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DesignCon 2008:
Connecting Engineers
By Bob
Hult, Bishop & Associates Inc.
 After
nearly two weeks of rain, the clouds parted and a brilliant sun greeted
the opening of DesignCon 2008 at the Santa Clara Convention Center,
February 4-7. This annual conference was sponsored by the IEC and
featured an extensive exhibition of 138 high-speed, leading- technology
suppliers, as well as tutorials and seminars in 14 subject tracks.
Participation by connector manufacturers continues to grow. Fifteen
suppliers exhibited their newest interfaces this year, including several
additional high-speed cable assembly suppliers. Attendance over the
four-day period appeared to be good, and pre-show registration was also
reported to be greater than last year. Participants were upbeat about
the industry in general; however, the recent decline of the U.S. economy
has raised concerns about how the electronics market may be affected.
Several trends were evident in new product introductions among connector
suppliers this year. The drive for greater bandwidth and signal density
continues unabated. Consumer and commercial applications that demand
video content are expected to require major Internet upgrades, resulting
in equipment with many more high-speed ports. The advent of multicore
servers has begun to outpace the support ability of network switches.
Increased bandwidth required by consumers for services such as HDTV on
demand and user-generated video could quickly become a major bottleneck.
The development of new 40 and 100 Gb Ethernet specifications is
stimulating the introduction of backplane connectors for 20+ Gb/s
performance. Suppliers are also filling in gaps in their product lines,
enabling them to offer complete cafeteria-style solutions to every
application, from power to high-speed. Interest in orthogonal
architecture is resulting in the introduction of many new backplane
connector families with an orthogonal configuration. Connectors designed
to perform to 20+ Gb assure a user that bandwidth headroom is available
to support several generations of equipment, while current applications
can be addressed with cost-effective interfaces that satisfy today’s
needs. The huge proliferation of advanced backplane connectors indicates
the intense competitive pressure to win design-in now, which may
effectively shut out competition for several years.
We are seeing niche applications being targeted for higher-speed
products. Older interfaces are being upgraded to provide expanded
bandwidth and satisfy applications that use legacy backplanes, but may
utilize higher speed daughtercards.
 Signal
density is also emerging as a major concern for system designers.
Connector suppliers are responding with connectors that feature smaller
centerlines as well as high-speed performance. Higher-density connectors
can pack more circuits per square millimeter, allow greater slot density
or permit improved airflow, all of which are very desirable attributes.
High-speed cables continue to push the bandwidth and length limitations
of just a few years ago. Advances in materials and assembly techniques,
as well as active signal conditioning within the assembly itself,
continue to extend the life of copper I/O. As an alternative, active
fiber optic assemblies that do the electro-optic conversion within the
standard copper interface strain relief, offer the prospect of long
reach and reduced mass of cable bundles.
Amphenol TCS
showcased its stable of high-speed products, including the
XCede® backplane connector designed
for 20+ Gb/s performance. In addition to low crosstalk, this connector
family features signal density of up to 82 differential pairs/linear
inch, minimized skew and unique resonance damping. A stacking version of
XCede is now available to address high-speed mezzanine applications. The
eHSD® connector is an upgrade of the
popular VHDM-HSD connector and is now rated up to 10 Gb/s. eHSD is fully
backward compatible, enabling users to scale existing systems to higher
speeds without changes to existing VHDM-HSD backplanes.
  Cinch
featured several Z-axis interconnect technologies, including their new
IQ™ solderless connectors that utilize unique compression
contacts on a 1mm pitch. A hybrid solderable version is also available.
 Recognizing
the continuing march to higher bandwidth requirements,
ERNI introduced the
ERmet ZD Plus ® connector family
that is now rated to 20+ Gb/s and offers packaging density of 40
differential pairs per inch. This extension of the ERmet ZD family is
backward compatible with existing backplane systems and will mate with
the standard ErmetZd male connector.
 FCI
Electronics
continues to build on its extensive line of high-speed connectors. The
TwinMezz™ mezzanine connector
utilizes a unique hermaphroditic contact that enables a wide range of
stacking heights, from 12mm to 40mm, with a minimal number of parts. The
planned family will provide pin counts from 80 to 800 and is rated to
over 25 Gb/s. Supporting its emphasis on mezzanine architecture, FCI
introduced the MezzSelect™
portfolio, which allows engineers to select the most effective mezzanine
connector more quickly and with less risk.
 FCI’s
new Zipline™ backplane connector
offers signal density of up to 84 differential pairs per linear inch
with tooled 1.8mm column pitch, and up to 101 pairs with a 1.5mm column
pitch version to be tooled as customer demand builds. FCI also expanded
the family with the introduction of a compatible seven amp per position
power module.
A 3-pair version of the AirMax VS®
connector meets the requirements of the recently announced
Storage Bridge Bay Version 2.0
specification.
 W.L.
Gore and Associates
showed an extensive array of high-speed cable assemblies,
including both active and passive configurations. Advanced assemblies
that combine passive and active equalization, utilizing low power analog
signal processing and noise cancellation chips from a recently announced
alliance with Quellan, enable copper
10 Gb assemblies to reach 24 meters. This advanced technology can result
in a 3X reduction in cable weight and diameter, which are major concerns
in data center applications.
The HARTING booth featured its
extensive line of mezzanine and backplane interconnects that support the
MicroTCA specification.
JAE Electronics
showcased their “F” Connect
high-density interconnect system. Gold-plated copper contacts are
wrapped around an elastomeric core to provide a reliable electrical
contact, with only five grams of normal force. This interconnect is
expected to find applications in flex circuit disconnects.
3M
is breathing new life in legacy systems based on 2mm HM technology. By
using MetPak™ HSHM backplane
connectors in VME and cPCI systems, the bandwidth of these products can
be extended, from less than 1 Gb/s to 5 Gb/s, with no changes in the
backplane footprint. HSHM is fully intermateable with HM 2mm connectors,
but adds internal shields for greater crosstalk isolation. 3M also
showed a line of backplane cable connectors using coaxial and
differential high-speed cable.
 Meritec/Joy
Signal Technology
demonstrated copper cable assemblies capable of transmitting 10 Gb/s
signals over eight meters with less than two percent crosstalk using
active signal conditioning technology. Twenty Gb/s signals can be used
at distances to two meters using passive cables. Small form factor-8470
interfaces can be used at up to 20 Gb/s lane. Advanced Infiniband cables
are being used in a host of high-speed applications.
Molex
officially introduced the
Impact™
high-speed backplane interconnect system, which offers increased signal
density of up to 80 differential pairs/inch and 20 Gb/s data rates.
 The
I-Trac™
connector is rated to 12.5 Gb/s and offers superior design flexibility,
including an orthogonal configuration. Reflecting a trend within the
backplane connector industry, both of these interconnect systems are
available from second sources that offer mechanically and electrically
identical components.
 Molex
is enhancing its high-speed mezzanine product offerings with the
HDMezz™
and SEARAY™
products. HDMezz is designed for stacking heights to 38mm and
offers a signal density of 14 differential pairs / cm². SeaRay
connectors are designed for very low-profile applications.
Molex also demonstrated a
Copper Flex
interposer assembly
utilizing unique high-density contacts developed by
Neoconix.
Samtec
continues to expand its immense line of high-density board-to-board, I/O
and flex circuit interconnect systems. Among the many products exhibited
this year was the HDAM mezzanine
connector, which is a second source for the Molex
HDMezz.
The open pin field SEARAY™ is also
part of the exchange between the two companies, and offers bandwidth to
18 Gb/s.
The PowerPoser™ interposer addresses
the packaging and performance challenges presented by the rapidly
expanding market for FPGA devices.
 TYCO
Electronics
demonstrated its wide range of interconnect products, including coaxial,
and power connectors, fiber optic components and copper and fiber optic
cable assemblies, as well as an array of backplane interconnects.
The recently introduced TinMan™
backplane connector offers 10+ Gb/s performance in cost-sensitive
applications.
 The
new Z-Pack Slim UHD connector
features exceptional signal density @ 55 pins / cm², with scalable
performance to 12+ Gb/s.
The low profile of this connector allows improved airflow and 15mm slot
pitches, while the open pin field can be designed for single ended or
differential circuits. The vertical header uses very short pins
protected by plastic ribs that eliminate any possibility of bent pins.
Tyco has greatly expanded its pluggable, high-speed product mix to
include SFP, SFP+, XFP, and QSFP
connectors, cages and connector assemblies.
The explosion of new interconnect products introduced in 2007 is widely
expected to continue into 2008 and beyond.
 Robert
Hult
Director of Product Technology, Bishop & Associates, Inc.
Robert
Hult has been in the connector industry for over 36 years. Hult
began his career as a sales engineer for Amphenol. He joined AMP
in 1972 and served in several management positions through 1996.
In 1997, Hult joined Foxconn as group marketing manager for
Intel, Chandler, Arizona, U.S.A. Prior to joining Bishop &
Associates, Hult was the regional application engineering
manager for Tyco Electronics.
Hult graduated in 1968 from Bradley University with a Bachelor
of Science degree in electronics technology and a minor in
business. |
