PCI and USB are tipped to show up in mobile phones

PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT (PCI) Express and USB will soon start showing up in mobile phones, as the underlying technologies become more standardised.

The purpose of bringing PCI Express to these small devices is to capitalise on the well-known standards developed by the PC desktop, notebook and server technology markets.

"By using the same technology we want to make it easier and cheaper to develop new products," Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group (PCI-SIG) working group chair Ramin Neshati told The INQUIRER.

By reusing the technology developers can take advantage of all the drivers already out there, as well as being able to avoid retraining on a new standard.

The PCI-SIG is also planning a Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF) that will be smaller than the existing mini-PCI cards that are available in both half and full sizes. This specification is presently at revision level 0.7 and probably a year or so from completion.

The USB-IF is also forging ahead with introduction in mobile phones. According to Jeff Ravencraft, president of the USB-IF, the USB standard will be used for inter-chip communications.

Both the PCI-SIG and the USB-IF are taking advantage of the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) physical layer used in mobile devices, but the upper layers of the protocol stacks conform to PCI and USB, which allows developers to use existing code. µ