By: Michael Hall (AMD) and Nathan White (Intel), Compliance Working Group (CWG) Co-Chair
Compliance and interoperability are core tenets of the CXL Consortium’s commitment to creating a successful technology standard capable of deploying in a variety of commercially available multi-vendor systems.
Compliance Programs offer developers the opportunity to ensure interoperability across the industry by providing a repeatable testing process covering all types of devices. As different partners develop products based on a specification’s requirements, discussions arise around how each partner views and interprets the nuances of the specification. By defining the proper working models of devices adhering to the intent of the specification, Compliance Programs offer customers and partners confidence that proper interoperability across all components covered by the specification has been achieved. Customers can then purchase products, knowing their solutions will effectively meet their business goals.
Participation in the CXL Compliance Program has been steadily growing – markedly for CXL 2.0 devices – with six CXL Compliance Test Events (CTEs) held to date. CTEs are open for all CXL Consortium members and the schedule of events is available via the Members’ Causeway portal. Member companies interested in taking part will receive their testing schedule after registering each participating device.
CXL Test Events consist of four parts taking place over the course of one week:
- First, devices are verified for electrical compliance to the specification through a series of tests that ensure signals are propagating properly.
- Second, devices are evaluated for adherence to the protocol through directed tests using equipment such as exercisers and analyzers.
- Third, the devices are verified as functional in a controlled environment using a custom test software package.
- Finally, devices are tested for interoperability with other partners who are present at the testing workshops. These final tests specifically identify interoperability issues between attendee devices at the workshop.
Once a device successfully completes all testing, the member company can apply for inclusion on the CXL Integrators List which requires all summary testing results to be provided, as well as any additional clarifying information. Applications are reviewed by members of the Compliance Workgroup and, upon approval notification, the applicant can choose to include their device in the CXL Consortium’s Integrator’s List.
We are excited to announce that the Consortium began official testing for CXL 2.0 devices in December 2024. Results are now available in the CXL Integrators List and we are particularly pleased to see the list exceeding 50 qualified devices. With the implementation of CXL 2.0 compliance testing, we are now able to provide directed tests for host testing, in addition to our previous testing of endpoints and link extension devices. Currently, the Integrators List features 30 CXL 1.1 devices and 21 CXL 2.0 devices from 15 of our member companies.
“It is rewarding to see CXL devices proliferating the ecosystem to support growing compute and memory intensive workloads for business-critical applications,” said Debendra Das Sharma, Chair of the CXL Consortium. “The Consortium’s success is due to the commitment of our members, who continue to promote the benefits of CXL technology for creating disaggregated systems and keeping pace with AI, HPC, In-Memory Databases, and other workloads.”
The Consortium remains committed to creating a positive market experience by providing our members with opportunities to test the functionality and interoperability of end-products as defined in the CXL specification. The next CXL Test Event will take place in Taipei, Taiwan, from February 23 – 27, to conduct official testing for CXL 1.1 and 2.0, offering our members the opportunity to evaluate interoperability with other Consortium member solutions.
To learn more about the CXL Consortium, our Compliance Program, and the benefits of membership, visit https://computeexpresslink.org/.
We hope you will join us and take advantage of this essential program and service the CXL Consortium provides.