PCI-SIG, the organization behind the PCI-Express industry standard has announced the release of the new PCIe M.2 Specification Revision 1.0 that will allow further design flexibility in order to support high-end performance and enhanced data rates for power-constrained platforms like Ultrabooks, thin and light notebooks and many other smaller platforms.

According to PCI-SIG, the M.2 form factor is a result of a natural progression from PCIe Mini Card and PCIe Half Mini Card and is designed to meet the future market requirements for applications in thin mobile platforms such as tablets, portable gaming devices, smartphones and any other device requiring SSDs as well as scalability for multiple technologies and host interfaces such as WiFi, Bluetooth, SSD and WWAN.

The new M.2 specification will allow manufacturing of larger PCBs by maximizing the use of the card space and leaving behind a minimal footprint. It supports both single- and double-sided module cards and will be available in connectorized or soldered-down forms. Although the soldered-down module cards are still single-sided only, the connectorized one allow single-sided modules for low profile solution or dual-sided modules for increased integration within any platform.

Source: PCISIG.com.