CAT-5e or Category 5 enhanced, a second generation CAT-5 infrastructure interconnect using non-shielded RJ-45 jack and plug connectors, has been a dominant 1 GbE port high volume market for several years. However its usage for LAN is past its peak as many more 10 GbE ports requiring CAT-6a or CAT-7a connectors are being shipped and […]
Basics
What are Type C USB connectors and cables?
By Ed Cady, Contributing Editor USB 3.1 Type C is a new copper and optical cabling interconnect solution developed, released and supported by the USB-IF (Industry Forum) consortium. Type C USB connectors are getting a lot of attention because they are also being adopted by several AV standards like DisplayPort, HDMI, MHL and Thunderbolt. Talk […]
OCuLink connectors and cables support new PCIe standard
By Ed Cady, Contributing Editor OCuLink-2—Optical Copper (Cu) Link 2nd generation—is an interconnect system for inside and outside the box that supports the new PCI Express 4.0 spec running at 16 Gbps per lane. The PCI-SIG committee selected Molex’s NanoPitch connector and cable assembly system for this OCuLink spec and it is an option for […]
FAQ: Where are attenuators used?
By Mark Blackwood, Passive Components Product Manager at Pasternack Attenuators are an intrinsic part of many electrical designs, due to their utility in controlling amplitude and ability to improve the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of a poorly matched load. Some applications include test setups that leverage fixed attenuators as protection before test equipment to […]
FAQ: What are attenuators?
By Mark Blackwood, Passive Components Product Manager at Pasternack Attenuators are electrical components designed to reduce the amplitude of a signal passing through the component, without significantly degrading the integrity of that signal. They are used in RF and optical applications. RF attenuators are generally used in electronic circuitry, while optical ones are used in […]
What are CFP8 and CDFP connectors?
By Ed Cady, contributing editor Now that we’ve delved into the beginnings of CFP connectors, we’re going to look at more modern developments in this technology. CDFP (CD=400 in Latin) is a four-generation system but the first 16x25G= 400G larger size module and interconnect system. This solution uses one mezzanine connector, two PCBs and a […]
What are CFP connectors and cabling and where are they used?
By Ed Cady, contributing editor The CFP—C = 100G Form-factor Pluggable—interconnect product family includes CFP connectors, cages, active optical modules and cables. The associated cables are primarily passive optical MPO or dual LC types that plug into the outboard side of the CFP module. Some low-volume copper twin-axial system failover and test cables are also […]
How have CXP connectors and cables evolved in recent years?
By Ed Cady, Contributing Editor CXP+ is the 10-16 Gbps per lane mainstream and current volume version of this connector family. This connector was chosen for 12×14 Gbps InfiniBand FDR, 12×16 Gbps FC-ISL and many other IO interface applications. To meet the increased speed rate for medium and long reaches, active copper chips were added […]
What are CXP connectors and cabling options?
By Ed Cady, Contributing Editor The CXP, first called 100G Transceiver Pluggable and now Common Transceiver(X) Pluggable, product family includes connectors, cages, modules and cables. These are a part of a long-time primary type of high-speed IO interface interconnect system that includes 1 lane SFP and 4 lane QSFP. CXP is a 12-lane system broadly […]
A historical perspective on QSFP connectors and cabling implementation
By Ed Cady, Contributing Editor QSFP or Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable connectors and cables are long time primary type of high-speed IO interface interconnects. This four-lane system is broadly used to connect server, storage, switch, video and communication systems. Major market segment implementations include cloud datacenters, enterprise datacenters, HPC (high performance computing) labs, camera surveillance […]