Gore Offers Passive 10 Meter SFP+ Cable That is Fully Compliant with the SFF-8431 at 10 Gigabits per Second, with Extended Performance Margin, for the HPC Marketplace

Gore’s SFP+ offering can go 3 to 5 meters longer than other passive options. The Gore offering provides a lower cost alternative to power consuming and heat generating SFP+ transceiver modules.

Through the use of their patented GORE EYE-OPENER+ Conductor Technology and an extremely low loss expanded PTFE cable dielectric, Gore is able to balance the dWDP (waveform distortion) and VMA Loss (voltage modulation amplitude) parameters to achieve results within the specification limits set forth by the SFF-8431 committee. Gore’s proprietary low loss expanded PTFE, is branded as GORE-TEX in the fabrics market and is used in Gore's microwave / RF cable assembly offerings.

Gore has demonstrated typical values of VMA loss of 3.95 dBE and a dWDP of 5.60 dBE. The SFF-8431 calls out max limits of 4.40 and 6.75, respectively.

Russ Hornung, Product Manager at Gore, comments, “We continue to meet the challenges of the industry and set the benchmark for performance. Quite frankly, we use much better processes and materials in both our cable and our connector printed circuit boards.Combined with our unique technologies, this allows us to offer a product that is lower cost, lower power, and also more robust than fiber optic transceivers for the critical 10 meter use-length for rack-to-rack installations."

"Our customers also realize an operational cost savings from using our product since it doesn’t generate the heat of optical transceivers."

Chris Ericksen, Applications Engineer at Gore, adds, “Our unique material-set allows Gore to develop a product that further extends the useful length of passive copper. We see a market that seems to struggle to achieve 5 to 7 meter use-lengths reliably.” Chris highlights, “The SFF specification was written around the best conventional 8.5 meter cable that the committee identified as being functional. They measured the performance and then added margin. Thus, VMA and dWDP values reflect a maximum 7 meter for pretty good cable, or something less for marginal cable. The fact that we can go another 40% is quite remarkable and is a testament to our superior materials."

Gore has offered both 7 and 8 meter SFP+ passive copper SFP+ cables, with significant performance margin, for well over 18 months. The addition of the low profile 2.10mm cable in January 2009 and now the passive 10 meter cable round out a highly valued platform for Gore.

With more than $2.5 billion in annual sales and 8,000 employees in over 45 facilities worldwide, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., provides diverse, high-performance solutions in consumer, industrial, electronic, medical, and surgical markets. As well-known for its unique corporate culture as for its products, Gore's 50-year success story rests equally on product and organizational innovation. Perhaps best known as the inventors of expanded PTFE (ePTFE) and the makers of GORE-TEX fabric, Gore is a leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products that comprise a breadth of capabilities.