Introduced at this month's DesignCon 2010, Phyworks says its PHY2210 equalizing cable transceiver enables cable manufacturers to extend the reach and reduce the gauge of active copper cable assemblies supporting all standard data rates 1 to 10.5 Gbps. The transceiver provides a single design platform for multiple protocols, suiting SFP+ active copper cables, Infiniband cables, 6.25G backplanes, Fibre Channel (1G, 2G, 4G and 8G) and Ethernet (1G, 10G) networks.
In the press release for this product, Phyworks offers this bit of guidance:
The market drivers for this type of product are becoming more prevalent. The need for higher, more constant bandwidth for streaming video and social networking for example is demanding higher speed connectivity within data centers. Passive copper cables are unable to handle the higher data rates and are both reach limited and very bulky. At the same time, fibre optic cable solutions are expensive, power hungry and relatively fragile. Add to this, the data centers’ drive to become more environmentally friendly, and twin ax active copper cable solutions become an attractive proposition, for reasons of high data rate handling, low power operation, reduced bulk and weight and overall cost.
Integrating a high performance equalizer, limiting output amplifier and easily adjusted pre-emphasis cable driver, the PHY2210 is designed to handle 10G datarates running over 15 m of lightweight 24AWG twin ax cable. Provided in a 5 mm x 5 mm QFN package with a maximum power dissipation of 500 mW, the company says the transceiver chip will particularly benefit SFP+ compliant active cables, where both power capacity and PCB space are limited. By integrating all receive and transmit functions in a single chip, the device is intended to help reduce power consumption, overall component count and cost of intra-rack, rack-to-rack and switch-to-switch data center cabling.
Incorporating the 2-wire interface required by SFP+ applications, the PHY2210 can be initialized and controlled by either a low cost microcontroller or just a small EEPROM, notes the company. The ability to use the transceiver in a controller-less fashion means lower cost active cable assemblies may be achieved. The chip requires just a single 3.3V supply and can operate over a temperature range –40 deg C to +85 deg C.
ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE:
Phyworks Transceiver Extends Reach and Reduces Gauge of Copper Cables
DesignCon 2010
Booth 909
BRISTOL, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The PHY2210 equalizing cable transceiver from Phyworks enables cable manufacturers to extend the reach and reduce the gauge of active copper cable assemblies supporting all standard data rates up to 10.5Gbps. Integrating a high performance equalizer, limiting output amplifier and easily adjusted pre-emphasis cable driver, the PHY2210 will handle 10G datarates running over 15m of lightweight 24AWG twin ax cable.
Provided in a 5mm x 5mm QFN package with a maximum power dissipation of only 500mW, the PHY2210 will particularly benefit SFP+ compliant active cables, where both power capacity and PCB space are limited. By integrating all receive and transmit functions in a single chip, the device will help reduce the power consumption, overall component count and cost of intra-rack, rack-to-rack and switch-to-switch data center cabling.
Incorporating the 2-wire interface required by SFP+ applications, the PHY2210 can be initialized and controlled by either a low cost microcontroller or just a small EEPROM. The ability to use the transceiver in a controller-less fashion means lower cost active cable assemblies can be achieved. The chip needs just a single 3.3V supply and can operate over the temperature range –40 deg C to +85 deg C.
Supporting standard data rates from 1 to 10.5Gbps, the transceiver provides a single design platform for multiple protocols, helping to significantly reduce product development costs and time to market. The PHY2210 suits SFP+ active copper cables, Infiniband cables, 6.25G back planes, Fibre Channel (1G, 2G, 4G and 8G) and Ethernet (1G, 10G) networks.
The PHY2210 equalizing cable transceiver is supported by a reference module with schematics, BOM and Gerber files, SFP+ host board and GUI. Part pricing is under $5.5USD in volume.
Note to editors:
The market drivers for this type of product are becoming more prevalent. The need for higher, more constant bandwidth for streaming video and social networking for example is demanding higher speed connectivity within data centers. Passive copper cables are unable to handle the higher data rates and are both reach limited and very bulky. At the same time, fibre optic cable solutions are expensive, power hungry and relatively fragile. Add to this, the data centers’ drive to become more environmentally friendly, and twin ax active copper cable solutions become an attractive proposition, for reasons of high data rate handling, low power operation, reduced bulk and weight and overall cost.
Contacts
Phyworks Limited
+44 (0)117 344 5072
E-mail: info@phyworks-ic.com
Web: www.phyworks-ic.com
or
Rob Davies, Publitek Limited
Tel: +44 (0)1225 470 000
E-mail: rob.davies@publitek.com
Web: http://www.publitek.com
