Credo, a specialist in serializer-deserializer (SerDes) semiconductor technology driving high-performance, low power connectivity for 100G, 400G, and 800G port enabled networks, has announced its participation as a 'Community Member' of the Open Compute Project (OCP), an open consortium aiming to design and enable the delivery of the most efficient server, storage, and data center hardware for scalable computing.
Credo’s HiWire AEC (Active Electrical Cables) are designed deliver plug and play 400G connectivity that the company bills as more affordable than optical solutions, and more reliable than copper. Credo is also a member of the HiWire Consortium, announced in September 2019 with 25 other founding members -- nearly half of whom are also among the OCP ranks. Working in harmony with other standards bodies, the HiWire Consortium is dedicated to the standardization and certification of a new interconnect cable category, Active Electrical Cables (AECs), enabling its broad support and wide industry adoption.
Credo began its development of AECs two years ago to address the obstacles that were slowing the transition to 400G, specifically the performance and physical limitations of copper direct attached cables (DACs) and the power, cost, and availability hurdles of active optical cables (AOCs). The company says its AECs integrate re-timer and PAM4 to NRZ speed-shifting functions with gearbox functionality in-cable, making them a lower power, affordable plug and play interconnect for 100G and 400G systems. The company contends that the "power, performance, and price of AECs are empowering system architects to rethink the design of next-generation data center configurations, deploy 400G disaggregated chassis, and provide a clear path to 800G in the future."
Credo posits that its technology plays an integral role in accelerating the transition to 400G and beyond in high-speed data centers by enabling development of new, scalable technologies that deliver on elements of performance, power and price while enabling designers with the freedom to transform network architecture. By joining with open initiatives like OCP, Credo believes the transition to revolutionary architectures, such as network disaggregation, can be realized.
“As disaggregated chassis begin to displace tradition big-iron switching and routing chassis, low power, highly flexible and routable 400G interconnect becomes a core component of the architecture,” commented Don Barnetson, Sr. Director of Product at Credo. “OCP provides a platform to standardize and proliferate 400G disaggregated chassis configurations at hyperscalers around the world.”
Credo's HiWire Active Electrical Cables (AEC) were recognized earlier this fall as a Gold-level honoree of the Cabling Installation & Maintenance's 2019 Cabling Innovators Awards, for being a new and innovative class of data center interconnect accelerating the transition to 400G.