INTERCONNECTS

Zarlink Semiconductor today introduced the industry’s first fully integrated EOE cable product for interconnecting enterprise data centers and high-performance computer clusters. While standard copper cable assemblies strain to meet new speed and link length demands in data centres, Zarlink’s ZLynx fiber optic cables with integrated electrical terminations provide installers and operators with unbeatable advantages in terms of reach, weight and flexibility. Zarlink will be demonstrating its ZLynx optical cable products at the Optical Fiber Communication conference in Anaheim, California (March 27-29, Booth#3659). Today 10 Gbps and above data transmission in data centers and high-performance computer clusters is often implemented using CX4 connectors terminating fat copper cable assemblies. The bulk, weight, inflexibility and limited reach of multi-strand copper cable assemblies is increasingly a barrier to installation, maintenance and expansion. “ZLynx optical cables represent a revolutionary performance leap for data centre operators,” said Dr. Marco Ghisoni, ZLynx product manager, Zarlink Optical Solutions. “ZLynx products drive interconnect reach 10 times further than copper, while eliminating weight, interference and flexibility concerns as data centers expand. For the end-user, standardized port connectors means these performance advantages can be realized seamlessly and without any system, server or network hardware upgrades.” Zarlink’s ZLynx products are one-piece fiber optic cable assemblies with integrated, industry-standard electrical terminations capable of 20 Gbps transmission in both directions and 5 Gbps duplex 4-channel data transmission, for distances up to 100 meters. The standard connector, compact size and robust latch mechanism allow ease-of-use with most equipment chassis. The optical cable uses 3.3-volt supplied directly from the electrical port connector. Typical power consumption is just 1 watt per connector. "InfiniBand technology is now mainstream for networking high performance computing clusters and storage," said Lloyd Dickman, Chief Technology Officer for InfiniBand Products, QLogic Computer Systems Group. "New technologies are needed to support both the increasing bandwidth requirements and the longer link distances needed for scaling clusters. ZLynx optical cables from Zarlink support 20 Gbps InfiniBand bandwidth at distances up to 100 meters." "Penn State HPC group works to empower university researchers and students in their ability to compute and manage data by developing and maintaining several state-of-the-art computational clusters," said Vijay Agarwala, Director of Research Computing at ITS. "Zarlink's innovative ZLynx optical cable solutions can solve many issues in our cable management strategy. For example, allowing us longer link distances, providing cable bend flexibility, better in-cabinet cable management, and scalability for use in our multi-story data center. This allows us to make better use of our investment in currently available InfiniBand infrastructure solutions." Availability and roadmap Current sampling, Zarlink’s ZLynx products target InfiniBand DDR (dual data rate) at 4 x 5 Gbps per channel and 10 GbE XAUI at 4 x 3.125 Gbps applications. Pre-production units are available, with general availability in Q2CY07. This will be the first in the ZLynx family of optical cables available at cable lengths up to 100 meters and terminated with a number of high-speed electrical connectors. For more on Zarlink’s optical solutions visit its Web site.