New PCI Express® Analyzer Extensibility Accelerates Cutting Edge Application Development

LeCroy Corporation, a leading supplier of serial data test solutions, announced today the availability of a new low cost PCI Express® analyzer called the PETracer™ Edge. This new analyzer, the fourth generation PCI Express analyzer from LeCroy, is based on a card platform that supports x1/x2/x4 lane widths at 2.5 GB/s speeds. The Edge Analyzer is supported with the same application used on LeCroy’s PETracer ML and EML platforms. Customers of the PETracer have found the breadth of features ideal for many different types of development projects. Some of these projects because of geography and market segment are under tight budget restraints. The availability of this new platform will allow LeCroy to support these new markets where cost is an issue.

Server, workstation, desktop and add-in-board developers looking for the right mix of features at the right price will be delighted by the flexible offering of the Edge Analyzer. The Edge Protocol Analyzer will be offered in two versions: PRO and EXPERT. PRO users will appreciate the low cost but still get the utility of a fully featured analyzer. EXPERT users will recognize advanced features that enable deep analysis for error troubleshooting of bus management and protocol operation issues. For example, users can monitor in real-time various statistics like bus throughput and link utilization for all transactions and packets that occur on a given link.

“Our customers want to put more analyzers on their developer’s desks,” said John Wiedemeier, Product Marketing Manager, Protocol Solutions Group, LeCroy Corporation. “The PETracer Edge makes it possible for them to do that now.”

Both versions of the PETracer Edge Analyzer have many innovative features that dramatically reduce debugging time accelerating time-to-market for PCI Express solutions. Users can find errors fast by using the powerful triggering, filtering, and error reporting. Difficult to understand protocol traffic is easy to follow using annotated views and charts that display events by logical and chronological occurrence. Trust that the data you look at is accurate because of CRC re-checking which displays reliable and complete decodes of Transaction Layer Packets (TLPs), Data Link Layer Packets (DLLPs) and all PCI Express primitives. Display key information quickly from high level to low level packet decodes in a single click. Budget conscious users of the PETracer Edge can get started with the PRO and upgrade to EXPERT functionality later.