Revised PMBus standard speeds implementation

These clarifications are primarily centred on the ZONE and the manufacturer specific commands. The ZONE command structure is updated to allow definition of an 'ALL ZONE' and a 'NO ZONE' for greater partitioning flexibility. Additionally, in recognition of the need to address greater functionality, more manufacturer specific selections are added in the command space as well as to the WRITE_PROTECT command.

Already adopted by over 30 companies including leading names in the power sector. PMBus enables communication between the various components of a power system including CPUs, power supplies and power converters. The protocol command language supports the digital management of power supplies and allows simple, standard, flexible, extensible and easy programming.

These changes to the PMBus standard are supported and reinforced by recent improvements to the SMBus specification which saw the announcement of Version 3.0 in January 2015. This significantly broadened performance capabilities to ensure compatibility with the very latest industry topologies and harmonized the specification with I²C.

In support of the ever growing relevance and interest in PMBus standards, SMIF is hosting one of the industry sessions at APEC 2015 with seven presentations from adopters that will provide potential and existing users with insightful and practical information and guidance and further information about Revision 1.3.1. from the adopters themselves.