I3C ecosystem expansion accelerates product qualification

Renesas is the first I3C partner selected for ASPEED’s AST2600 BMC Approved Vendor List (AVL), enabling an easy migration path for customers shifting their DDR5 platforms and boards from I2C or other legacy expansion specifications to the new high-speed I3C specification.

The Renesas I3C re-driver and expander products include many features that enable customers to develop their applications more efficiently and cost effectively compared with existing solutions. These include in-band switching control via I2C/I3C commands to switch over, level-shifting capability with master devices working in 3.3V while peripherals work in 1.0V, and reduced bill of materials costs by eliminating additional circuitry, such as pull-up resistors. Combined with the ASPEED AST2600 BMC, Renesas I3C devices provide optimised, high-speed, and system cost-centric combination solutions to meet customers’ application needs.

“Customers count on Renesas to conduct rigorous pre- and post-silicon verification of our devices to ensure specification compliance as well as interoperability with major components such as baseboard management controllers,” said Rami Sethi, Vice President and General Manager of the Data Center Business Division at Renesas.

“We are thrilled to team up with leading ecosystem partners like ASPEED to accelerate the adoption of I3C standards for DDR5 solutions and enable our mutual customers to design with confidence as they make the leap to this new high-speed bus interface.”

“The BMC SoC AST2600 is our first product to support the I3C interface, and we are glad to work with Renesas as a strong and trusted partner to introduce the I3C interface to the server market,” said Chris Lin, Chairman and President of ASPEED Technology.

“Renesas’ excellent products and responsive support allow us to complete the I3C interface validation in a short period of time. Through the comprehensive interoperability test between Renesas and ASPEED, our customers will save their design-in efforts and time significantly, hence leading to a win-win situation for all of us.”

As momentum toward DDR5 platforms gains steam, I3C is gaining popularity as a high-speed host interface bus for applications requiring faster communication between host and peripheral or slave devices, as its 12.5MHz speeds significantly outpace I2C’s 1MHz speeds.

Renesas continues to lead the journey to I3C with a robust lineup of I3C bus extension devices for large-scale, high-speed control plane designs that enable sophisticated capabilities for environmental control, advanced telemetry, security, and fault recovery.

Renesas’ selection as the first I3C and SPD Hub device provider on the AST2600 BMC AVL reflects the companies’ strong collaboration and commitment to smoothing the path to I3C for DDR5 memory solutions used in data centers and embedded platforms and applications.

Both companies are actively engaged in ongoing collaboration for testing, optimisation, and validation, as well as long-term product, roadmap, and technology alignment to expand the I3C ecosystem and support mutual customers.