Santa Clara, CA (February 5, 2008) – W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore), a leader in high data-rate cabling products, today demonstrated next-generation GORE™ Extended Reach Cable Assemblies at DesignCon 2008. The assemblies are tailored to enable future High-Performance Computers (HPC) to scale in size and function. The new “active”cables deliver extended reach over thinner, lighter copper cabling for HPC systems, Enterprise Server and Storage applications. In collaboration with Quellan Inc., Gore hosted demonstrations of “active,” GORETM Extended Reach Cable Assemblies conforming to industry standard QSFP (4-channel) and SFP+ (2-channel) form-factors and operating at 10Gbps/channel over a 10-meter span of AWG28 copper cable. These new cables are designed to address numerous next generation protocols such as InfiniBand™ Quad Data Rate (QDR), 40GbE, 10GbE and 8G Fibre Channel. The family of new products is constructed with Gore’s Advanced Cable Technology and integrates Quellan™ Q:ACTIVE® silicon technology. The complimentary effects of the combined technologies reduce link jitter, crosstalk and other signal impairments. These new products will enable a 1RU switch populated with 32 QSFP ports to transport up to 1.280 Tbps of data within future clusters. GORE™ Extended Reach Cable Assemblies promise to offer link distances of greater than 20m, reduce bundle mass in crowded cable plenums while consuming 5 times less power than fiber optic technology.
Gore’s first generation of active cable products, GORETM Extended Reach DDR InfiniBandTM Cable assemblies now in volume production, have been deployed on multiple top 5 HPC systems appearing on the TOP 500® list. "The introduction of this low power signal conditioning technology has allowed us to deploy the next generation of higher speed interconnects without impacting conventional cluster architectures,” commented Ed Turkel, manager of product marketing, high-performance computing, HP. Building on this foundation, Gore and Quellan have demonstrated the ability to extend this same low-power, copper technology to meet the exponential growth in data rates required by tomorrow’s data center.
“We’re convinced that low-power, active copper technology is best suited to meet the evolution cycle of data center interconnects, which is currently accelerating at the rate of Moore’s Law. To keep this vision alive and economical, you need to employ low-risk components and established supply chains capable of incremental evolution. Quellan’s low-power CMOS silicon coupled with Gore’s array of advanced cable options and global manufacturing infrastructure does just that,” stated Eric Gaver, global business leader for Gore’s high data rate cabling products. “We’re excited to have a copper based interconnect roadmap that’s well aligned with the data center vision.”
"We’re delighted to be a key enabling ingredient in Gore’s growing Extended Reach cable portfolio,” said Tony Stelliga, Quellan’s Chairman and CEO. "We have an exciting array of low-power, Q:ACTIVE® devices available and in development to support the rapidly evolving data center vision with Gore. Our analog, CMOS technology is particularly well suited to the removal of link impairments while consuming the least amount of power and offering the lowest signal latency available in the industry.”
Founded in 1958, W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) has parlayed its unique technical capabilities into hundreds of diverse products and is world-renowned for its expertise in configuring the remarkably versatile polymer PTFE. This has resulted in numerous products for electronic signal transmission; fabric laminates; medical implants; as well as membrane, filtration, sealant, and fiber technologies for diverse industries. With over $2 billion in sales, the company is headquartered in Delaware in the US and employs more than 7,000 associates at 45 facilities throughout the world. Gore is one of only five companies included in every selection of Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" since the list began in 1984. Gore has also been cited among the "Best Places to Work" in Germany, Italy and Scotland. For more information, please call 800-445-4673, +1-302-292-5100, +49-91-44-6010, or visit www.gore.com/electronics.
For more information, contact:
Cheryl Huber
Marketing Communications Associate
(410) 506-4388
chuber@wlgore.com.
GORE™ and EYE-OPENER+® are trademarks of W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
InfiniBand™ is a trademark of the InfiniBand Trade Association.
Quellan™ and Q:ACTIVE® are trademarks of Quellan, Inc.