9 March 2012

Molex and TE Connectivity reach high-speed interconnect second-source agreements

Molex Inc of Lisle, IL, USA (a manufacturer of electronic, electrical and fiber-optic interconnection systems) and TE Connectivity Ltd of Berwyn, PA, USA recently announced second-source agreements under which TE Connectivity will have the right to manufacture, market and sell worldwide several Molex high-speed interconnect solutions including the z-Quad small-form-factor pluggable plus (zQSFP+) and the small-form-factor pluggable plus (zSFP+), among others. Molex will have the right to manufacture, market and sell worldwide TE Connectivity’s Quadra High-Speed I/O Connector. These products are the plan of record for the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA), the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and other standards bodies.

Molex and TE Connectivity aim to work jointly to deliver electrically and mechanically interchangeable products to market as quickly as possible by sharing design and manufacturing processes. The two firms will also continue to partner on industry-standard solutions to ensure that customers have the products necessary to meet design demands.

The two firms are both connector manufacturers with global design and manufacturing footprints. By pairing high-speed/high-signal integrity technology with robust manufacturing capabilities, they aim to offer a combination of innovation, performance and service.

Supporting next-generation 100Gbps Ethernet and 100Gbps InfiniBand enhanced data rate (EDR) applications, Molex’s zQSFP+ system is designed for high-density interconnect applications. Components include an SMT connector; copper passive cable assemblies; EMI cages and active optical cables (AOCs). The zQSFP+ SMT 38 -circuit connectors and cage assemblies provide signal integrity and electromagnetic interference (EMI) protection. They also support 10Gbps Ethernet and 16Gbps Fibre Channel applications, with the ability to support up to 40Gbps serial lanes.

TE Connectivity’s Quadra high-speed I/O connector addresses 100Gbps requirements with a new interface specifically developed for 28Gbps per differential pair data rates. Due to the optimized connector performance, it is expected to be able to support data rates up to 40Gbps per differential pair. The Quadra connector technology, with various pair-count configurations, is being proposed to support industry standards and MSAs. In high-density applications, it can be used to support copper cable and short-reach optic interconnections, and in long-reach applications it can support higher-power optical transceivers. Quadra connectors have companion cage systems that incorporate EMI containment and thermal management elements. The architecture of the connector arranges the differential pairs in a way that provides system implementers with the ability to optimize routing to achieve additional channel benefits, it is claimed.

Tags: Molex

Visit: www.te.com

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