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Revised PMBus+™ Specification Will Impact You in Q1 2014

Aug. 19, 2013

Once the PMBus+ V1.3 specification is standardized and adopted, companies interested in improving power management will benefit by enjoying significantly reduced manufacturing costs, increased functionality, and enhanced performance.

Sam Davis Blog

Background

The Power Management Bus (PMBus) is an open standard, power management protocol with a fully defined command language that facilitates communication with power converters and other devices in a power system. The current PMBus specification, which has been adopted by over forty IC and power supply manufacturers, is being revised to V1.3. PMBus+ V1.3 has broad implications for manufacturers of FPGAs, ASICs, SoCs, networking and communication processors, core processors for computing, server and storage markets, and any other type of core processor that will benefit by adaptively altering its own supply voltage.

PMBus+ V1.3 will include

· Higher speed communication to reduce latencies

· A dedicated Adaptive Voltage Scaling (AVS) bus to statically and dynamically control processor voltages

· General enhancements and improvements from V1.2 On 9.12.2013, the initial revised PMBus+ V1.3 specification will be presented at the Darnell Power Forum.

Fig. 1. One-to-One Topology Single slave or multiple slaves with individual links

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Fig. 2. One-to-Multiple Topology Multiple slaves with a shared link PMBus+ V1.3 will heavily influence the direction of power management by including AVS.

An opportunity to participate in influencing

PMBus+ V1.3

Manufacturers now have a unique and timely opportunity to participate and contribute to developing the revised PMBus+ V1.3 specifications. But you need to act!

To learn more about the PMBus+V1.3 specification, contact Lodico and Company at 978-369-6556, or email [email protected] to be contacted by a member of the PMBus Working Group.

About the Author

Sam Davis Blog | Editor-In-Chief - Power Electronics

Sam Davis was the editor-in-chief of Power Electronics Technology magazine and website that is now part of Electronic Design. He has 18 years experience in electronic engineering design and management, six years in public relations and 25 years as a trade press editor. He holds a BSEE from Case-Western Reserve University, and did graduate work at the same school and UCLA. Sam was the editor for PCIM, the predecessor to Power Electronics Technology, from 1984 to 2004. His engineering experience includes circuit and system design for Litton Systems, Bunker-Ramo, Rocketdyne, and Clevite Corporation.. Design tasks included analog circuits, display systems, power supplies, underwater ordnance systems, and test systems. He also served as a program manager for a Litton Systems Navy program.

Sam is the author of Computer Data Displays, a book published by Prentice-Hall in the U.S. and Japan in 1969. He is also a recipient of the Jesse Neal Award for trade press editorial excellence, and has one patent for naval ship construction that simplifies electronic system integration.