Passive and Active Copper Cable Technologies for High Speed Ethernet Applications

Reducing CapEx, OpEx and Carbon Footprints

Russell Hornung
W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

John Mitchell
Intersil Corporation
San Jos, CA USA February 2010

Copper Twinax Connectivity in Data Centers Why Copper Twinax?

Simple, economical interconnect within racks and between adjacent racks Plug and play with optics using same connectors Improved signal integrity compared to structured cabling Logarithmic Decrease in Latency vs. Optical Transceivers or 10GBase-T
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Advantages of Both Active and Passive Copper Cables for 10/40/100 GbE Ethernet Applications
Higher Quality & Reliability
Less Power Consumption & Lower Cooling Costs

Lower Capital Cost

SFP+, QSFP and CXP are Current Form Factors capable of 10 Gbps Speeds per Lane

1x

4x

With Both Active and Passive Copper Solutions

12x

Premises important to Ethernet Industry

Power Consumption of Tremendous Importance Cooling is Paramount Need for Reliability & Quality in Elevated Temp Environments Both CapEx and OpEx costs are critical
Industry needs Low Cost, Low Energy, Low Risk, Dependable and Effective Interconnects

Power and Cooling are HOT Topics

Data Centers consumed 65 Billion KW-hrs., or $28 Billion of energy. Worldwide Consumption was 160 Billion KW-hrs. or $80 Billion (USA EPA)

Overheating downs U of Penn Data Center

by Nadine Zylberberg | Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 9:30 pm

shut-down of the Universitys financial, research and student online services

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

Economic Recovery Funds have been Earmarked for Government Labs For Replacement of Relatively New Equipment with Lower Power Alternatives

GREEN Computing and the Need to Reduce Power

In 2007 data centers consumed a staggering 1.8% of the U.S.'s entire supply of electricity Excess of the entire consumption of Los Angeles or the BaltimoreWashington Corridor. Data Centers responsible for CO2 emissions that is Half that of the Airline Industry!

Financial Times , Garter Report

Market demanding lower power interconnects

Faster Ethernet Continues to Drive Technical Advancements to Extend Useful Length of Copper
Extended Cable Bandwidth for Harmonic Coverage and Lower Attenuation at the Harmonic Improvements in Connector Performance Better Recepticle Performance on the System Interface Less Common Mode Conversion Low Crosstalk and Controlled Impedance through the Whole Link
Your only as good as your worst pair

Lower Loss, Greater Bandwidth, Greater Coupling

Greater Consistency Channel-Channel

Lower Loss, Impedance Control, Less Common Mode Conversion

Cable Length Distribution in Large Computing Cluster

Cable Length Distribution in Large Computing Cluster
40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Up to 5m 5 to 10m 10 to 15m 15 to 20m Above 20m

90% 60%

15 meters or less 10 meters or less

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

Current 10/40/100 GbE Choices

Shorter Lengths Passive Copper max at 7 to 10 meters; most vendors limited to about 5 meters Short (provides opportunity to use
smaller O.D. and more flexible cable)

and Medium Length Active Copper (covered in more detail in

upcoming slides)

Optics at a Cost and Power Premium for Short and Medium Lengths Modules are Typically Less Longer Lengths Optic Modules
0 Passive Copper Assembly Active Copper Assembly Fibre Optic Module 5 10 15

Flexible due to proprietary nature

Length in Meters
20 25 30 35 40+

Active Copper Interconnects for 10/40/100G Ethernet

John Mitchell Intersil Corporation

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

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Key HPC Trends

Performance increases 10X every 3.5yrs Clusters have become dominant architecture Increasing adoption of HPC by business and industry

Key Interconnect Trends

Bandwidth required from the Interconnect needs to

scale at same 10X/3.5yrs

Greater number of Interconnects brings more

importance to thinner and lighter cables

As HPC moves mainstream, there is increased

emphasis on reliability and cost.

Additional Interconnect Trends

Power Containment

Pressure
Low Latency Needs

Green Initiatives

Interconnect Options

Rate
(Gb/s)

Base-T

Copper

10 40 100 (10x10) 100 (4x25)

Active Copper

Optics

Active Copper Interconnects

Ultra Long Reach and Ultra Thin Copper

Interconnects offer Greater flexibility

Low Power meets Data Center Green Requirements Low Latency meets Data Access and Transaction

Needs
Cost Effective alternative to Optics

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

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10G Active Copper Interconnects

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

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Active Copper Interconnect Technology

Addresses Loss, Dispersion , Skew and Noise in High Speed Interconnects

Amplitude Equalization

Group Delay Equalization

Skew Correction
Skew

Crosstalk Reduction

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

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10G Options
CAT 5E Gigabit Ethernet
Too Slow

CAT 6a/7 10GBASE=T

Higher Power Higher Latency

Active Copper
Meets all Needs Thinnest HS Interconnect

MMF SR OPTICS
Higher Cost Higher Power

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

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Passive vs. Active Copper

Reduce CrossSection 6X Reduce Weight 10X Reduce Cost Reduce Waste
Cross-Sections of 48 Port Interconnect (24AWG Passive Left and 32AWG Active Right)

San Jos, CA USA February 2010

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Active Copper Features and Benefits

SFP+

QSFP+

CXP

Advanced Analog Signal Processing overcomes loss and noise distortion typical in long copper cables. CMOS technology enables low power. Reliable and Cost-Effective alternative to Optics up to 20m Cables are Compliant to SFF requirements
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San Jos, CA USA February 2010