The PICMG (PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group) has released the CompactPCI® Serial R3 specification. Revision 3 is an extension of CompactPCI® technology, which was developed for the connection and exchange of data in industrial and embedded systems used in harsh environments.

In contrast to the previous version, Revision 3 is significantly faster.

While Revision 2 still used PCI Express Gen 3, which supported 8GT/s, Revision 3 uses PCI Express Gen 4 and thus enables a transfer rate of 16GT/s. In addition to higher performance, this change also promises scalability. USB 3 has also been changed from Gen. 1 with 5 Gb/s to USB 3 Gen. 2 with 10 Gb/s, hence increasing the transfer speed by doubling the bandwidth.

To equip existing CPU cards with Revision 3, the system controllers must be equipped with other connectors. Instead of AirMax VS connectors, AirMax VSe connectors are used. An AirMax VS2 connector is installed on the backplane instead of the AirMax VS connector, together with different PCB material (with performance). These changes improve the bandwidth and transfer rates. Despite the connector, the latest generation is again backwards compatible with previous generations.

Existing peripheral cards can still be used without any modifications.