As data centers get faster and more complex, component suppliers must help system architects reach beyond the rack. The first-to-market solution from eSilicon and Samtec demonstrates high-performance connections between backplanes instead of the front panel.
All are invited to see the demonstration in Samtec booth #521 at SC18.
eSilicon 56G long-reach 7nm DSP SerDes
Reach beyond the rack over 5m of copper cable? How? At 56G PAM4 data rates? That can’t be right, is it? For that to take place, a good SerDes would be the first step.
Fortunately, eSilicon has the perfect solution. The team at eSilicon has been working with SerDes technology for decades. Many solutions available on the market use analog technology to optimize the transmitters and receivers. While that tech continues to serve needs on the market, SerDes expertise is required to fine-tune the signal path
eSilicon makes tuning 56G SerDes easier by using novel DSP-based architecture. This approach to SerDes design offers performance, versatility, improved power efficiency and long-reach support on next-gen 7nm FinFET technology.
Additionally, the 56G long-reach 7nm DSP SerDes support industry protocols common in the data center. These include a wide variety of IEEE and OIF-standardized protocols including Ethernet and Fibre Channel.
eSilicon’s latest press release contains more information about their 56G long-reach 7nm DSP SerDes technology.
Samtec ExaMAX® Backplane Cable Assemblies
Samtec’s Twinax Flyover™ technology enables data to reach beyond the rack. In order to accomplish this, Samtec’s ultra-low skew twinax cable must extend signal reach and density at 56G PAM4 when compared to noisy and lossy PCBs.
A number of applications that use Twinax Flyover are on a line card. For example, front panel to IC solutions are available with FQSFP and FQSFP-DD solutions.
Samtec also offers ExaMAX® Backplane Cable Assemblies for backplane to IC applications or linecard to linecard applications.
Reach beyond the rack? Backplane to backplane over 5m? At 56Gbps PAM4 data rates? Is that possible?
Interestingly, that was the design challenge eSilicon and Samtec wanted to answer. eSilicon had the IC. Did Samtec have the ExaMAX® Backplane Cable Assembly?
Samtec’s crack squad of high-speed cable design engineers worked diligently on the problem. The answer? The team developed a prototype 5m EBCM series ExaMAX® Backplane Cable Assembly.
Could it work? As with any test or demonstration, the proof is always in the pudding
Reach Beyond the Rack – The Results
esilicon and Samtec present lots of compelling ideas and solutions, but what about the data? Can they really reach 5m beyond the rack?
Another added benefit of the eSilicon SerDes solution is the ease of monitoring performance. The SerDes contains an MCU-enabled link monitoring channel impulse response, error histogram and other interesting things.
The graph below shows the performance of the system at the receiver end after the 5m cable. The impossible just became the possible!
In conclusion, reaching beyond the rack has been brought to the industry by Samtec and eSilicon. Stop by Samtec booth #521 at SC18 for more details.
