A Conversation with Dean Gonzales, PCI-SIG® US DevCon 2023 Chairperson’s Award Recipient

At this year’s PCI-SIG US DevCon 2023, which was held on June 13-14 in Santa Clara, CA, the PCI-SIG Board of Directors recognized Dean Gonzales of AMD, one of the recipients of the DevCon 2023 Chairperson’s Award, for his countless hours of service and contributions to the electrical PCI Express (PCIe®) specification. Dean is actively involved with circuit architecture analysis, advanced package development, system architecture and signal integrity. In the following interview, he discusses what this recognition means to him and his work on the physical layer PCIe specification.

• What does receiving this award mean to you?

Receiving this award is absolutely humbling. The PCI-SIG membership is jam-packed with the brightest minds I’ve encountered and the collaborative atmosphere in the work groups is so educational that it is difficult to feel balanced in the give-and-take. I am grateful.

• What have been your proudest achievements related to PCIe technology in the past year?

Over the past year we have done a lot of work on deploying tools and training materials associated with Seasim, the open Python statistical simulator for channel compliance. The tool will help support the PCI-SIG community in designing systems and add-in cards with the new multi-level signaling PAM4 technology enabling 64Gbps.

• What has been the most fulfilling aspect of being a part of PCI-SIG for you?

It has to be the PCI-SIG’s successful doubling of the IO bandwidth every generation while maintaining backward compatibility in an open connector CEM environment. It is an incredible testament to the multi-leg engineering disciplines and diverse company backgrounds that come together in the work groups to solve the multiphysics challenges given all the moving pieces of an electromechanical environment. It’s staggering to think we achieved 64Gbps and are now pushing to 128Gbps!

• What do you feel is the impact of PCI-SIG and PCIe technology in the industry?

The fact that the PCI-SIG has been able to consistently deliver on a rapid cadence of doubling bandwidth, while preserving existing infrastructure with backwards compatibility has certainly been key to helping companies meet the voracious appetite for bandwidth in the data center.

• Where do you see PCIe technology progressing in the next year?

I think PCIe technology will be very important in new AI architectures we will be seeing develop. All of the excitement of generative AI and the need for IO bandwidth is sure to keep pressure on the PCIe 7.0 specification’s 128Gbps timeline.

• Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would just like to say how thankful I am for very interesting collaborations and opportunities the PCI-SIG has created. Participating has really been a highlight of my engineering career. 

• Where can I review additional conversations with Chairperson’s Award winners?

You can read the conversation with Scott Knowlton.

• Interested in PCI-SIG DevCon Materials?

PCI-SIG DevCon 2023 presentation recordings and slides are available on demand for members to view on Causeway.