Zarlink Expands ZLynx Active Optical Cable Portfolio

Zarlink Semiconductor (News - Alert), a deliverer of semiconductor solutions, announced ZLynx dual data rate (DDR) active optical cables with integrated quad small form-factor and hybrid QSFP-to-CX4 terminations will now be commercially available.

 

Active Optical cables are those where the optical electrical conversion is integrated into the end cable connectors. The ZLynx family of active optical cables is built on Zarlink's arrayed photonics; IC components and proprietary interconnect optical alignment technology. The company claims to be the first vendor to product active optical cables. Zarlink’s ZLynx ZL60615 cables are now deployed in a range of data centers and computer clusters.

 

The ZLynx-Q and ZLynx hybrid cables are small in size and are simple to install and maintain. These cables are specially designed for a range of high-speed computing, security and industrial applications and they support up to 100-meter reach to enable larger and scalable data centers.

 

"Zarlink extended the ZLynx product line in response to data center, server and switch demand for an easy-to-use, lighter optical cable solution with enhanced signal-integrity performance," said Ram Rao, product line manager for Zarlink Semiconductor's parallel interconnect products.

 

"ZLynx CX4 cables offered superior cable management with lower bit error rate than traditional copper cables. New ZLynx-Q and ZLynx hybrid cables offer the popular QSFP termination at 4x5 Gb/s and they will extend to 4x10 Gb/s for InfiniBand QDR," said Rao.

 

Zarlink's hybrid CX4-to-QSFP cables are used to bridge CX4-based host channel adaptor (HCA) cards and new InfiniBand switches employing Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable (QSFP) terminations.

 

The company believes that this QSFP interface is being rapidly adopted for high-performance computing and InfiniBand due to the QSFP's faceplate density, its recessed housing eases cable management, and superior signal integrity and electromagnetic interference shielding. Here, the speed migrates to 10 Gb/s.

 

Zarlink will be showcasing the interoperability of the ZLynx-Q and ZLynx hybrid cables between servers and InfiniBand and Ethernet switches from several vendors, including QLogic and Mellanox (News - Alert) at SC'08, the Supercomputing conference.

 

Zarlink confirmed that the company’s ZL60620 ZLynx-Q and ZL60625 ZLynx hybrid active optical cables will now be made available at select lead customers, in 30 meter lengths.

 

Zarlink will soon start the production in all cable lengths by early 2009. ZLynx ZL60615 cables with CX4 connectors are in full production and available in three meter to 100 meter lengths.