RapidIO® Connections - Special Edition - 2/2007

System Interconnect Fabrics: Ethernet Versus RapidIO® Technology

To request a download of the white paper, go here.

White Paper At-A-Glance

The new white paper, System Interconnect Fabrics: Ethernet Versus RapidIO® Technology, reviews the use of Ethernet and RapidIO technology as a system interconnect fabric, comparing them against the requirements for such fabrics, and includes quantitative analysis where possible. Following is the top-line table of contents for the paper:

  1. Interconnects Everywhere - "As systems grow more complex, the variety of interconnects grows as well, requiring increased engineering costs to design and support them. As Moore's Law increases the speed and complexity of functional blocks, interconnects can become a bottleneck, especially interconnects between ICs and boards. Clearly, increasing interconnect performance is critical to increasing system performance."

  2. System-Level Fabric Requirements - "A system interconnect necessarily engages a broader set of requirements than smaller subsystems. Reviewing common system fabric requirements can help to sort out the suitability of Ethernet or RapidIO as a system fabric."

"This paper will be widely consulted as an important resource by the embedded design community as new applications break new boundaries in demands for performance and functionality."

  1. Ethernet Technical Overview - "It is doubtful that the originators of Ethernet could have envisaged how widespread their technology would become. As services layered on top of Ethernet become the common language for the Internet, Ethernet is now ubiquitous as both a wide and local area computer interconnect. Also, it has evolved into multiple technical meanings."

  2. RapidIO Technical Overview - "Motorola started work in 1997 on a next-generation front-side bus for its Power- and PowerPC™-based processors. By 1999, Motorola and Mercury Computer had collaborated to complete the initial RapidIO specification. In 2000, these two companies drove the formation of the RapidIO Trade Association, making RapidIO an independent standard. By 2004, the RapidIO Specification had become an international standard as ISO/IEC 18372:2004."

  3. Ethernet and RapidIO Comparison - "The differences between Ethernet and RapidIO begin with the initial design constraints..."

  4. Practical Considerations - "As with most ubiquitous technologies, Ethernet has been applied to applications that were not an original design goal…Therefore, this section discusses Ethernet and RapidIO in the context of a variety of issues system designers must confront on a daily basis, such as the impact of standardization, throughput, and power as well as economic considerations of cost and availability."

  5. Conclusion - "System requirements fundamentally determine whether Ethernet or RapidIO is most suitable for a given embedded application. There is no general answer to this question."

"The level of technical detail in virtually every aspect of Ethernet and RapidIO combined with a thorough review of practical considerations makes this paper a tremendous resource for the embedded design community."

Continued on to Special Programs Explore the Ethernet – RapdIO White Paper In Detail