Page 67 - 2020 Interconnect Innovations eBook

Twisted-Pair Ethernet
The IEEE has written standards for many high-speed connectivity solutions, including many that are much faster and support higher bandwidths than even the fastest BASE-T standards, but few share the versatility, broad adoption, and low installation cost of BASE-T connectivity solutions. The IEEE standards that are written for twisted-pair Ethernet cable define transmission speeds spanning 10/100BASE-T to 40GBASE-T. Today, the two most common speeds for twisted-pair Ethernet are 1G and 10G. 1GBASE-T offers the most economical solutions for the bandwidth and coverage that most connected applications need, but 10GBASE-T has come a long way in reducing implementation costs and improving versatility. While many applications do not need the speed or bandwidth that 10GBASE-T offers, data centers and cloud computing architectures surely do. When OCP NIC 3.0 adapter cards are deployed with 10GBASE-T connectors in these applications, they can deliver economical, high-bandwidth, twisted-pair Ethernet connectivity that ensures compatibility with the rest of the networked equipment and devices.
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» Diagram of a twisted-pair Ethernet cable.
Integrated Connector Modules
The role of integrated connector modules (ICMs) in OCP NIC adapters is to connect the Ethernet devices within the local network, typically from a server to a switch at the other end. Most of the applications for OCP adapters are in cloud computing and edge or fringe data centers, where high speed and low latency are critical for smooth, efficient data transmission. With PCB real estate at a premium, ICMs provide the perfect partner for OCP networks due to the fact that they integrate the electrical interfacing circuitry, or magnetics, within the connector design, eliminating the need for additional board-mounted components.
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» The red rectangle illustrates how much PCB space ICMs save by integrating magnetics within an RJ45 connector.