11 March 2014

Mellanox launches LinkX family of cables and transceivers for data-center infrastructure

Mellanox Technologies Ltd of Sunnyvale, CA, USA and Yokneam, Israel, a supplier of end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect solutions for servers and storage systems, has launched its LinkX product portfolio of cables and transceivers supporting interconnect speeds of 10, 40 and 56Gb/s for both Ethernet and InfiniBand data-center networks.

As data centers transition to Open Platform and open standards - including software-defined networks (SDN), Open Ethernet and Open Compute Project (OCP) - interconnection solutions in a generic form factor that are highly reliable and scalable are required for data-center connectivity. The broad LinkX portfolio provides technology for such applications, as follows:

• cost-effective LinkX copper cables connect QSFP ports for short reaches;

• VCSEL transceivers and active optical cables (AOCs) connect QSFP ports for intermediate reaches;

• single-mode fiber transceivers connect QSFP ports for long reaches;

• patented quad to serial adapters (QSAs) can be used to connect a 40G QSFP port to a 10G SFP+ port; and

• splitters connect a QSFP port on a top-of-rack (ToR) switch to four SFP+ server ports.

“A big advantage of LinkX QSFP solutions is our ability to scale to 100Gb/s networks,” says VP of marketing Gilad Shainer. “While most LinkX products shipping today are 10, 40Gb/s or 56Gb/s, innovations in silicon photonics and low-power electronics will enable our QSFP transceivers to reach speeds of 100Gb/s and distances of 2km,” he adds. “It is our plan to make 100Gb/s networks as flexible and as easy to install as 10Gb/s networks today.”

Mellanox says that, to ensure that every LinkX cable or transceiver works the first time and every time, it subjects its products to a full system test in a stressed environment. Network engineers do not have to waste time debugging a new installation with untested products. With LinkX products, installation experts can bring up new clusters fast; with fewer interconnect problems and fewer product returns, claims the firm.

LinkX interconnect products are subjected to full system testing to a bit error rate (BER) 10-15 in order to maximize overall data-center performance. A BER of 10-15 provides 1000 times fewer transmission errors than many competing products, it is claimed. Fewer transmission errors translate to fewer re-tries, higher system performance, and more revenue generating traffic.

Mellanox says that, whether the application is Ethernet or InfiniBand, cloud or Web 2.0, server to top-of-rack, server to storage, or switch to switch, LinkX interconnect products maximize return on investment (ROI) with superior performance, flexibility and scalability.

Tags: AOC QSFP

Visit: www.mellanox.com