At this year’s PCI-SIG® US Developers Conference 2024, held on June 12-13 in Santa Clara, CA, the PCI-SIG Board of Directors recognized Gordon Getty of Teledyne LeCroy as the recipient of the 2024 Chairperson’s Award for his continued contributions to the PCI Express® (PCIe®) Test Specifications.

Gordon has a long history of supporting PCI-SIG in multiple capacities: Compliance Workshops, DevCons, Work Groups and even as a moderator for the PCI Forum. Gordon has supported PCI-SIG Compliance Workshops as a Testing Equipment (TE) volunteer since August 2001 and has attended around 100 PCI-SIG Compliance Workshops. Gordon has spoken at 24 total PCI-SIG DevCons, covering topics from PCIe Protocol Compliance to PCIe 6.0 Protocol Troubleshooting and Debugging. He has also participated in 12 Work Groups for the past several years, most recently as a part of the PCIe 6.0 Task Force.

In the following interview, Gordon discusses what this recognition means to him, where he sees PCIe technology evolving in the future and more.

• What does receiving this award mean to you?

It is very humbling to receive this award. I have been working in the PCI®/PCI Express ecosystem since 2001 and I am very privileged to be able to work with some of the most brilliant minds that have brought the technology to where it is today, and who continue to move it forward to meet the ever-evolving needs of the industry.

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

I am very proud to be working on the cutting-edge PCI Express 6.0 technology, and that we have brought tools to market on time and are now starting to see it become real. Working for a test equipment vendor presents its own set of challenges, with expectations that tools are available immediately when the technology powers on. Collaboration and partnerships with industry leaders is key, and PCI-SIG has done an excellent job of facilitating such collaboration through interoperability and compliance events.

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

Being able to actively contribute to the work groups and shape the way the specifications are developed, in addition to sharing experiences through the Developers Conferences is very satisfying. It is always a pleasure to receive positive feedback on my papers and presentations, and to know that our experiences continue to help engineers when developing products. Seeing the full lifecycle from spec inception to testing that allows devices to be added to the Integrators List over multiple generations reinforces the strength of the PCI Express technology.

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

The PCI-SIG has a huge impact in the industry. It provides a common forum across many companies, partners and competitors to ensure a truly interoperable technology. Having worked on Compliance since PCI and PCI-X® days, even before PCI Express architecture, I have seen how the program has matured and become a model for industry compliance and interoperability programs, providing fair, unbiased and high-quality testing that ensures vendors will be successful when their devices go into the real world.

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

PCIe technology continues to grow, to meet the needs of new technologies and applications. We can see the regular cadence of specification revisions, continuing to double the bandwidth each time, while taking into account the laws of Physics that become more challenging with each speed bump. The use of retimers and optical connections is starting to emerge, and this will become more ubiquitous over time. The changes in the protocol to accommodate the PAM4 signaling used in PCIe 6.0 architecture will enable future generations of PCIe technology to come online quickly and smoothly. One of the main strengths of PCI Express technology is the consistency through all generations that allow adoption without completely rewriting each layer every time.

• Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would just like to add a huge thank you to all the fantastic people I have worked with over the years, in all parts of the world. Working closely with PCI-SIG has been a huge part of my career and I am truly thankful for that. It is the people that make this whole ecosystem work. I look forward to the future and the challenges it will bring.