Challenge - To help Intel develop and evaluate a new generation of 20 Gbps Infiniband optical cables for scaling out advanced computer clusters to distances of up to 100 metres.
Solution - A Tektronix AWG7102 arbitrary waveform generator is used to generate a high-speed 5 Gbps InfiniBand serial signal and transmit it down the cable, while a DSA8200 sampling oscilloscope with application software observes and analyses the waveform at the far end of the cable.
Benefits - Intel was able to prove that the cable – the world’s fastest and longest Infiniband cable - performed fully to specification and compared very favourably to conventional copper cable solutions. Intel also used the Tektronix instruments successfully to demonstrate the cable’s performance to potential customers at a major international conference.