NetXen Tests SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Interoperability

NetXen has completed multi-vendor interoperability testing of Small Form Factor Pluggable (SFP+) direct attach copper products. Participants in the testing included industry-leading switch, cable and PHY vendors such as AMCC, Amphenol, Aristra Networks, Cisco, Molex, Quanta, Tyco and W.L. Gore.


The testing, conducted at NetXen's QA lab, used multiple SFP+ direct attach twinax copper cables of lengths varying from 1m to 10m connecting the NetXen NX3-20GCU adapter and switches. For establishing the testing baseline, the same adapter was used with optical SR modules to connect to the switches.


NetXen said SFP+ copper twinax cables are hot-pluggable and have a smaller footprint and thickness than CX4 cables intended for datacom applications. The copper twinax interfaces offer the smallest, lowest-power option for 10 Gigabit Ethernet to enable increased density in enterprise applications. The electrical and mechanical interface specifications for SFP+ direct attach cables are under definition by the SFF Committee, a multi-source agreement group with broad industry participation. The cables are available from a variety of vendors.http://www.netxen.com