RE:RE:RE:RE:Our enemy is having traction. Waiting S7 does sameGaugeChanger+.
Spectra7’s GaugeChanger+ interconnects facilitate the use of ultra-thin (3.8mm) +100Gbps active copper cables which provide several cost and performance advantages for data centres. Currently, fibre is the only alternative for data centres seeking high speed and flexible interconnects as passive copper is typically too bulky and inflexible at higher speeds. In order to replace fibre, the cabling needs to be a similar size with high throughput. Active copper cables enable the transmission of 40 and 100G Ethernet over much farther distances than traditional passive copper and are significantly less expensive than active fibre in terms of both upfront cost and power consumption. Spectra7 has previously highlighted that active copper cables are up to 65% cheaper than fibre and use up to 80% less power. This is broadly consistent with our findings across major online retailers for connectivity and networking equipment, although the pricing gap gets smaller at longer distances.
The company’s patented signal processing algorithms significantly reduce cable diameter, up to 10x smaller than passive bundles, and drive high transmission rates over longer distances. This serves as a differentiator for Spectra7 as its active cables are thinner and longer (up to 15m) than many of the active copper cables currently on the market. The added length expands possible use cases and a smaller diameter drives greater flexibility and air flow between servers which, in addition to low power consumption, makes it easier to cool servers and drive added energy efficiency.
Spectra7’s GaugeChanger+ interconnect product line is comprised of a new GC2502
analog signal processing chip and a proprietary ultra-thin copper transmission link.
The company currently offers this technology through several types of interconnects
including small form-factor pluggable (SFP+), quad small form-factor pluggable
(QSFP+), QSFP to 4SFP+ and MiniSAS HD. Spectra7’s QSFP+ interconnect provides a
data rate of 112Gbps and is backwards compatible to 40Gbps. At DesignCon 2017
the company recently demonstrated the QSFP28 Double Density (QSFP28-DD) which
uses double the number of copper conductors in the same physical dimensions as
QSFP28. Spectra7 started shipping samples of this product throughout Q1/17 and
early testing with OEM partners is already underway. These modules also support both NRZ and PAM-4 signaling which enable 200G or 400G Ethernet over the same cable, positioning the company for longer term upgrade cycles.
There are copper solutions available in the marketplace from low cost vendors such as Monoprice and FS.com. An example can be seen below. These tend to be built with thicker cables (24 AWG) and are limited to shorter lengths (7m) and lower speed (40Gbps). The larger cable gauge limits bend radius and makes it prohibitively difficult to manage. Consider a typical full-size rack cage which can hold 42 “pizza box” devices. The trend is towards high density with a 1U device supporting as many as 36 QSFP ports. This suggests the need to manage as many as 1500 wires per 2 feet of equipment. A smaller wire can make a huge difference, given that fibre cables are quite thin.