising advancements in data-and-cloud computing, particularly in AI/ML training and cloud computing, due to its integration of PCIe Gen 6.2 and Compute Express Link (CXL) 3.1 standards.
- The collaboration between XConn Technologies and tech giants like Intel validates the Apollo 2 switch's technology, ensuring seamless interaction between hardware and software components essential for high-speed storage and scalable AI infrastructure.
