The second-generation ParaLight QSFP+ (quad small form-factor pluggable plus) active optical cable assemblies from TE Connectivity use integrated optical engines and is designed with internally terminated optics. The company claims that the cable assemblies eliminate the need to clean an optical connector. The cables' passively cooled design offers low thermal resistance path from the chip to the connector shell. The QSFP+ active optical cables have a lightweight design, a diameter of 3mm and a tight bend radius. The cables incorporate four transmit and four receive channels at 10Gbit/s for InfiniBand standard single data rate, double data rate and quad data rate applications. With 850nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser technology, cable assemblies operate over a data rate of 2.5 to 10Gbit/s per lane with an aggregate data rate of 40Gbit/s. The cables have electrical-optical and optical-electrical conversion built into the connector shell. The cable assemblies are available in lengths up to 100m and use 50μm fibre. The circuitry is designed for use with 8- and 10byte encoded data streams such as InfiniBand, fibre channel and XSBI attachment unit interface.
