Bristol-based chip firm Phyworks and US connector maker Molex
have shown 10.3Gbit/s data transmission over 1m of copper traces
across a backplane.
“This makes it the first technology partnership to carry out a
demonstration relevant to some of the targets of the emerging IEEE
802.3ap 10G Ethernet standard,” said Phyworks.
The demonstration featured the Molex I-Trac broadside-coupled
backplane connector system and Phyworks equaliser-enabled
‘backplane interface device’ (BID).
“We showed robust 10Gbit/s data transmission in the presence of
crosstalk aggressors,” said Phyworks, which used its CMOS PHY1066
BID chip.
Molex I-Trac allows customers to assign high-speed differential
pairs, low-speed signals, power and ground contacts anywhere within
the pin-field.
“The combination opens new opportunities for upgrading and reuse of
existing backplanes. This will allow higher data-rate and
throughput than envisaged previously,” said Phyworks’ marketing
director Brad Weaterton.
But
10Gbit/s Ethernet is also emerging as the next target data rate
for local area networks in the enterprise environment. Presently,
most multimode fibre (MMF) typically carries data traffic at
Ethernet data rates up to 1.25Gbit/s (Gbit Ethernet or 1GbE). As
enterprise applications evolve and the demand for bandwidth grows,
there is a strong need to support higher data rates.
The enterprise space has a significant base of installed fibre
optics cables, and practical economics suggest that leveraging this
existing infrastructure to carry 10.3Gbit/s traffic (10Gbit
Ethernet or 10GbE) makes sense. A significant challenge to be
considered is that installed legacy fibre was not designed to
support higher data rates, and thus maximum link distances are more
limited for 10GbE than for 1GbE, due to increased levels of modal
dispersion.