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NVIDIA LinkX Ethernet AOC Cables

Explore active optical cables (AOCs) and splitters for GPU-accelerated computing.

NVIDIA^® LinkX^® Optics AOC cables are the lowest-cost way to create high-speed 25G–400G optical links in Ethernet switching networks and forNVIDIA GPU-based, artificial intelligence end-to-end systems. AOCs are most often used for creating 3-30m short switch-to-switch or switch-to-GPU links. Designed and manufactured by LinkX Optics, the largest and longest-running AOC manufacturer in the industry, the cables are extensively tested in live GPU and switching systems and used in NVIDIA-Certified Systems™.

Low Bit-Error-Rate (BER) Optical Solutions

Based on 850nm vertical-cavity, surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and multi-mode fibers, the optics are completely contained inside the cable, which—without multi-fiber push-on (MPO) optical connectors to clean, scratch, or break—dramatically increases reliability and lowers maintenance costs.

LinkX AOC cables are available in small form-factor pluggable (SFP) and quad small form-factor pluggable (QSFP) and in 10 and 25G non-return-to-zero (NRZ), and 50G-4-level pulse-amplitude-modulation (PAM4) line rates. With 100 percent factory testing in end-to-end configurations, all LinkX AOC cables offer extremely low BER compared to industry standards and competitors. This improves system performance and reliability and ensures optimal signal integrity with the best end-to-end performance.

NVIDIA Mellanox Low Bit-Error-Rate (BER) Optical Solutions

Highlights

PORT SPEEDS

25G-400Gb/s

STRAIGHT AND SPLITTERS

1x, 2x, 4x

FORM FACTORS

SFP, QSFP,
QSFP-DD

MODULATION TYPES

25G NRZ,
50G-PAM4

Light Weight, High Air Flow, Long Reach

LinkX AOC cables are used extensively in cloud and supercomputers due to their low-cost, high-value proposition and increased reliability over connectorized transceivers. LinkX AOCs match the same splitter configurations as direct-attach copper (DAC) cables but are lighter, more flexible, allow more airflow, and support longer reaches, extending up to 30–100 meters. AOCs are used extensively to link NVIDIA GPU-based artificial intelligence systems to Ethernet networks and Ethernet storage fabrics (ESF).

Key Features

Reaches from 30-to 100 meters
Lowest-cost, lowest-power-consuming optical link
A complete cable assembly with no optical connectors
Available in the same configurations as DAC cables
Extensive 25/50/100/200/400G product offering for every need
Tested and certified in NVIDIA GPU, DGX™, EGX™, and DPU systems

Benefits

Thin fiber cable enables maximum air flow cooling
Light weight enables dense fiber runs with minimal support
No MPO optical connectors increases reliability and reduces maintenance
Designed and manufactured by LinkX Optics
100 percent factory tested in live switching and GPU-based systems
Designed to go beyond IEEE industry BER standards for reliable operation under harsh operating conditions

High-Speed Interconnects

The latest rapid growth in data center traffic and cloud computing has resulted in tremendous increases in machine-to-machine traffic due to rapid adoption of server virtualization, software-defined networks (SDNs), and in-cloud computing. Now add the massive bandwidth requirements for networking terabytes of data for training Artificial Intelligence (AI) machine learning (ML) GPU-based systems.

This is driving massive demands for high-bandwidth and low-latency networks. High-speed DAC and AOC cables and optical transceiver interconnects are playing a critical role in these modern data center technologies.

Ethernet Active Optical Cables

	Configuration	Form Factor	Cable Jacket*	Part Number**	Lengths (Meters)
400Gb/s	8x 50G-PAM4	QSFP56-DD	LSZH	MFA1W00-W	3, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100
200Gb/s	4x 50G-PAM4	QSFP56	LSZH	MFS1S00-VxxxE	3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 100
100Gb/s	4x 25G-NRZ	QSFP28	LSZH	MFA1A00-C	3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 100
40Gb/s	4x 10G-NRZ	QSFP+	OFNP	MC2210310-xxx	3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 100
25Gb/s	1x 25G-NRZ	SFP28	LSZH	MFA2P10-Axxx	3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 100
* LSZH: low-smoke, zero-halogen jacket; OFNP: optical fiber nonconductive plenum. ** See product briefs for detailed product codes, specifications, and reach lengths; “xxx” refers to a reach-length code.

Ethernet Active Optical Cables Splitters

	Configuration	Form Factor	Cable Jacket*	Part Number**	Lengths (Meters)
200Gb/s to dual 100Gb/s	4x 50G-PAM4 to dual 2x 50G-PAM4	QSFP56 to 2x QSFP56	LSZH	MFS1S50-VxxxE	3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30
100Gb/s to dual 50Gb/s	4x 25G-NRZ to dual 2x 25G-NRZ	QSFP28 to 2x QSFP28	LSZH	MFA7A20-C	3, 5, 10, 20
100Gb/s to quad 25Gb/s	4x 25G-NRZ-to quad 1x 25G-NRZ	QSFP28 to 4x SFP28	LSZH	MFA7A50-C	3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30
Splitter cables are also called “breakout” cables. * LSZH: low-smoke, zero-halogen jacket. ** See product briefs for detailed product codes, specifications, and reach lengths; “xxx” refers to a reach-length code.