SFP+ direct attach copper cable, also known as Twinax Cable, is a SFP+ cable assembly used in rack connections between servers and switches. It consists of a high speed copper cable and two copper SFP+ modules. The SFP Plus Cable allows hardware manufactures to achieve high port density, configurability and utilization at a very low cost and reduced power budget.

Direct Attach Cable assemblies are a high speed, cost-effective alternative to fiber optic cables in 10Gb Ethernet, 8Gb Fibre Channel and InfiniBand applications. They are suitable for short distances, making them ideal for highly cost-effective networking connectivity within a rack and between adjacent racks. They enable hardware OEMs and data center operators to achieve high port density and configurability at a low cost and reduced power requirement.

Wiitek SFP+ copper cable assemblies meet the industry MSA for signal integrity performance. The cables are hot-removable and hot-insertable: You can remove and replace them without powering off the switch or disrupting switch functions. A cable comprises a low-voltage cable assembly that connects directly into two SFP+ ports, one at each end of the cable. The cables use high-performance integrated duplex serial data links for bidirectional communication and are designed for data rates of up to 10 Gbps. Similar to the fiber patch cables, the SFP+ direct attach cables are made up of a cable and two connectors, with the difference that connectors are the SFP+ transceivers instead.

Types of SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cables

SFP+ Copper Cable assemblies generally have two types which are Passive and Active versions.

1. SFP+ Passive Copper Cable
SFP+ passive copper cable assemblies offer high-speed connectivity between active equipment with SFP+ ports. The passive assemblies are compatible with hubs, switches, routers, servers, and network interface cards (NICs) from leading electronics manufacturers like Cisco, Juniper, etc..

2. SFP+ Active Copper Cable
SFP+ active copper cable assemblies contain low power circuitry in the connector to boost the signal and are driven from the port without additional power requirements. The active version provides a low cost alternative to optical transceivers, and are generally used for end of row or middle of row data center architectures for interconnect distances of up to 15 meters.

Applications of SFP+ Direct Attach Copper Cables

~ Networking – servers, routers and hubs
~ Enterprise storage
~ Telecommunication equipment
~ Network Interface Cards (NICs)
~ 10Gb Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet (IEEE802.3ae)
~ Fibre Channel over Ethernet: 1, 2, 4 and 8G
~ InfiniBand standard SDR (2.5Gbps), DDR (5Gbps) and QDR (10Gbps)
~ Serial data transmission
~ High capacity I/O in Storage Area Networks, Network Attached Storage, and Storage Servers
~ Switched fabric I/O such as ultra high bandwidth switches and routers
~ Data center cabling infrastructure
~ High density connections between networking equipment