This week in California, TE Connectivity (TE) is showcasing its technology innovations for next-generation data center system architectures at the 2021 Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit on November 9-10 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, highlighting a broad range of data and power connectivity products.
TE notes it is a vertically-integrated supplier, delivering high-performance data and power connectivity solutions. As such, at this year's event, the company's products have been incorporated into server, storage, networking, artificial intelligence (AI) and edge products across the OCP show floor.
TE is showcasing its innovative power technology along with solutions for internal input/output (I/O), external I/O, board-to-board connectivity, and socket connectivity. At the show, TE experts will be available at the show to discuss how these solutions can address a wide variety of applications in next-generation products based on OCP reference designs.
Per the company, TE's OCP 2021 showcase includes:
- Power solutions: TE's power connectors, cable assemblies and busbar solutions can provide simple yet customizable designs that enable a standardized platform capable of efficiently distributing between 5A and 1000A of power per UL and CSA criteria while offering improved electrical performance. Manufactured for DC- and AC-powered applications, TE's engineered power solutions support multiple voltage requirements and low resistance/drop. Designers can realize operational and overall system cost savings with TE power products that enable improved energy-efficient architectures. These products are often compatible with specifications for use in rack-level busbar applications, including power shelves, battery backup unit (BBU) shelves, IT trays and server sleds. Among the power products TE is featuring at the show are its next generation Orv3 IT GEAR POWER INPUT, Busbars and OUTPUT solutions, RAPID LOCK connectors, quick connect/disconnect options for PCB or BusBar connection, 1000A+ busbar connectors and MULTI-BEAM XLE, a blind-mate configurable connector with both power and signal features for reliability and high current density.
- Internal interconnects: Internal high-speed cable and connector solutions can achieve about one-third the loss or three times the reach of advanced printed circuit board routing. Coupled with Sliver and MCIO interconnects and STRADA Whisper connector technologies, these solutions can support the performance needed to address next-generation 56G and 112G Ethernet lanes as well as next-generation PCIe Gen 5 and 6 links. TE's high-performance internal interconnects address the needs for high data rates with robust signal integrity and power delivery through mating/unmating, including blind-mate service operations commonly found in data center production environments. TE supports jacketed, stranded and sheathed cable solutions to address the flexibility and bend radius requirements for cable installation and management. TE's internal cabled interconnects enable a solution to data rate increase challenges: they are flexible, robust and provide optimal signal integrity while also saving space inside the application. This enhanced connectivity technology also simplifies design and helps lower overall costs by eliminating the need for re-timers and more costly, high-performance PCB materials while reaching speeds up to 56 Gbps and 112 Gbps with the use of TE high speed cable.
- External interconnects: TE continues to be a leader in the industry with I/O solutions for 56G- and 112G-based interconnect supporting 50G, 100G, 200G, 400G and 800G links from the data center server, through fabric and spine network layers and equipment for wide-area-network, data center-to-data center interconnections (DCI). In addition, TE's external interconnects satisfy the PCIe I/O and cabling requirements for server, AI and storage interconnects that are required for system disaggregation. The company's solutions not only address the need for high data rates but can also provide reliable, high-density, compatible solutions for robust interoperability that also address challenging thermal requirements. TE's high-performance cable assemblies can be tailored to support the mechanical and electrical requirements of many applications.
- Board-to-board and socket: High performance board-to-board products address the need for high data rates with robust signal integrity and power delivery through mate/unmate, including blind-mate service operations commonly found in data center production environments. TE's board-level interconnects are manufactured to deliver more performance in harshapplications, and the interconnect products' versatile contacts can be mounted on a single footprint so the customer can swap in a new size easily when a design change is needed. TE's socket portfolio includes standard CPU and switch sockets and custom CPU and accelerator sockets to help customers who want to incorporate their own semiconductor technology and memory interconnects. These are engineered to help simplify the board design, enabling simple reprogramming and expansion and easy repair and replacement. The design offers a cost-effective solution without the risk of direct soldering. With a wide range of solutions for land grid array (LGA) and pin grid array (PGA) sockets, TE sockets incorporate contact tip geometry optimized to help reduce the risk of contact damage during handling and package installation.
TE engineers contribute at OCP
In addition to supporting the showcase in the TE booth, TE engineers will contribute to the OCP Conference.
TE Principal Product Development Engineer, Brian Costello, will be presenting on Open Rack V3 IT Gear 48V Power Input Connectors on Wednesday, November 10 from 9:00 to 9:15 AM in room 210 DH on the event center's Concourse Level.
For his part, TE System Architecture Technologist, David Herring, will be showcasing the Interface Sandbox with SFF Slots at the OCP Experience Center on November 9 and 10.