More Cost-effective DACs from Fiberstore

Recently, Fiberstore cut the price of Direct Attach Cables (DACs) through strengthening the cost control. This change will make the DACs more cost-effective and better promote the high speed transmission.

Direct attach cables are used to connect one mobility access switch with another when forming a stack and now they are widely used in storage, data, and high-performance computing connectivity. With the development of communication technology and the increasing demands of people, 10 Gigabit, 40 Gigabit and even higher speed transmission gradually become more popular with people. DAC cables are one of the perfect choice for such high speed interconnect solutions.

Fiberstore supplies various kinds of high speed interconnect DAC cable assemblies including 10G SFP+ Cables, 40G QSFP+ Cables, and 120G CXP Cables. All of these direct attach cables can meet the ever growing need to cost-effectively deliver more bandwidth. In addition, to satisfy the most customers who are also Cisco switches or routers users, Fiberstore offers SFP+ twinax copper cables, SFP+ active optical cables, QSFP+ copper cable, QSFP+ breakout cable and QSFP+ active optical cables with 100% compatibility for Cisco to satisfy different demands of interconnection.

Coexistence of both low prices and high quality of such products are not a easy job, but Fiberstore did it. Strive to excellent, Fiberstore strictly control the quality and each cable is 100% professional tested for maximum performance before shipping worldwide. Additionally, Fiberstore also strengthens the cost control and makes the price the most affordable. This price reduction aims to make our products become more cost-effective for our customers. At the same time, it will help promote the high speed transmission to a certain extent.

This price reduction covers most Fiberstore DAC products, with different degrees price reduction varied from 10% to 20%, and even more. The following table shows the previous and current prices of the Cisco compatible QSFP+/SFP+ DACs involving in this price reduction, as they are one of our best-selling products. Of couse, there are more DACs which are also lowered in price. For more information about the price reduction, please visit our website in category Direct Attach Cables or contact us over e-mail: sales@fiberstore.com

Table: Fiberstore Cisco Compatible QSFP+/SFP+ Cables Product & Price Changing Information

Model #	Description	Previous Price	Current Price
Q4S-AOC-10-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4X10G-AOC10M Compatible 40GBASE QSFP to 4 SFP+ Active Optical Breakout Cable 10 Meter	US$ 333.00	US$ 293.00
Q4S-AOC-7-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4X10G-AOC7M Compatible 40GBASE QSFP to 4 SFP+ Active Optical Breakout Cable 7 Meter	US$ 313.00	US$ 277.00
Q4S-AOC-5-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4X10G-AOC5M Compatible 40GBASE QSFP to 4 SFP+ Active Optical Breakout Cable 5 Meter	US$ 302.00	US$ 266.00
Q4S-AOC-3-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4X10G-AOC3M Compatible 40GBASE QSFP to 4 SFP+ Active Optical Breakout Cable 3 Meter	US$ 292.00	US$ 256.00
Q4S-AOC-2-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4X10G-AOC2M Compatible 40GBASE QSFP to 4 SFP+ Active Optical Breakout Cable 2 Meter	US$ 287.00	US$ 250.00
Q4S-AOC-1-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4X10G-AOC1M Compatible 40GBASE QSFP to 4 SFP+ Active Optical Breakout Cable 1 Meter	US$ 281.00	US$ 245.00
Q4S-PC-30-5-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4SFP10G-CU5M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4SFP+ Passive Copper Cable 5 Meter	US$ 130.00	US$ 117.00
Q4S-PC-30-3-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4SFP10G-CU3M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4SFP+ Passive Copper Cable 3 Meter	US$ 105.00	US$ 85.00
Q4S-PC-30-1-CO	New Cisco QSFP-4SFP10G-CU1M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ to 4SFP+ Passive Copper Cable 1 Meter	US$ 89.00	US$ 55.00
QQ-AC-30-10-CO	New Cisco QSFP-H40G-ACU10M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ Active Copper Cable 10 Meter	US$ 349.00	US$ 240.00
QQ-AC-30-7-CO	New Cisco QSFP-H40G-ACU7M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ Active Copper Cable 7 Meter	US$ 313.00	US$ 200.00
QQ-AC-30-5-CO	New Cisco QSFP-H40G-CU5M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ Passive Copper Cable 5 Meter	US$ 113.00	US$ 94.00
QQ-AC-30-3-CO	New Cisco QSFP-H40G-CU3M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ Passive Copper Cable 3 Meter	US$ 84.00	US$ 64.00
QQ-AC-30-1-CO	New Cisco QSFP-H40G-CU1M Compatible 40GBASE-CR4 QSFP+ Passive Copper Cable 1 Meter	US$ 52.00	US$ 42.00
10GSFP-AOC-10-CO	New Cisco SFP-10G-AOC10M Compatible 10GBASE SFP+ Active Optical Cable Assembly 10 Meter	US$ 79.00	US$ 67.00
10GSFP-AOC-7-CO	New Cisco SFP-10G-AOC7M Compatible 10GBASE SFP+ Active Optical Cable Assembly 7 Meter	US$ 76.00	US$ 64.00
10GSFP-AOC-5-CO	New Cisco SFP-10G-AOC5M Compatible 10GBASE SFP+ Active Optical Cable Assembly 5 Meter	US$ 74.00	US$ 62.00
10GSFP-AOC-3-CO	New Cisco SFP-10G-AOC3M Compatible 10GBASE SFP+ Active Optical Cable Assembly 3 Meter	US$ 72.00	US$ 60.00
10GSFP-AOC-1-CO	New Cisco SFP-10G-AOC1M Compatible 10GBASE SFP+ Active Optical Cable Assembly 1 Meter	US$ 70.00	US$ 58.00
10GSFP-PC-24-5-CO	New Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU5M Compatible 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 5 Meter Passive 24AWG	US$ 38.00	US$ 33.00
10GSFP-PC-30-3-CO	New Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU3M Compatible 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 3 Meter Passive 30AWG	US$ 27.00	US$ 21.00
10GSFP-PC-30-1.5-CO	New Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU1-5M Compatible 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 1.5 Meter Passive 30AWG	US$ 22.00	US$ 18.00
10GSFP-PC-30-1-CO	New Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU1M Compatible 10GBASE-CU SFP+ Cable 1 Meter Passive 30AWG	US$ 18.00	US$ 15.00

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About Fiberstore:
Fiberstore is a professional manufacturer and supplier of optical networking solutions. There are nine product lines of Fiberstore which make your networking solution work perfectly. Fiber optic transceivers and direct attach cables (DACs) are the important component in data transmission. Fiberstore offers many kinds of products to satisfy all the aspects of the requirements. All of our transceiver modules and DACs are cost-effective. The aim of Fiberstore is to offer the best quality products and perfect solutions, to save customers's time and money, and to make customers enjoy personalization.

Original News: Price Reduction of Fiberstore Direct Attach Cables

Fiberstore SFP+ DAC Cable Solution

SFP+ Direct Attach

Also known as Direct Attach (DA), Direct Attach Copper (DAC), 10GSFP+Cu, 10GBASE-CR, 10GBASE-CX1, SFP+, or 10GbE Cu SFP cables. Direct Attach uses a passive twinax cable assembly and connects directly into an SFP+ housing. SFP+ Direct Attach has a fixed-length cable, typically 1 to 7 m (passive cables) or up to 15 m (active cables) in length, and, like 10GBASE-CX4, is low-power, low-cost and low-latency with the added benefits of using less bulky cables and of having the small form factor of SFP+. SFP+ Direct Attach today is tremendously popular, with more ports installed than 10GBASE-SR.

SFP+ Direct Attach Copper (10GSFP+Cu)

SFP+ direct attached Twinax copper is a copper 10 Gigabit Ethernet cable which comes in either an active or passive Twinax (twinaxial) cable assembly and connects directly into an SFP+ housing. The active Twinax cable has active electronic components in the SFP+ housing to improve the signal quality; the passive Twinax cable is just a straight "wire" and has no active components. Generally Twinax cables less than 5 meters in length are passive and greater than 5 meters in length are active, but this is a general rule of thumb and will vary from vendor to vendor. SFP+ Direct Attach Copper (DAC) is expected to be the optimum solution for 10G Ethernet reaches up to 10 m.

One of major applications includes Cisco, Juniper, Brocade and others' network hardware with SFP+ interfaces. This kind of connection has the capacity to transmit at 10 Gigabits/second full duplex speed over 5 meter distances. Moreover, this setup offers 15 to 25 times lower transceiver latency than current 10GBASE-T Cat 6/Cat 6a/Cat 7 cabling systems: 0.1 μs for Twinax with SFP+ versus 1.5 to 2.5 μs for current 10GBASE-T specification. The power draw of Twinax with SFP+ is around 0.1 watts, which is much better than 4-8 watts for 10GBASE-T.

As always with cabling one of the consideration points is bit error ratio or BER for short. Twinax copper cabling has BER better than 10-18 according to Cisco, and therefore is acceptable for applications in critical environments.

AWG cable size	Sustained bend radius
24	1.5 inches (38 mm)
26	1.3 inches (33 mm)
28	1.0 inch (25 mm)
30	0.9 inches (23 mm)

Cables must not be bent below their minimum bend radius, which is depending on cable size expressed in AWG. The table on the right summarizes minimum values typically admitted for SFP+ sustained bend radiuses.

This SFP+ Twinax DAC is also referred to as "10GBASE-CR" by some manufacturers, even though there is no IEEE or other standard with that name.

Cisco SFP+ Twinax Copper Cables

Cisco SFP+ Copper Twinax (Figure 1) direct-attach cables are suitable for very short distances and offer a cost-effective way to connect within racks and across adjacent racks. Cisco offers passive Twinax cables in lengths of 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 5, 7 and 10 meters, and active Twinax cables in lengths of 7 and 10 meters.

Figure 1. Cisco direct attach passive SFP+ cables

Cisco SFP+ Active Optical Cables

Cisco SFP+ Active Optical Cables (Figure 2) are direct-attach fiber assemblies with SFP+ connectors. They are suitable for very short distances and offer a cost-effective way to connect within racks and across adjacent racks. Cisco offers Active Optical Cables in lengths of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 meters.

Figure 2. Cisco active optical SFP+ cables

Platform Support

Cisco SFP+ modules are supported on a wide range of Cisco switches and routers^*:

Catalyst 4500 and 4500-X Series Switches CRS Router MDS 9000 ME 4500 ME 4900NCS 6000 Series Router Nexus 2000, 3000, and 4000 Series Switches Nexus 9000 and 9500 (modular) Series Switches RF Gateway Series SCE 8000 Shared Port Adapter (SPA) Unified Computing System (UCS) Switches

7600 Series Router ASR 901 ASR 903 ASR 1000 Series Router ASR 9000 Series Router ASR 9000v Series Router Catalyst 2350 and 2360 Series Switches Catalyst 2960-S, 2960-X, and 2960-XR Series Switches Catalyst 3100 Blade Switches Catalyst 3560, 3560-E, and 3560-X Series Switches Catalyst 3750, 3750-E, and 3750-X Series Switches Catalyst 3850 Series Switches

Ordering Information

SFP+ Passive and Active Copper Cable Assembly, 10G

Part No.	Data Rate	Length	Wire AWG	Connector Type	Temp. Range
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU1M	Up to 10.5G	1m	30	Passive Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU1-5M	Up to 10.5G	1.5m	30	Passive Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU2M	Up to 10.5G	2m	30	Passive Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU2-5M	Up to 10.5G	2.5m	30	Passive Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU3M	Up to 10.5G	3m	30	Passive Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU5M	Up to 10.5G	5m	24	Passive Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU7M	Up to 10.5G	7m	30	Active Copper	0-70℃
Cisco SFP-H10GB-CU10M	Up to 10.5G	10m	28	Active Copper	0-70℃

SFP+ Active Optical Cable Assembly, 10G

Part No.	Data Rate	Length	Wire AWG	Connector Type	Temp. Range
SFP-10G-AOC1M	Up to 10.5G	1m	Fiber	SFP+ AOC	0-70℃
SFP-10G-AOC2M	Up to 10.5G	2m	Fiber	SFP+ AOC	0-70℃
SFP-10G-AOC3M	Up to 10.5G	3m	Fiber	SFP+ AOC	0-70℃
SFP-10G-AOC5M	Up to 10.5G	5m	Fiber	SFP+ AOC	0-70℃
SFP-10G-AOC7M	Up to 10.5G	7m	Fiber	SFP+ AOC	0-70℃
SFP-10G-AOC10M	Up to 10.5G	10m	Fiber	SFP+ AOC	0-70℃

Notes

Direct Attach Copper (DAC) Cable is widely used in storage, data center, and high-performance computing connectivity. The DAC cables are widely-used to connect one mobility access switch with another when forming a stack. Fiberstore supplies different kinds of high-speed interconnect DAC cable assemblies including 10G SFP+ Cables, 40G QSFP+ Cables, and 120G CXP Cables. Fiberstore offers customized service for cable length.

References:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinaxial_cabling
• DAC Cable

10G SFP+ Cu Introduction

The 10G SFP+ Cu (shorthand for that 10G SFP+ copper direct attach cable) media type isn't specified by the 802.3 standard, as well as the shorthand identifier was introduced by the vendors who developed this cable type. This low-cost short copper cable segment is beneficial, as an example, for interconnecting a collection of switches, as well as for short-distance connections between switch ports and Ethernet interfaces on servers as well as other devices. Before the growth and development of 10GBASE-T, this Direct Attach Cable (DAC) was the only real low-cost copper connection designed for 10 Gbps operation.

The DAC is terminated having a Small Form-Factor (SFF) connector module named the SFP+ (Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus). The SFP+ Transceiver module suits a port that's roughly the size of an RJ45-style port, so that it is feasible for vendors to offer a higher port density on their own switches.A 10G SFP+ Cable shown as below:

10Gbase SFP+ Direct Attach Cable

The SFP+ module isn't standardized from any official standards body,but rather is specified by a Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) which was developed among competing manufacturers. MSAs will be the primary method used to develop communications connectors and transceiver modules which are utilized in Ethernet as well as other network systems. As technology advances, cabling and equipment vendors work with each other to develop smaller and much more efficient connectors and modules, with all the MSA being a rapid way of developing these enhancements. The SFP+ will be the second generation of the SFP+ standard. The classic SFP+ specifications support operation up to 4.5 Gbps. The SFP+ features support for 10 Gbps or better signaling, according to improved impedance matching specifications for much better signal transmission.

Vendors provide both active and passive versions of the 10GSFP+ Cu DAC. An DAC assembly is recognized as active in case there are signal processing electronics in the SFP+ module to increase signal quality and supply a lengthier cable distance. The lowest priced approach is the passive DAC, which has a tendency to be shorter; the active DAC can make it a possibility to support longer and thinner cable assemblies. The accessible cable lengths range from 1 m to 7 m, even though you will discover variations in supported cable lengths among different vendors.

The direct attach SFP+ Twinax cables use the same SFP+ connector module which is used on 10 Gbps optical fiber links. However, instead of utilizing an optical transceiver each and every end as well as a length of fiber optic cable, the DAC uses the SFP+ module, taking away the expensive optical lasers along with other electronic components. Both in active and passive cables, a smaller electrical component is used to recognize the SFP+ module and cable type to the Ethernet interface; that component is lower price and consumes not much power.

A DAC Cable is a limited assembly that's bought at confirmed length, using the SFP+ modules permanently attached with each side of the cable. Although significantly thinner than 10GBASE-CX4 cable, it is stilla comparatively stiff cable. To set up the cable on anything apart from closely associated equipment, you've got to be ready to route the cable and it is attached SFP+ modules through any intervening cable management trays and cable guides.

Reference: Fiberstore