Tektronix (News - Alert), Inc., a manufacturer of VoIP test solutions and other network monitoring equipment, announced Wednesday the successful performance validation of what it claims is the world’s longest Infiband optical cable—a 100-meter cable from Intel (News - Alert) running at speeds of 20 Gb/s.

 

This Infiband cable has an electrical interface at either end, and uses four serial data lanes at 5 Gb/s each. It has potential applications for accelerating the performance of large computer clusters, and will be included in the backbone network at the upcoming International Supercomputing Conference show in Dresden, Germany.

 

In its announcement, Tektronix noted that the demand for bandwidth and speed continues to increase. Accelerated performance can be used to drive graphics in a variety of applications—such as cases where the CPU, subsystem and memory must be able to move data constantly, or to create supercomputer backplanes for unlocking high-energy physics riddles.

 

In order to keep pace with this demand, wider and faster information busses (data conduits between electronic components) are being developed. Intel’s new Infiband cable is the latest example of this trend.

 

“As multi-gigabit data rates become common in digital systems, signal integrity - the quality of the signal necessary for proper operation of an integrated circuit - is becoming a paramount concern for designers,” said Lynne Camp, vice president at Tektronix’s Performance Plus Instruments division, in a statement.

 

Camp continued: “Tektronix was able to meet the exacting demands of this test by using instrumentation from our next generation serial data test bench.”

 

Tuan Phamdo, Intel technology enabling Manager and co-chair of the IBTA Compliance Working Group, said that Tektronix is recognized in the industry as an expert in signal integrity and high-speed measurements and analysis.

 

“This experience coupled with a strong focus on addressing leading and emerging serial data technologies made them an ideal choice for assisting Intel with the testing of the new Intel Connects Cables,” Phambo said in a statement. “Their engineers and expertise were a tremendous help in performing the final validation.”

 

Tektronix verified the Infiniband cable using its AWG7102 Arbitrary Waveform Generator transmitting a test pattern at 5 Gb/s. Signal impairment was created using Tektronix’s direct synthesis method, a flexible and repeatable way to create ideal or impaired waveforms, synthesized with the company’s AWG7000 tools.

 

“Tektronix has been a participant in the InfiniBand ecosystem for a long time,” noted Jit Lim, Tektronix technology solutions manager, in a statement. “Since the early days of InfiniBand, we have been actively involved in the InfiniBand Compliance and Interoperability program and for years chaired the Compliance and Interoperability physical layer working group in the IBTA.”

 

Lim went on to say that, when Intel asked for help launching its new SDR/DDR 200 meter Intel Connects cables, Tektronix was happy to verify compliance with the Infiniband specification.

 

“This technology is sure to substantially advance the high performance interconnect cable industry, as well as find its way into other high speed applications,” Lim said.

 

To learn more about Tektronix’s network test solutions, please visit the company’s TMCnet.com channel, VoIP Test Solutions.

 

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