Molex demos 400G data center interoperability over fiber, copper cabling, backplanes

Molex has been selected to participate in Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF)Interoperability 2014 – Accelerating Momentum on the Road to Next-Generation Architectures demonstrations, to be presented at the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC 2014 - September 22-24) in Cannes, France. At ECOC, the OIF's booth will feature Molex and other OIF member companies in physical and link layer demonstrations showcasing advanced 100G technologies for 400G data transmission over optical fiber, copper cables and backplanes.

“Designed for high-speed multi-channel systems, Molex solutions deliver the interoperability needed in today’s resource-intensive data centers,” commented Scott Sommers, global group product manager at Molex. “Interoperability translates into more choices for customers. The OIF multi-vendor demonstrations blend advanced technologies and highlight important industry progress toward the goal of achieving total interoperability in fiber-optic technologies,” he added.

According to a press release, Molex solutions being spotlighted in four OIF demonstrations at ECOC 2014 include the following:

-- Demo #4: CEI-28G-VSR QSFP29 Module Compliance Output Test
Molex zQSFP+ (zQuad Small Form-factor Pluggable Plus) connectors on a module control board support 28G operating data rates in this multi-test demonstration. zQSFP+ connectors support CEI-28G-VSR requirements over QSFP28 based chip-to-module channel at 28G operating rate.

-- Demo #5: CEI-25G-LR Passive Copper Cable
Highlighting four vendor cables operating at the same data rate, the demonstration features a scalable Molex zQSFP+ high performance, four-lane cable design operating up to 25.78G per lane with optimized electrical performance, signal integrity, and EMI protection.

-- Demo #7: CEI-25G-LR Backplane Channel Connector
Molex Impel 25G LR backplane and daughter cards provide signal integrity and mechanical isolation in a demonstration running four lanes of bi-directional traffic at 25.78G. Offering scalable price-for-performance the high density Impel backplane system enables data rates from 25G up to 56G data rates (56G obtained using PAM 4 encoding).

-- Demo #9: OIF CEI-25G VSR Thermal Pluggable Module
Utilizing eight zCD (style 2) connectors, cages, modules and heat sinks mounted in a side-to-side airflow line card emulator, the demonstration features Molex high-speed zCD connectors and thermal resistant modules to show the effects of heat sink pin geometry in a simulated real-world environment transmitting 400G (25G over 16 lanes). The demonstration probes and records heat levels to assess thermal dissipation properties of connector and cage thermal technologies.

The OIF-hosted demonstrations will be presented at ECOC booth #525. At Molex's booth #352 industry experts will be on hand with more information about the company's zQSFP+ connectors and assemblies, Impel backplane and daughter card system, zCD connectors, and other high-speed interconnect solutions for next generation applications.

Additional information can be found at http://www.oiforum.com/public/OIF_Interoperability_2014.html.