With CompactPCI Serial (PICMG CPCI-S.0) the CompactPCI architecture moves to serial high-speed interconnects. A configuration of one system slot and up to eight peripheral slots does not need switches and bridges. Keeping the proven 19” mechanics of the IEC 1101 as well as hot-plug, the standard introduces a new rugged connector with a signal density of up to 184 pin pairs (on 3U) and transmission frequencies of 12 Gb/s.

The system slot supports 8 PCI Express links (6 by 4 lanes, 2 by 8 lanes), 8 SATA/SAS, 8 USB 2.0/3.0 and 8 Ethernet interfaces plus signals for general system management (reset, IPMB, hot plug, geographical addressing etc). It is supplied with 12V (60W per 3U, 120W per 6U slot).

Each peripheral slot offers 1 PCI Express link, 1 SATA/SAS and 1 USB 2.0/3.0 interface. Each slot can support up to 8 Ethernet interfaces to build a full mesh. All interfaces are accessible at the same time. It is supplied with 12V (60W per 3U, 120W per 6U slot).

The pin assignment of the system and the peripheral slot is congruent. This way it is possible to plug a system slot board into each peripheral slot to support symmetrical multiprocessing.

The star topology is equal for PCI Express, SATA/SAS and USB. All peripheral slots are identical except two that are connected via PCI Express links by 8 lanes.

Ethernet is wired as a full mesh. Transmission is based on the proven standards for copper connections up to 10GbaseT to allow configuration of redundant, safety-critical systems.