112G PAM4 signals run on 800G active copper cables
Spectra7 Microsystems is showing its 112G PAM4 GaugeChanger chip for next generation 800Gbps data centre active cables.
The demonstration with UK cable maker Volex uses a 3m long 28AWG Active Copper Cable with the GC1122 chips designed in Cork, Ireland. The chips allow copper to extend much longer lengths with high speed signalling such as 112Gbit/s without the cost and power penalty of optics or DSP-based retimed copper solutions.
“New network architectures and increased server speeds are causing the connectivity market inside the data centre to embrace active solutions,” said Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst with 650 Group.
“By 2026, we expect over 70% of the Cloud server market to be active copper. From a revenue perspective, the market will quickly exceed US$1bn and can exceed US$3bn by 2026, far higher than the DAC market it will replace. Active copper cables also help support the $20bn, and growing, Ethernet market in the data centre which is critical for the future growth of Cloud and AI/ML applications.”
“We are proud to have Volex as a partner for 800G interconnects using our GaugeChanger™ ICs,” said Spectra7 CEO Raouf Halim. “We see strong demand from customers for the low power cost effective 800G cables that we are jointly bringing to the hyperscale data center market.”
The GC1122 extends the data rate from 56 to 112Gbit/s per lane. The analog GC1122 chip is highly linear to preserve, dynamics such as line rate adjustment, multi-level signaling, intermittent line silence, transmit pre-emphasis or amplitude adjustment and receiver adaptivity.
The GC1122 chips are now sampling to cable partners and end customers and Spextra7 expects production later in the year.
The technology works equally well at 25G NRZ, 56G PAM4 and 112G PAM4 signaling, enabling Ethernet interface standards of 100, 200, 400, 800Gbps and 1.6Tbps.
Volex is headquartered in Warrington, UK, and operates from 19 manufacturing locations with a global workforce of over 8,000 employees across 22 countries.
Spectra7 is also showing active copper cables running 56Gbit/s PAM4 with the GaugeChanger chips from cable partners Molex, Amphenol and Luxshare connecting to Broadcom’s Tomahawk 4 switch and Broadcom’s BCM957508-P2100G Network Interface Card (NIC).
www.spectra7.com; www.volex.com.
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