Lane Extender ICs enable QSFP active cabling.
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Press Release Summary:
Combining 4-channel equalizer with integrated higher layer functionality that ensures full compliance with QSFP specification, Series QLx4000 Lane Extenders embed in ultra-small QSFP connector, enabling long reach, thin copper cable interconnects. They come in compact, 4 x 7 mm package, and can be integrated in any cable shell, line card, or backplane. Fully embeddable units feature 240 mW power dissipation and 10-34 GBps bandwidth range.
Original Press Release:
Quellan Cuts Kilowatts of Data Center Power and Increases Port Density by 33% with Revolutionary New Analog Chip
Company's IC embeds in new ultra-small QSFP connector enabling longer reach, thinner cable interconnects and reducing dependency on power hungry optics.
ANAHEIM, Calif., Server Blade Summit, May 1 -- Quellan Incorporated, a leader in low power analog noise cancellation ICs, has expanded its groundbreaking family of Lane Extender ICs to enable the industry's first Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) active cable. Quellan's QLx4000 series Lane Extenders combine a sophisticated 4-channel equalizer with integrated higher layer functionality that ensures full compliance with the QSFP specification. The chip may also be used in line cards, switches, blade servers and chassis.
"Cable weight and compute density have become exponentially critical in next generation Data Centers," said Joel Goergen, Chief Scientist at Force10 Networks. "Power consumption is a paramount issue, and the industry is devoid of low energy, small form factor solutions for this escalating problem. Quellan's new QSFP ready devices are an innovative answer to this massive problem."
Power consumption and density are paramount issues in Data Center economics. Today's cable interconnect conduits can exceed 12 feet in diameter and weigh up to 3 tons, while interconnect power consumption is heading toward megawatt levels. Data Centers have traditionally utilized bulky, conduit blocking cables and connectors or power hungry fiber optics -- eroding Data Center efficiency.
Combining the industry's new high density QSFP connector with Quellan's Q:Active chip enables much longer, thinner copper cabling -- eliminating the need to convert to power hungry fiber optics. The resultant "active cable" improves data center economics by reducing interconnect power by hundreds of kilowatts and makes room for thousands of additional server ports in the existing footprint.
"The new QSFP connector delivers a new level of performance and density to the Data Center," said Gourgen Oganessyan of Molex. "Putting Quellan inside solves the distance and cable thickness problem -- yielding the ultimate solution for Data Center density and cost."
"Extending copper on thinner gauge cable is critical meeting customer requirements for cable management, distance and bandwidth," said Lloyd Dickman, CTO for InfiniBand Products at QLogic. "Coupling Quellan's analog technology to QSFP delivers the additional benefit of higher density -- a winning combination."
The fully embeddable devices deliver 4 channels of processing in a compact 4x7mm package for easy integration in any cable shell, line card or backplane. Power dissipation is just 240mW. Aggregate device bandwidth ranges from 10Gbps (4x2.5Gbps) to 34Gbps (4x8.5Gbps). The QLx4300 and 4600 are now available for sampling with prices starting at under $2.00 per channel. The QLx4800 will be available for sampling in Q307.
"Lower power consumption and greater density are the most important challenges our customers are facing," said Quellan CEO, Tony Stelliga. "So we took the industry's smallest connector -- QSFP -- for a 33% increase in port density and inserted our analog technology to deliver a 300% reach extension over copper and an 80% power savings over fiber optics -- case closed."
About Quellan
Quellan's adaptive Noise Cancellation chips are a subset of the ever expanding Analog IC market, expected to grow to $47B in 2007. Quellan serves the Enterprise, Data Center, Broadcast, Automotive, and Consumer Electronics markets with ultra-low power devices that improve the performance of wireless handsets, datacenter interconnects, laptop computers, GPS devices and game consoles. For more information visit www.quellan.com/ or email pressrelations@quellan.com.
Source: Quellan Incorporated
CONTACT: Kristen Domingo of Quellan, +1-408-625-2200, kristen@quellan.com
Web site: www.quellan.com/