Ideal High-Speed Interconnect Solution

What is the Ideal High-Speed Interconnect Solution?

The ideal high-speed interconnect solution should have such features as optimized for short distances, low cost, low power consumption, small cable bend radius, low cable weight, high density, and low link latency. The only one solution which can meet all the requirements is the direct attach active optical cables.

Direct attach active optical cables, or active optical cables for short, are direct-attach fiber assemblies with fiber optic transceiver (SFP+, XFP, QSFP+, CXP etc.) connectors. They are suitable for short distances and offer a cost-effective way to connect within racks and across adjacent racks. Nowadays the Active Optical Cable (AOC) is accelerating data connectivity for storage, networking, and HPC applications. It leverages fiber optic technology for the transmission of data while reducing the weight, density and power consumption of traditional copper solutions. Note: Active optical cables have signal amplification and equalization built into the cable assembly, while passive optical cables don't. See

Advantages of Active Optical Cables

The AOC assemblies provide the lowest total cost solution for data centers by having the key advantages as following:

• Low weight for high port count architectures;
• Small bend radius for easy installations;
• Low power consumption enabling a greener environment.

Compared to Active & Passive Copper Cable Assemblies

1. Longer reach (> 7 meters)
2. Lower weight and tighter bend radius enable simpler cable management
3. Thinner cable allows better airflow for cooling
4. Lower power consumption
5. No need for power-hungry conditioning ICs on the host board
6. Can be used in architectures with challenging cable routing

Compared to Optical Transceivers

1. Datacenter/Consumer friendly: No cleanliness issues in optical connector
2. Cost-optimized: Not constrained by optical interface specifications driven by longer reach applications
(Note: However, the active optical cables cannot be routed through fiber patch panels.)

Ideal High-Speed Interconnect Solution

Today's enterprise data centers and networking environments are undergoing an infrastructure transformation, requiring higher speeds, greater scalability, and higher levels of performance and reliability to better meet the demands of business. As speed and performance demands increase, the AOC assemblies have become an integral part of the overall system design. However, AOC design margins and parameters vary widely, and can be the difference between an optimized, highly reliable fabric and the incompatibility issues that drive up support costs. There are various types of AOC assemblies for 10G, 40G, and 100G applications on the market. Judging from the cost performance, Fiberstore is the only one who can provide the most ideal high-speed interconnect solution of QSFP+ assemblies including 40G QSFP+ AOC, 40G QSFP+ breakout cable, and 40G QSFP+ to 8×LC AOC.

Article Source: Direct Attach Active Optical Cable Solution

The Development Of The SFP Optical Module

First of all, let me introduce the development of GBIC and SFF.

A Gigabit Interface Converter is a hot-swappable transceiver for networking equipment. It could connect a Gigabit Ethernet, fibre channel as well as other direct attach cable to a compatible network card. It is usually found in computer networks that depend upon flexibility in the kinds of connections they could accommodate.

Also known from the acronym GBIC, a Gigabit Interface Converter can be quickly replaced without powering down the server it is attached with. A GBIC-compatible network card can be linked to any of the supported high-speed media. A GBIC is available for every of several fibre channel cable types and also Gigabit Ethernet. This provides network designers and maintainers the pliability to increase and reconfigure their networks when needed.

The Small Form Factor (SFF) Committee, an ad hoc industry group, developed a Gigabit Interface Converter specification in the late 1990s. Called SFF-8053, it establishes a standard electronic interface and a mechanical form factor for these devices. Originally written for a fibre channel converter design, the spec now includes Gigabit Ethernet-specific information too. It also details algorithms that can be used for GBIC management and error recovery.

A Gigabit Ethernet GBIC generally carries a microcontroller and a 1000Base-T SFP Transceiver. They are able to make contact with each other over the Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus. Signals to and from the network card connector can also travel over this serial bus. On the network side, a transformer couples the transceiver signals to a Registered Jack 45 (RJ45) connector. 

The form factor of a Gigabit Interface Converter was originally designed for a fibre channel connection. A physically smaller variety known as a Small Form Factor Pluggable transceiver (SFP Transceiver) also exists. Sometimes called a mini-GBIC, it offers a similar flexibility as a standard GBIC in a smaller package. A 10 Gigabit SFP transceiver, specially designed for the higher-speed network technology, is slightly larger.

The development of the SFP optical module

SFF and GBIC module in the process of development have very special history, with the rapid development of network, they are gradually replaced by the SFP optical module.

SFP optical module, the development of SFF and module GBIC light because of SFF and module GBIC is 1 x9 light after two direction of products, have their own advantages: miniaturization and hot plug.

Inherited the SFP optical module GBIC hotplug characteristics, also draw lessons from the SFF miniaturization advantage.By LC, the volume is only 1/2 to 1/3 of the GBIC module, greatly increased the port density of network equipments, conform to the trend of rapid development of network, so has been the most widely fan used, the main equipment manufacturers, with no exception to discard the GBIC products, only USES the SFP optical module products.Due to adopt a unified standard, each manufacturer of SFP product can be compatible, SFP products can be used as a single network equipment procurement.

Although currently there has been many higher technology, update of light module products, however the SFP module is constantly exist for a long time.After the SFP optical module development mainly toward a higher rate of development, now has 10g, 40g to 100g optical module, etc.After the SFP + light module believe SFP is widely used a generation of products.

No matter what kind of SFP, you can find in the fibestore. And now, all Transceiver Modules are 30% Off!

The Advantages Of QSFP+ PSM4 AOC

40G QSFP+ AOC has been introduced Few days ago,Today we are going to introduce Fiberstore’s QSFP+ (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus) PSM4 (Parallel Single Mode Quad) Active Optical Cables (AOCs) which use a Silicon Photonics (SiPh) optical engine and use lower cost singlemode fiber for transmission distances up to 4km. QSFP+ cables are used for 40GBASE and Infniband standards, to maximize performance.Whether QSFP+ PSM4 AOC and 40G QSFP+ AOC, is one of the Direct Attach Cable.

ADVANTAGES OF SIPH-BASED PSM4 SOLUTION FOR 4-KM REACH

Multiple forces are driving the implementation of PSM4 and SiPh in next generation data-center designs and architectures. PSM4 and SiPh fill an important gap in data-center interconnect options, the gap between the reach of 25G multimode options and that of Long Range (LR) optical approaches. Using pigtail designs with these technologies can ease implementation via easy mating to structured cabling. From a futureproofing perspective, PSM4 is an approach that can accommodate both current and future bandwidth upgrades. A SiPh-based PSM4 approach helps resolve the multiple challenges of higher bandwidth, longer distances, low power, and futureproofing. SiPh-based LR PSM4 products offer seven primary advantages.

Distance: With transmission distances up to 4 km, they can accommodate most, if not all, new data-center requirements. Power: SiPh-based AOCs use basically the same power consumption as VCSEL-based products: under 1 W for a 10G QSFP+ AOC and 1.5 W at 25 Gbps. Cost: The cost is roughly the same as VCSEL-based AOCs, but since they are single mode (SM), they use much less expensive SM cable. As speeds increase, VCSEL-based products require ever more expensive types of fiber. After most networks have upgraded to OM3, an upgrade to OM4 can be costly. And what comes after OM4, and how soon will it be needed? With SM SiPh AOCs, the fiber remains inexpensive SM and stays consistent as data rates increase. Futureproof Structured Cabling: Upgrading structured cabling is less economically viable as speeds continue to increase. PSM4 can accommodate 10 GbE, 40 GbE, 4x10 Gbps aggregated QDR Infiniband, 4x14 Gbps FDR Infiniband, 100 GbE, 4x25 Gbps aggregated. Pigtail Plug-in Options for Ease of Installation and Upgrades: PSM4 AOCs are available in pigtail versions. Here, one end is a traditional QSFP+ active interface and the other either MPO or LC connectors. This enables a quick connection to structured cabling (so the AOC side doesn't have to be pulled long distances) and the ability to quickly upgrade as needed with no costly structured cabling upgrade and associated data-center downtime. SiPh Actives Becoming Broadly Available: An ecosystem of proven, reliable, cost-effective SiPh devices exists to accommodate SM data-center links. SiPh is widely deployed today in PSM4 AOCs, and several new entrants into the market are offering a variety of options. SiPh Offers a Path Beyond 25G: VCSELs face increasing challenges as speeds increase. With SiPh-based systems, most modulating schemes have a clear and well-understood technology path to 50G, 100G, and beyond.

SM SiPh bridges the gaps caused by the dual requirements of longer distances and higher data transmission speeds. With a broad base of products both available and being developed by multiple suppliers, PSM4 and SiPh AOCs can be deployed today to enable new data-center architectures, with the assurance that they'll provide a path to cost-effectively meet future upgrade requirements.

Fiberstore offers 40GBASE QSFP+ to QSFP+ active optical cables with lengths of 10m to 100m.Lengths and compatible brands can be customized up to customers' requirements.So,if you or your friends want to buy qsfp 4x10g aocs, Fiberstore could be your first choice!

Article source:http://www.fiberstore.com/QSFP+-PSM4-Active-Optical-Cables-Tutorial-aid-402.html