Andrew Kim, Director of Engineering at Luxshare-Tech, and Nicola Bramante of Marvell unveil the industry’s first hybrid AEC/ACC cable for optimizing in-rack copper connectivity.

Active electrical cables (AECs) are designed for comparatively long (~4-9 meter) high-bandwidth connections within or between racks. The boost in reach over passive copper cables is accomplished by integrating optimized AEC DSPs into the terminal ends of a cable. Active Copper Cables (ACCs), by contrast, rely on equalizers and redrivers for extending reach. ACCs consume far less power than AECs but generally are deployed for in-rack connections running 2 meters or less.

Hybrid AEC/ACC cables combine technologies from both for a solution that delivers a longer, AEC-like reach and the low latency, low power, low cost and low complexity benefits of ACC designs.

The thin-gauge (30 AWG) hybrid cable demonstrated at OFC achieves a reach of 2.5 meters, or 25% farther than an equivalent 2-meter 30 AWG ACC-only solution while consuming less power than an AEC. The cable combines a 1.6T Marvell® Alaska A AEC DSP providing 200G/lane at the switch end and two 4 x 200G/lane ACC redrivers on different cable strands at the other, emulating a NIC end. It also includes proprietary technology from Luxshare for best-in-class signal integrity, crosstalk isolation and flexibility for stressful bend conditions.

Importantly, the AEC/ACC hybrid demonstration posted a bit error rate (BER) of 1e-9 at a simple mid-range equalization setting, underscoring that hybridization does not compromise data integrity or overall performance. The thin-gauge design also enhances thermal management and simplifies deployment.

Hybrid ACC/AEC cables represent an entirely new category of data center interconnects and the 2.5 meters prototype is just a start. Efforts to develop 3- and even 4-meter hybrid cables are underway. The Y-cable design employed for the prototype is also one of a larger number of potential configurations.

The hybrid Y-cable links two 4x200G NICs (ACC) to one 8x200G top-of-rack switch (AEC) for an optimized mid-length solution at a BER of 1e-9. Partners are already working on 3- and 4-meter designs.

To ensure hyperscalers and other data center service providers can reach their required network performance and design flexibility to address the ever-evolving AI technology requirements, Marvell will continue to collaborate with partners to cultivate a thriving and diverse ecosystem.

As the only provider delivering both ACC and AEC silicon solutions at 200G/lane, Marvell is uniquely positioned to cultivate an ecosystem for hybrid technologies. By offering ACC, AEC, and now hybrid AEC/ACC connectivity options, Marvell enables customers to choose the right solution for each link within the rack, delivering a true “one-stop shop” for 200G/lane interconnects for AI scale-up data center environments.

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