Active optical cables passed fit for InfiniBand

Active optical cable assemblies with integrated optical-electrical convertors are certified compliant with the InfiniBand architecture specification.

Zarlink's ZLynx products have become the first active optical cable assemblies with integrated optical-electrical convertors to be tested and accepted by the IBTA (InfiniBand Trade Association) as being compliant with the InfiniBand architecture specification.

Zarlink's ZLynx active optical cables are included in the recently issued IBTA Integrators' List of commercially available products that meet InfiniBand compliance and interoperability requirements.

Zarlink's ZLynx products were independently tested and certified as compliant by Lamprey Networks and the University of New Hampshire's Interoperability Lab.

Zarlink's ZLynx products integrate industry-standard electrical terminations and are capable of 20Gbit/s transmission in both directions and 5Gbit/s duplex, four-channel data transmission.

As demonstrated at February's Optical Fibre Communication conference, ZLynx optical cable assemblies are the industry's first active optical cable products to support potential link distances up to 100m.

ZLynx optical cable assemblies provide data centre operators and installers with weight, interference and flexibility advantages versus traditional multistrand copper cable assemblies.

ZLynx products targeting InfiniBand DDR at 4x5Gbit/s per channel and 10 GbE XAUI at 3x3.125Gbit/s are currently sampling.

Preproduction parts are now available, with general availability in August.

These are the first in a portfolio of parts that will support varied cable lengths and terminated with a number of high-speed electrical connectors.

Zarlink is also sampling 4x2.5 and 4x5Gbit/s InfiniBand QSFP modules, supported by evaluationboards and a graphical user diagnostic interface.

InfiniBand SDR and DDR QSFP modules are now available as preproduction parts, with full production planned for Q4 2007.

QSFP QDR modules will be available as sampling parts in Q4 2007.

Zarlink's QSFP modules meet performance requirements outlined in the IBTA's Pluggable Interfaces annex.

Issued in March 2007, Pluggable Interfaces was developed by the IBTA to provide a standard electromechanical method for attaching cabling to InfiniBand products.

By combining four ultra-high capacity, independent fibre transmit and receive channels into one integrated module, Zarlink's QSFP products provide InfiniBand equipment manufacturers with a compact, low power consumption pluggable solution, and a clear roadmap to QDR implementation.

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