Switch-to-Switch

Requirements & Challenges

• At 50 Gbps/lane, passive DAC cables barely meet the 3-meter reach requirement, while experts predict 2-meters may be the practical limit for DACs at 100 Gbps/lane.
• At a typical 26 AWG and 16 twinax pairs per cable, DACs are too rigid, heavy, and bulky, which restrict airflow and make servicing the rack practically impossible.
• Switch PCB consumes too much of the overall 35-dB end-to-end channel budget, greatly limiting cable reach and increasing diameter.
• DACs and general-purpose Active Electrical Cables (AECs) lack advanced cable and fleet management features essential managing data center infrastructure.
• Active Optical Cables (AOCs) are high power and high cost
• AOCs require a “short reach” interface to the host switch ASIC and designing such an interface to support 100G/lane Ethernet speed is costly, requiring exotic PCB materials or mid-board cables.

Taurus Smart Cable Module™ (Taurus SCM™) Benefits

• Smart Electrical Cables enabled by Taurus Smart Cable Modules™ provide a thin, flexible cable gauge, higher reliability, and lower-power profiles to meet 3-meter reach requirement — with a side benefit of relaxing the channel design requirements of the switch PCB.
• Taurus SCMs offer system-wide visibility and management features that enable enhanced security, quick debug, and flexible firmware upgrade.
• Taurus SCMs enable a flexible supply chain by qualifying with leading cable assembly suppliers to support multi-sourced cable solutions with a common set of fleet management features.