SC Conference - Activity Details

Russell Hornung  (W. L. Gore & Associates)

Storage Solutions and Cables

Thursday,  11:00AM - 11:30AM

Room 12A/12B

Active Copper Cable Assemblies (ACCA) have made significant advancements in maximizing reach and cable density for next generation Data Center (DC) protocols. No longer is the system architect constrained by cumbersome AWG24 cable or the more expensive and risky optical alternative. Use lengths of up to 20 meters at 10+ Gbs and 10-15 BER are being achieved on copper cable ranging between AWG32 and AWG28. Strides in high-bandwidth differential cable constructions, low-power limiting amplification and active equalization chip sets are the leading technologies enabling Cu technology to cost effectively scale the data center footprint over smaller cable and higher data rates. ACCA is also the choice for customers striving for "Green Computing" - minimizing environmental impact of tomorrow's DC. Active copper technology in lengths of 10 - 20 meters can reduce DC power consumption to 1/5 to 1/2 that of optics with added benefits in air cooling from small gauge cable. Active copper technology is not prone to thermally induced performance or reliability degradation.