External PCIe expansion for computing systems
The Dolphin eBox 4 is part of the Dolphin PCI Express interconnect portfolio offered by ECRIN Systems. It increases the number of PCI Express cards available without requiring every peripheral to be installed directly inside the host chassis.
The 4U rackmount enclosure supports one or two passive PCIe 5.0 backplanes, providing x16, x8 or x4 expansion slots depending on the selected configuration. PCIe 3.0, PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 host and uplink adapters are available.
Locate PCI Express peripherals away from the host
For PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0, documented configurations support up to 5 metres over copper, 100 metres over fibre or 200 metres using FireFly with MPO connectivity. PCIe 5.0 configurations support up to 3 metres over copper and 50 metres over fibre.
These capabilities can be relevant to industrial applications, test and measurement platforms, data acquisition systems and Information & Communication Systems requiring PCIe resources to be separated from the host computer.
SmartIO Hot-Add
With a compatible Dolphin NTB host adapter, SmartIO Hot-Add enables the PCIe fabric to be re-enumerated when the eBox 4 is connected to a running system. The function is supported under Windows and Linux.
For broader system requirements, the eBox 4 can be integrated as a technology building block within ECRIN Systems’ COTS and Modified COTS approach and its production and integration services.
