Mellanox adds colored versions of direct attach copper cables for data centers

Mellanox Technologies(NASDAQ: MLNX) has announced the general availability of its LinkX direct attach cables (DACs) with colored jackets and colored pull tabs, supporting interconnect speeds of 10-, 40- and 56 Gb/s for both Ethernet and InfiniBand data center networks. The company contends that the new colored versions of the cable series: reduce the chance of errors in connecting server, switch and routing ports; shorten cluster installation time; and simplify interconnect debugging and network management.

“The new colored cables can ease data center management and provide the ability to easily distinguish between different types of data traffic, applications or equipment, making data center deployments and maintenance more simple,” comments Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies. “The new cables are additions to our comprehensive portfolio of 10-, 40-, and 56 Gb/s copper and fiber cables, serving both Ethernet and InfiniBand infrastructures.”

To ensure that every LinkX cable or transceiver works the first time and every time, Mellanox says it subjects its products to a full system test in a stressed environment; network engineers thereby save time by eliminating the tedious debugging time needed for new installations with untested products. The company says that all of its LinkX interconnect products endure full system testing to Bit Error Rate (BER) 10-15 in order to maximize overall data center performance.

BER 10-15 provides 1,000X fewer transmission errors than many competing products, notes Mellanox. Fewer transmission errors translate to higher system performance and more revenue generating traffic, notes the company. With the new LinkX products, installation experts can bring up new clusters quickly, without worrying about interconnect problems or failures.

Whether the application is Ethernet or InfiniBand, cloud or Web 2.0, server to top-of-rack, server to storage or switch to switch, Mellanox contends that the LinkX interconnect products maximize ROI with superior performance, flexibility and scalability.