24 September 2014

OIF-hosted physical and link layer demos feature Molex high-speed multi-channel solutions

High-speed fiber-optic interconnect firm Molex Inc of Lisle, IL, USA has been participating in ‘Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) Interoperability 2014 – Accelerating Momentum on the Road to Next-Generation Architectures’ demonstrations presented at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC 2014) in Cannes, France (22-24 September). The OIF stand featured Molex and other OIF member companies in live Physical and Link Layer demonstrations showcasing advanced 100G technologies for 400G data transmission over various media including optical fiber, copper cables and backplanes.

“Designed for high-speed multi-channel systems, Molex solutions deliver the interoperability needed in today’s resource-intensive data centers,” says Scott Sommers, global group product manager at Molex.

At ECOC, Molex solutions were spotlighted in four OIF demonstrations:

• Demo #4: CEI-28G-VSR QSFP29 Module Compliance Output Test - Molex’s zQSFP+ (zQuad Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus) connectors on a module control board supported 28G operating data rates in a multi-test demonstration. zQSFP+ connectors supported CEI-28G-VSR requirements over a QSFP28-based chip-to-module channel at 28G operating rate.

• Demo #5: CEI-25G-LR Passive Copper Cable - Highlighting four vendor cables operating at the same data rate, the demonstration featured a scalable Molex zQSFP+ four-lane cable design operating at up to 25.78G per lane with optimized electrical performance, signal integrity, and EMI protection.

• Demo #7: CEI-25G-LR Backplane Channel Connector - Molex’s Impel 25G LR backplane and daughter cards provided signal integrity and mechanical isolation in a demonstration running four lanes of bi-directional traffic at 25.78G. Offering scalable price-for-performance, the high-density Impel backplane system enables data rates from 25G up to 56G data rates (56G obtained using PAM 4 encoding).

• Demo #9: OIF CEI-25G VSR Thermal Pluggable Module - Utilizing eight zCD (style 2) connectors, cages, modules and heat-sinks mounted in a side-to-side airflow line-card emulator, the demonstration featured Molex’s high-speed zCD connectors and thermal resistant modules to show the effects of heat-sink pin geometry in a simulated real-world environment transmitting 400G (25G over 16 lanes). The demonstration probed and recorded heat levels to assess thermal dissipation properties of connector and cage thermal technologies.

“Interoperability translates into more choices for customers,” says Sommers. “OIF multi-vendor demonstrations blend advanced technologies and highlight important industry progress toward the goal of achieving total interoperability in fiber-optic technologies,” he adds.

Tags: Molex OIF

Visit: www.oiforum.com/public/OIF_Interoperability_2014.html

Visit: www.ecoc2014.org

Visit: www.molex.com