Limiting Port SFP+ Cables are compliant up to 7 m.

Press Release Summary:




Fully compliant with SFF-8431 Revision 4.1 specification, Chapter 3, Limiting Port Copper SFP+ Cables utilize GORE(TM) EYE-OPENER+® Conductor Technology and low loss expanded PTFE cable dielectric. Cables satisfy limiting port specification up to 7 m, without using active technology. Core/skin design of conductors provides distributed or per unit length equalization without resistor-inductor-capacitor circuitry required on connector paddle card.



Original Press Release:



Gore Introduces Limiting Port Copper SFP+ Cables



LANDENBERG, PA, NOVEMBER 9, 2009 - - W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. has developed "Limiting Port" SFP+ assemblies that are fully compliant with the SFF-8431 Revision 4.1 specification, Chapter 3, specification for limiting modules. Gore has developed this low cost, low power, passively equalized cable through the use of its patented GORE(TM) EYE-OPENER+® Conductor Technology and an extremely low loss expanded PTFE cable dielectric.

Gore's SFP+ offering provides a lower cost alternative to active copper technology and expensive optical transceiver modules. This product satisfies the limiting port specification up to seven meters, without using active technology.

SFP+ limiting ports are not required to provide EDC (Electrical Dispersion Compensation) on the receive side. Eliminating this chip or function has been projected to save $15 per port. Unfortunately, the loss of this function severely limits the distance over which traditional passive copper solutions can interoperate to less than one meter. Integrators have been required to purchase active copper or optical transceivers to satisfy the standard. GORE(TM) Limiting Port SFP+ Assemblies are specification-compliant up to seven meters. This seven-meter length spans a significant portion of the total interconnect-space required for typical high-performance computing environments.

The core/skin design of GORE(TM) EYE-OPENER+® Conductors provides a distributed or "per unit length" equalization without resistor-inductor-capacitor (RIC) circuitry required on the connector paddle card. Jitter is well known to be the limiting factor for maximum signal transmission length in modern systems. Jitter is reduced in equalized cables because the transfer function (frequency response) of the cable is "flattened" in the appropriate frequency band.

Russ Hornung, Product Manager at Gore, comments, "Our material set delivers the higher performance and reliability that is demanded by mission-critical users. With GORE(TM) Limiting Port SFP+ Cables, customers can continue to use lower cost, passively equalized cables with L-P switches and adapter cards."

Chris Ericksen, Application Engineer at Gore, adds, "We have spent a great deal of time in our customers' laboratories testing our cables for interoperability and bit errors. Gore's offering gives our customers a level of reliability, savings and flexibility that is unique in the marketplace."

For more information about Gore's full line of cables and assemblies, visit gore.com/highspeed.

About W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc.

With more than $2.5 billion in annual sales and 9,000 employees in over 50 facilities worldwide, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., provides diverse, high-performance solutions in consumer, industrial, electronic, medical, and surgical markets. As well-known for its unique corporate culture as for its products, Gore's 50-year success story rests equally on product and organizational innovation. Perhaps best known as the inventors of expanded PTFE (ePTFE) and the makers of GORE-TEX® fabric, Gore is a leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products that comprise a breadth of capabilities.

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