APPLICATIONS

KeyEye Communications has an agreement to jointly develop the industry's first 10GbE copper MSA pluggable modules compatible with the short-reach, low-power mode of the IEEE 802.3an 10GBASE-T standard. These new devices will allow data centers to dramatically reduce cost and power consumption in a growing array of 10Gb servers and switches. While demand is rapidly growing to deploy field-configurable 10Gb servers and switches, building MSA pluggable modules that enable application-specific configurability presents major power dissipation, footprint and cost challenges. First-generation 100-meter 10GBASE-T ICs typically consume in excess of 10 Watts, offer inadequate signal margin, employ packaging that exceeds the industry-standard module footprint, and are only available at costs rivaling optical devices. After recent studies identified that more than 80 percent of all data center cable runs are less than 30 meters long, the IEEE ratified the 802.3an standard which offers a new low-power mode for copper cable connections less than 30 meters. By replacing the expensive optical PHYs currently used in data centers with new copper-based 10GBASE-T solutions, the new standard essentially allows users to trade off reach for reduced lower. Using twisted-pair copper to transport 10GbE over short runs allows users to significantly reduce physical and thermal footprint while gaining more than 50 percent savings in cost and power. Moreover, this new technology allows equipment developers to offer solutions in standard, backward-compatible module form factors that cannot be achieved with existing long-reach transceivers. Strong Synergies "Over the last several years we have leveraged our extensive 10Gb Ethernet system and board design expertise as well as our ongoing participation in the 802.3an Task Force to make enormous strides in the development of our next-generation 10GBASE-T short-reach IC," said Mike McConnell, founder and vice president of Strategic Marketing for KeyEye Communications. "By collaborating with Methode on this project, we can accelerate our development efforts and offer our customers an extensive and well-established distribution channel for these exciting new module products." In discussing the KeyEye collaboration, Bill Freed, Product Development Manager for Methode Electronics dataMate division stated, "Our expertise with MSA module technology and specifically with high speed copper devices over 1Gb/s fits well with KeyEye's strong background in 10GBASE-T short-reach IC development. By working together we can rapidly offer our customers an easy and highly attractive upgrade path from 1GbE to 10GBASE-T performance." Methode Electronics dataMate division was the original developer of copper SFP transceivers and is the largest provider in the industry today. The two companies will initially focus on developing MSA pluggable modules based on the popular X2 and XFP form factors. Qualifications units will be available in the forth quarter of this year.