COMs performance boost now standard-compliant

congatec has welcomed the ratification of the COM Express 3.1 standard with the launch of ten compliant COMs based on 12th Gen Intel Core processors (formerly codenamed Alder Lake). The modules will be furnished with the updated 16Gbps COM Express connector and support high-speed interfaces, including PCIe 4.0 and USB 3.2. As upgrades of the current COM Express Type 6 modules, the new 3.1 compliant modules provide up to 14 cores/20 threads. With these new modules, customers can now supply their designs with a performance boost compliant with this officially ratified specification. This provides maximum design security and safeguards reliable high-performance roadmaps for current COM Express designs long into the future.

“The launch of the COM Express 3.1 specification is a huge step in future-proofing this established standard that has been on the market for nearly 18 years. All existing high-performance embedded designs based on COM Express Computer-on-Modules can now receive further performance upgrades in compliance with the standard. Accomplishing this has been one of the most important recent tasks of the PICMG organization, as customers need to sustainably secure their existing investments in COM Express compliant carrier board designs in these challenging times,” explains Christian Eder, director product marketing at congatec.

As well as the support of PCIe 4.0, the new specification enables additional advanced features that were not previously supported, including USB 4, MIPI-CSI connectors, signal integrity and loss budget information for SATA Gen 3 and SoundWire support. Despite all these enhancements, COM Express 3.1 Type 6 modules are fully backwards compatible with 3.0 modules and carrier boards, assuring that even older designs can get furnished with the latest processor technologies.