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Ethernet Alliance Completes SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Interoperability EventNov 21, 2009 (Close-Up Media via COMTEX) -- The Ethernet Alliance announced the results of the SFP+ subcommittee plug fest of 10G SFP+ Direct Attach Copper products based on the SFF-8431 industry specification. Member participants included AppliedMicro, Amphenol, Broadcom, ClariPhy, Cortina Systems, FCI, Intel, Molex, Panduit, Tyco Electronics, Vitesse and Volex. The plug fest was held Oct. 19-23 at the University of New Hampshire Interoperability Lab (UNH-IOL) in Durham, NH. The event focused on interoperability testing of SFF-8431 Specifications for Enhanced Small Form Factor Pluggable Module (SFP+), Annex E. The SFP+ form factor with its low power, low latency, and high density (up to 48 ports in 1U) was developed to provide the market with a low-cost 10 Gigabit interconnect. According to the Ethernet Alliance, the participants conducted multi?vendor interoperability testing of SFP+ copper cable assemblies with each host port physical layer (PHY) or network interface card (NIC). Standalone PHYs were mated with a SFP+ high speed electrical interface (SFI) worst case channel, per SFF-8431, in order to create SFP+ host ports. Testing was completed in three phases. The first phase tested the compliance of each PHY or NIC transmitter against the SFI host transmitter specifications and each cable assembly to the SFP+ cable specifications. The second phase tested the compliance of the receiver input signal after each combination of host transmitter and cable. The third phase consisted of 10 Gigabit Ethernet traffic tests where each cable was connected between all combinations of PHYs or NICs. The cables used in the interoperability testing ranged in length from 1 to 8.5 meters. In the third phase, all combinations successfully met the bit error requirements of 10 Gigabit Ethernet. More Information: http://www.ethernetalliance.org. ((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected])) |