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Consumer Demand Drives Rebound in Telecom/Datacom Market
By
Earle Durham, Bishop & Associates Inc.
Like the rest of the
interconnect industry, connectors used in the telecom/datacom
end-use-equipment sector had a very difficult 2009, globally down 22
percent year-over-year, as service providers and enterprises delayed
many capital spending projects. The sector remained at historical levels
of 16 percent of the total global connector spend. At Bishop &
Associates, we believe that 2010 will show a healthy rebound and are
forecasting 12.6 percent growth for this sector vs. an overall market
growth of 11.3 percent.
I’ve had the opportunity to attend CES, Supercomm and DesignCon over the
last few months and it’s been refreshing to see such a consistent
positive message about this sector. While there may not be a single
killer app, there is a very clear driver: Consumers want the flexibility
to connect anywhere, anytime, and with any device.
Astutely aware of this, manufacturers of equipment used in this sector
understand that the key to customer satisfaction, and in turn, to
increased revenues, lies in their ability to satisfy a variety of
demands, including:
Although these
demands are consistent and clear, the ability to satisfy them lies
heavily in the ability to increase bandwidth capacity across the entire
backbone of the telecom/datacom infrastructure, and of course, to do it
in a way that is seamless to the consumer.
A key objective for new equipment design is increasing the I/O bandwidth
density—enabling the data center to grow capacity without growing the
floor and rack space. This is accomplished by increasing port density in
the panel and increasing the speed within the port. Today’s port speeds
are typically in the 6 to 10 Gb/s range, and manufacturers often gang
ports to increase density. An example: SFP+ moving to QSFP+. To meet
market requirements, manufacturers strive to achieve 100 Gb/s. Figure 1
is a comparison of connector families by looking at the bandwidth
throughput vs. panel width.
Figure 1—Courtesy of Tyco Electronics, Throughput (Gb/s) per centimeter
of panel width
Figure 2 is a
pictorial of the connector types used in these applications,
demonstrating linear board space requirements, speed performance, and
related standards.
Figure 2—Courtesy of Molex
Standards are Leading the Way
The telecom/datacom industry is relying more than ever on industry
standards, such as Fibre Channel, PCIe, SATA, SAS, InfiniBand, and
Ethernet to assist in the collaboration needed to tackle the challenges
of increasing I/O bandwidth density.
These standards committees are well represented by silicon, printed circuit board,
connector, raw cable, and cable assembly manufacturers. Cooperation is
taking shape in two forms: Competitors are sharing more technology via
RAND agreements, and at the same time, the silicon manufacturers are
working closely with the connector suppliers and printed circuit board
manufacturers to enable design and testing to take place concurrently,
with a much better understanding of the impact silicon has on connector
designs, and vice versa.
In Figure 3, you can see a summary of the progression in the speeds and
connector choices that meet these standards.
Figure 3—Courtesy of Tyco Electronics
Connector and Cable Assembly Challenges
The last several years, Molex has been one of the market leaders in
developing high-speed I/O technology with their iPass products and their
increased involvement in standards groups. Brian Hauge, director of
marketing of new product development at Molex, said, “It will not be
easy to move from today’s speeds of six to 10 Gb/s to 25 Gb/s. We will
need evolutionary improvements in silicon, printed circuit board, bulk
cable, and connector technology to meet these challenges.”
Figure 4 illustrates how all of these elements impact system
performance. Link analysis, power efficiency, and EMI issues are all
critical factors in designing the new higher speed interconnects. Each
of these elements have their own challenges.
Figure 4—Courtesy of Tyco Electronics
Jim David,
global product manager for high-speed cable assemblies and connectors,
FCI, discusses these challenges in detail in this month’s feature
article,
“Challenges in Developing I/O Systems for Today’s Telecom and Datacom
Needs.”
 Copper solutions are also facing challenges from fiber optic solutions.
However, we believe that there are still significant price advantages to
copper, and that copper solutions will be able to meet the technical
requirements of cables up to three meters in length. Active optical
cables are a growing alternative to copper cables and offer high data
transfer rates, long reach, noise immunity, data security, and
exceptionally small cable diameter. However, they do present some
significant challenges with heat dissipation. This is driving many of
the belly-to-belly configurations that allow heat sinks to be attached
closer to each channel.
Bishop & Associates Comments:
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SFP+ and QSFP+
will remain the high-volume runners for the foreseeable future, with
adoptions of higher speed solutions taking place in a more
evolutionary fashion.
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SFP+ and QSFP+
remain the I/O of choice for next-generation InfiniBand, Ethernet,
and Fibre Channel applications. Many suppliers are gearing up their
production cable assembly capabilities.
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The current
bandwidth building block process of aggregating 10 Gb/s channels
will evolve to 25 Gb/s channels in the future. The Molex iPass HD
and CXP cable assemblies demonstrate capability of achieving 100+ Gb/s
interconnects in copper.
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For cable lengths
of less than three meters, copper still remains the preferred
solution; fiber optic solutions are favored for long haul
applications.
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Active optical
cables are a growing alternative to copper.
Bishop &
Associates Inc. recently released the report,
“Connector Types and
Technologies Poised for Growth,” by Bob Hult. This report includes
more information on I/O products, including chapters on RJ45 connectors
in 10/40/100 gigabit Ethernet, Small Form Factor pluggable, fiber
optics, SAS, and SATA connections. To order this report, visit
www.connectorindustry.com.
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Earle Durham
Market Director—Telecom/Datacom, Bishop & Associates Inc.
Earle Durham has been in the connector industry for nearly 30
years. Earle began his career as a plating engineer at DuPont’s
Berg Electronics Connector division. In 1986, Earle transferred
to sales and marketing. In 2003, he was promoted to director of
sales and marketing at FCI Electronics, Americas, and was in
that role until he joined Belden Americas in 2007 as their vice
president of sales and marketing. In 2009, he founded his own
sales management consulting business, Earle Durham & Associates
LLC, and has recently joined Bishop & Associates Inc.
Earle graduated in 1980 from Rutgers University with a bachelor
of science degree in chemical engineering.
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