A system on a chip (SoC) is provided with a multicore processor, a level-2 (L2) cache controller, an L2 cache, an integrated memory controller, and a serial point-to-point link interface to enable communication between the multicore processor and a device. The interface implements a protocol stack and includes a transmitter to transmit serial data to the device and a receiver to deserialize an incoming serial stream. The protocol stack supports a plurality of power management states, including an active state, a first off state, in which a supply voltage is to be provided to the device, and a second off state, in which the supply voltage is not to be provided to the device. In response to an indication the device is ready to enter the active state, the protocol stack provides for accessing the device prior to expiration of a default recovery time to complete the transition.