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In the era of huge bandwidth usage, new technologies have emerged. One of these is the development of Active Optical Cables or AOC. With Active Optical Cables hitting the market, they gained popularity very fast and have a broad prospect for the future. These cables were developed with one goal, to replace the existing copper interconnections in Datacenters and Service Providers.
Active Optical Cables are used for short range, multi-lane data communications. These cables consist of multiple components: optical transceiver, multi-mode optical fiber, a control chip and modules. With all of these components fitted on the cable itself from the factory, they provide high speed and distance performance by converting electrical to optical signal on the cable end. Taking a detailed look at these components:
- The high density, SFF-8436, optical connector is located at each end. Due to its compatibility with the ports of various devices, these can be easily installed in any router or a switch
- The optical transceiver fitted inside the metal compartment. This is most commonly a four channel full duplex optical transceiver capable for opto-electro and electro-opto conversion. Because this optical transceiver is fitted directly on the cable there is no need of buying an external optical transceiver
- The MPO optical connector (the black part on the picture shown above). This is a component permanently attached to the cable and the shell
- The optical cable, generally multi-mode, with an orange jacket. The jacked color may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer
We can conclude that the basic idea of the development of Active Optical cables have been to simplify the installation and maintenance of the network by producing a cable that won’t need a separate optical transceiver to connect to. Another reason for their development is the weight and bulkiness of the copper cables making them difficult to manage around the Datacenter. Copper cables are also vulnerable to electromagnetic interference which limits its performance. The Active Optical Cable has many advantages. The key advantage is the longer reach and higher bandwidth they provide. Even though they are vulnerable to various external stress, they are a lot lighter than the copper cables making them easier to manage and move around the Datacenter. While passive connections rely on copper cables to provide the direct electrical connection between corresponding ends, active cables provide the use of both copper and optical connections to provide the link between two ends. At present the Active Optical Cables are widely used in various environments and at the same time promoting the traditional Datacenter to step into optical interconnections.
CBO BlueOptics© offers three types of Active Optical Cables:
- 40GBASE-SR4 Multi-mode Active Optical cable, with capability of reaching up to 100 meters. It provides a 850nm wavelength with QSFP to QSFP connectors
- 40GBASE-SR4 to 40GBASE-SR Multi-mode Active Optical Breakout Cable, with capability of reaching up to 100 meters. It provides a 850nm wavelength with one QSFP connector to four SFP+ connectors
- 100GBASE-SR4 Multi-mode Active Optical Cable, with capability of reaching up to 100 meters. It provides a 850nm wavelength, QSFP28 to QSFP28 connectors
All BlueOptics© Active Optical Cables are manufactured by the highest standards and exceed the industrial standards like CE and RoHS, as well as the strict regulations of FCC. They are compatible with the devices of the leading network manufacturers like Cisco Systems, IBM, Juniper and HP as well as with other more than 100 manufacturers. They guarantee safety with their, high quality, flame resistant LSZH fiber sheathing which in case of fire emits low amount of smoke. All BlueOptics© Active Optical Cables feature the Digital Diagnostic Monitoring feature which provides real-time monitoring information like the laser bias current, the transmit and receive power, supply voltage and the temperature of the module itself. This feature guarantees stability and a way of prediction where the network’s weakest link is located. This would significantly reduce the possible network outages.
