QSFP+ AOC limitations that must be considered

Active Optical Cables for CX4 and QSFP+ AOC are the logical evolution to Amphenol’s popular copper line-up of high-speed cable assemblies, according to Nick Blas, Product Marketing Manager for Amphenol Cables on Demand. “There are upwards of half-a-million Amphenol brand Passive Copper Cables deployed worldwide for CX4 and QSFP/QSFP+ applications,” he said. Mr. Blas noted that despite the popularity and cost-effectiveness of using copper-based interconnect systems, there are distinct design limitations that must be considered.Perhaps the most critical design limitation of copper interconnect technology is cable length. Mr. Blas emphasized, “Amphenol’s Passive Copper CX4 Cables, operating at 10-Gigabits per second, are designed to operate at distances no longer than 15m (50 feet) in length. Passive Copper QSFP/QSFP+ Cables, operating at quadruple that data-rate (40-Gigabits per second), are designed to operate at distances of 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 QSFP+(40Gb/s) to 4x SFP+(10Gb/s) AOC Cable,20M Interconnect Solutions have addressed the forementioned challenges by leveraging their expertise in electro-optical circuit design and high-speed I/O devices. While the Active Optical Cables (CX4, QSFP+ AOC) offered by 3M appear to have identical connectors to their Amphenol copper counterparts, they have far more advanced opto-electronic circuitry underneath for translating high-speed signals across fiber optic cables.