STORDIS Brings Optical Cables to InfiniBand

Engineers and IT Directors often face the challenge of selecting between optical or copper build-up of their InfiniBand or 10 Gigabit Ethernet network. The copper connection with the CX4 plug has its price advantages in network cards and switches, but suffers from expensive and heavy cables that take up a lot of space in the server rack. Optical wires are light, thin and a lot cheaper then copper cables, plus they can bridge longer distances. But the optical transceivers, network cards and switches that are necessary to take advantage of the great features of a optical cable are a lot more pricy, then their CX4 counterparts.

STORDIS GmbH now provides a solution for this dilemma. The new active optical cable with a CX4 connector. The cables sport the thin light weight optical fibre plus a standard active CX4 connector on each side. The power for the cable is supplied by the CX4 connector in the switch or the Network card.
 
"System administrators and engineers are excited, when they hear of this solution", says Michael Conz, managing director of STORDIS GmbH. "What? Something like this really exist? Where can I put my order?" describes Michael Conz the reactions after a product presentation of the new cable.
 
The cable consists of a fibre optical cable with a integrated transceiver at each end. The transceiver are supplied with power from the CX4 interface of the host computer or the switch. The cables can be used for InfiniBand SDR or DDR, 10 Gigabit Ethernet or XAUI. STORDIS is currently selling the cables in lengths between three and sixty meters. The cables are plug-and-play products. No drivers or any kind of software is necessary.