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Intel’s New MXC Fiber Optics Cable Offers Data Transfer Rates of 800Gbps

By Wong Chung Wee - on 12 Mar 2014, 11:34am

Intel’s New MXC Fiber Optics Cable Offers Data Transfer Speed of 800Gbps

Intel’s new MXC fiber optics cable is touted to offer data transfer rates of up to 800Gbps. The MXC cable is jointly developed by Intel, Corning, and US Conec, with the aim of replacing current 10Gbps interconnect cables used in data centers and supercomputing setups.

(Image Source: Intel via Ars Technica)

According to Intel, the main feature of the MXC cable is its ClearCurve fiber that minimizes light signal distortion. This allows the light signal to travel further down each fiber, versus its performance in a traditional fiber optic cable. Currently, the maximum data transfer speed for each ClearCurve fiber is 25Gbps.

The new MXC cable consists of 64 such fibers, and is held together at both ends with ruggedized MXC connectors. 32 fibers are used for uplink, and the remaining 32 are downlink fibers. This enables an 800Gbps data transfer speed in both directions. The new MXC cable is based on Intel's Silicon Photonics technology, and its joint partners are Corning and US Conec. According to Ars Technica, the companies have announced plans to sell MXC cables, though their prices haven’t been revealed.

Intel believes that the early adopters of MXC cables will be data centers and companies with supercomputing equipment. Since the MXC cables will speed up the interconnect data transfer over longer distances, they will offer more flexibility to configuration of their equipment.

Intel also envisions MXC cables making its way into server racks by leveraging on the new RSA server architecture. Intel claims that in the long run, the adoption of MXC cables will greatly improve performance, and lower the total cost of ownership. For more information on the MXC fiber optics cable, please head over here.

(Source: Intel via Ars Technica)

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