FCI QSFP+ Cable Assemblies Pass Infiniband Compliance Testing
FCI announced that its QSFP+ (Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable +) direct attach copper cable assemblies successfully passed all normative compliance testing at the 16th plugfest event sponsored by the Infiniband Trade Association (IBTA) at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL) in October 2009. The compliance testing verified the functionality of the cable assemblies to Infiniband Single Data Rate (SDR), Double Data Rate (DDR) and Quad Data Rate (QDR) performance requirements.
"The results of the Infiniband Trade Association's Plugfest are highly anticipated and respected in the Infiniband community," said Jim David, global product manager for High-Speed I/O products. "The independent verification of FCI cable assemblies' compliance to Infiniband performance specifications validates the robustness of our cable termination and manufacturing processes, established quality systems, and internal cable test procedures."
The QSFP+ interconnect system provides a 4-channel 40 Gb/s (4 x 10 Gb/s) port at 3 to 4 times the linear bandwidth density of SFP+ and XFP systems.
The product offering is designed to meet the specification requirements for 4X Infiniband QDR links as well as IEEE 802.3ba (40GBASE-CR4) Ethernet and FibreChannel. System functionality also conforms to SFF-8436 specifications.
This 40 Gb/s interconnect system is particularly well-suited for high transactional systems that are typically deployed in data center, networking and high-performance computing applications.
FCI's QSFP+ offering consists of connectors, EMI cages and copper cable assemblies. The connector is a surface-mount, 38-position, card edge connector that is designed and packaged to be pick-and-place-compatible. The corresponding EMI metal cage attaches to the host board by way of press-fit, eye-of-the-needle tails. The cage offering also includes an optional die-cast heat sink and metal heat sink mounting clip for applications where heat dissipation from a mating cable module needs to be addressed. The chassis termination of the cage is accomplished by a stamped EMI girdle that contacts the chassis as the cage is slipped through the chassis opening.
The FCI cable assembly offering features highly engineered mating transition boards that assure a proper mechanical mating interface and 10 Gb/s channel bandwidth for signal transmission. Passive copper cable assemblies are offered to the maximum lengths allowed by the different performance specifications noted above. Actively equalized copper cable assemblies are also offered to extend cable lengths or to minimize the cable bulk in applications where airflow or cable routing are major system considerations.
All cables include EEPROM memory map capability as defined by the applicable SFF standards. The cables are engaged via a simple plug-in push-to-lock-in-place feature and a user-friendly pull lanyard to unlock the cable module end.
