Amphenol Now Offering 3M™ Active Optical SFP+ Cable (AOC) Assemblies For 10GbE-SFP+ Direct Attach Applications At CablesOnDemand.com

New from industry leader 3M Interconnect Solutions: Vastly extend the reach of your 10-Gigabit Ethernet SFP+ network with 3M™ Active Optical Cable (AOC) Assemblies for SFP+ Direct Attach applications; 1X InfiniBand™ Certified and capable of supporting 8G Fibre Channel (8GFC) storage networks. All lengths up to 100m (330’) are in stock and ready for same day shipment from Amphenol Cables on Demand

Endicott, NY (PRWEB) - Amphenol, the world's second largest interconnect manufacturer, formally announced the expansion of its high-speed 10-Gigabit product portfolio to now include SFP+ Active Optical Cable (AOC) assemblies from 3M. This powerful new optical SFP+ cable series, precision-engineered by 3M Interconnect Solutions, has been made available online through Amphenol’s Cables on Demand (http://www.CablesOnDemand.com) division.

Active Optical Cables for 10G SFP+ applications are the logical evolution to Amphenol’s popular copper line-up of Active and Passive SFP+ Direct Attach Cable Assemblies, according to Nick Blas, Product Marketing Manager for Amphenol Cables on Demand. “There are upwards of one million Amphenol brand Passive Copper Cables deployed worldwide for SFP+ applications.” Mr. Blas noted that despite the popularity and cost-effectiveness of using copper-based interconnect platforms such as SFP+ Direct Attach (DA) 10GBASE-T and 10GBASE-CX4; there are distinct design limitations that must be considered.

Perhaps the widest-recognized design limitation of copper interconnect technology is cable length. Mr. Blas emphasized, “Amphenol’s Passive and Active Copper SFP+ Cables, operating at 10-Gigabits per second, are designed to operate at distances no longer than 10m (33 feet) in length. Passive Copper QSFP/QSFP+ Cables, operating at quadruple that data-rate (40-Gigabits per second), are designed to operate at distances no longer than 7m (23 feet) max. These lengths work great for intra-rack cabling applications, but modern data centers often demand lengthy cable installations between racks or clusters.”

Amphenol’s partners at 3M Interconnect Solutions have addressed the aforementioned challenges by leveraging their expertise in electro-optical circuit design and high-speed I/O devices. While the SFP+ Active Optical Cablesoffered by 3M appear to have identical connectors to their Amphenol copper counterparts per SFF-8431 specifications, they contain far more advanced opto-electronic circuitry underneath for translating high-speed signals across fiber optic cables. Each 3M connector for SFP+ applications (one per cable end) consists of a directly attached bi-directional SFP+ Fiber Optic Transceiver Module. Each module is responsible for transmitting data up to 10.3125 Gigabits per second (Gbps) down a designated length of OM2+ multimode fiber optic cabling up to 100 meters (330 feet) long.

Due to multimode OM2+ fiber optic cabling’s extremely high native bandwidth, signals that were once constrained by copper’s length limitations can now be transmitted successfully up to 100 meters away (330 feet) via Active Optical Cable technology from 3M. Each Active Optical Cable sold arrives as a fully finished cable assembly – ready for “plug-and-play” installation into your network infrastructure. The only viable alternative for long-distance SFP+ data-links would be to create an SFP+ AOC equivalent using a pair of 10GbE-SFP+ Fiber Optic Transceiver Modules adjoined by an appropriate OM2+ or OM3 MMF fiber optic patch cord. This methodology requires more work on the installer’s part at a drastically inflated cost.

In order to ensure compatibility with your switch, host bus adapter (HBA) or accessory, 3M has done its due diligence by ensuring their products are fully electrically compliant to their copper cable counterparts as per SFF-8431 specifications. A great deal of devices on the market simply view the installed SFP+ AOC as a typical SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cable, thus allowing the AOC to interface with a greater breadth of equipment. Some of the most essential product specifications for 3M Active Optical SFP+ Cables are published below for your reference: 

• Ultra-low power consumption @ 240mW typical per cable end
• Single channel I/O operating at speeds up to 10.3125 Gbps
• Supports optical data links up to 100m in length (330ft)
• Ultra-low 10^-12 BER (Bit Error Rate)
• Hot pluggable “plug and play” design
• Bend insensitive OM2+ multimode fiber (MMF)
• Full set of integrated diagnostic features
• Features built-in intrusion detection
• Compliant to SFF-8431 Enhanced Small Form Factor Pluggable Module SFP+, Rev 4.1
• Compliant to Fiber Channel Physical Interface – 5 (FC-PI-5) Rev 6.10 released
• Class 1 eye-safe per IEC 60825-1/CDRH
• FCC Class B and CE Emissions and Immunity (EN 61000 4-3)
• 3M 2-year active optical warranty
• RoHS Compliant*

Applications Include:

• High-performance computing (HPC) clusters
• 10-Gigabit Ethernet applications (10GbE)
• 4G and 8G Fiber Channel Applications (4GFC/8GFC)
• 1x InfiniBand QDR. DDR, SDR
• Servers, switches, storage and host card adapters (NIC)

As a special introductory offer for new prospective Active Optical Cable (AOC) customers, Amphenol Cables on Demand is making available for a limited time only an Exclusive $75.00 OFF discount that can be applied towards your first 3M Active Optical Cable purchase of $300.00 or more at http://www.CablesOnDemand.com. No coupon code is required – the discount calculates instantly at checkout. As a bonus, your 3M SFP+ AOC order always qualifies for FREE UPS Ground Shipping within the continental United States.

About Amphenol Corporation
Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH) is the second largest manufacturer of connectors and cables worldwide, comprised of over fifty industry-leading divisions including Times Fiber Communications, Times Microwave Systems, Teradyne Connection Systems, Amphenol Interconnect Products and Amphenol RF. Since 1934, Amphenol Engineers have designed innovative interconnect solutions such as the BNC and UHF connector series, SKEWCLEAR wire technology, and XCede backplane architecture.

Amphenol Cables on Demand, launched in 2006, is Amphenol's first wholly owned subsidiary optimized for the distribution of Amphenol brand cable products online. Based in Endicott, NY, Cables on Demand offers same day shipping before 3:00PM Eastern on over 3,000 unique cable SKUs. The company's high product mix supports a vast array of applications including Network, Broadcast, Test, Instrumentation, Audio/Video, Data Storage, Clustered Computers, Prototyping, Automation, Industrial Control, WiFi, Automotive and Avionics.