Unique Solution Helps Customers Gain PCI Express, USB Insights

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — April 6, 2015 — Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: KEYS) today introduced the Advanced Design System PCI Express and USB Compliance Test Benches, which enable a complete workflow for SerDes engineers, from simulation of a candidate design, through measurement of the finished prototype. The solution is ideal for semiconductor companies developing SerDes I/O blocks and OEMs integrating such chips onto their system PCBs.

Both compliance test benches are available as add-ons to the Advanced Design System 2015.01 Channel Simulator software from Keysight EEsof EDA. Engineers using the new test benches can now use simulation to ensure a candidate design yields a fabricated prototype compliant to the specifications of the PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG^®) and USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), respectively. Previous tools for this task made it difficult to correlate simulation compliance with hardware prototype and test bench compliance.

The ADS PCI Express and USB Compliance Test Benches rectify this situation by providing a customizable test harness in which to simulate customers’ intellectual property. The test bench also provides a post-processing scripting capability, known as Waveform Bridge, which exports simulated waveforms to the same compliance application used with Keysight Infiniium oscilloscopes. The new version of the Infiniium software works on live real-time data from an oscilloscope and on stored data from an oscilloscope or from ADS (offline mode). In addition, the software works not only on the PC embedded in the oscilloscope, but also on an ordinary standalone Windows PC (offline/remote mode). Using this new offline/remote mode, engineers can run the compliance application side-by-side on the same PC hardware on which they run ADS.

“The new approach allows engineers to apply the same set of compliance tests in all three cases: real-time/on-scope, offline/on-scope, and offline/remote,” said Colin Warwick, product manager for high-speed digital design at Keysight EEsof EDA. “More importantly, engineers can now receive the same compliance report from their simulated design as they would on the fabricated prototype.”

The new products provide a seamless solution from simulation to hardware prototype test—all from a single company. This helps avoid the challenges of working with disparate solutions from different vendors.

“By leveraging our proven oscilloscope compliance application, Keysight EEsof EDA is simplifying our customers’ design workflow,” said Brig Asay, high-performance oscilloscope marketing manager at Keysight. “Keysight is in the unique position of having the industry-leading software and hardware parts of the solution in the same company, reducing the risk of relying on multiple partners. Our customers gain PCI Express and USB insights from our unique combination of our hardware and software, and of course, our people.”

U.S. Pricing and Availability

The PCI Express and USB Compliance Test Benches will be available in August as options to the ADS 2015.01 platform, which is currently shipping. Contact Keysight at www.keysight.com/find/contactus for pricing on specific system configurations.

More information on the test benches is available at www.keysight.com/find/eesof-pcie-ctb and www.keysight.com/find/eesof-usb-ctb.

A product image is available at www.keysight.com/find/ADS-test-benches_images.

About Keysight EEsof EDA Software

Keysight EEsof EDA is the leading supplier of electronic design automation software for microwave, RF, high-frequency, high-speed digital, RF system, electronic system level, circuit, 3-D electromagnetic, physical design and device-modeling applications. More information is available at www.keysight.com/find/eesof.

Keysight’s Digital Test Standards Program

Keysight’s solutions for digital applications are driven and supported by Keysight experts who are involved in various international standards committees. Keysight experts are active in the  Joint Electronic Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC), PCI Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG^®), Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA),  Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO),  USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF),  Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI^™) Alliance,  Ethernet standards (IEEE 802.3),  Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and many others. Keysight is committed to involvement in standards groups and related workshops, plugfests and seminars to ensure the right test solutions are created to meet customers’ evolving needs.

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS) is a global electronic measurement technology and market leader helping to transform its customers’ measurement experience through innovations in wireless, modular, and software solutions. Keysight’s electronic measurement instruments, systems, software and services are used in the design, development, manufacture, installation, deployment and operation of electronic equipment. The business had revenues of $2.9 billion in fiscal year 2014. Information about Keysight is available at www.keysight.com .