Active Electrical Cable (AEC) – The Smart Choice for Modern Data Centers

 Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), with its potential to transform several industries, has been making waves since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022. As a consequence, the immense need for data, its inference and transformation has put new demands on data center infrastructure.

AI clusters today demand larger neural networks, which means more hardware and more power consumption. This requires solutions that not only provide better networking through lower latency but also cost versus power optimization and easier hardware management.

Data center servers and networking equipment rely on copper cables for making connections within a rack and between racks. These cables, called Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables, have traditionally been passive in nature and were able to meet data center needs. However, with the advent of Generative AI, hyperscalers are pushing for signal speeds at 112Gbps with PAM4 signal modulation and beyond to meet the high-bandwith requirements between AI servers.

 At such high data transfer rates, passive DACs fail to meet the Signal Intregity (SI) requirements. Moreover, a significant increase in the volume of DACs within a rack makes cable management a cumbersome task from a bend radii and heat dissipation perspective. Hence, data centers are transitioning from passive DACs to active cable solutions.

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