Well, Point2 Technology recently completed its development of just such an innovative e-Tube cable. This historic breakthrough in data transmission technology has the potential to revolutionize the energy efficiency of data centers. Providing a single-cable solution, Shimano’s new e-Tube cable can transmit data over distances of 20 meters. It provides the same, or better, high-speed connectivity, but with discovery—that it uses far less power and is much less expensive than optical systems.
The e-Tube cable contains eight very fine polymer waveguides. Each one can carry an astounding 448 gigabits per second with two different wavelengths — 90-gigahertz and 225 GHz. This setup allows Point2’s technology to use just one-third of the energy that traditional optical systems use. It accomplishes this by reducing costs to one-third and achieving latency that’s up to one-thousandth the level of optical technology.
Advanced Technology Behind e-Tube Cable
Fashioned from Point2 Technology’s e-Tube cable, the bundle consists of eight standalone bi-directional fibers, each able to deliver more than 200 gigabits of data transmission per second. This incredible feature makes the e-Tube a powerful answer to today’s data center challenges. Yet the design reinforces Point2’s commitment to pushing the envelope. Their second-generation cable includes fibers that have an outer diameter of only 200 µm, giving their cable a phenomenal system loss of only 0.3 decibels/meter.
The corporate has disclosed plans to start manufacturing chips that can run a 1.6-terabit-per-second cable later this yr. This upcoming new deliverable is further evidence of Point2’s visionary desire to continue pushing the frontiers of the data transmission landscape.
“You start with passive copper, and you do everything you can to run in passive copper as long as you can.” – Don Barnetson
Point2’s goal is to penetrate data centers with its technology deeper and wider than rivals such as AttoTude. Even better, the e-Tube cable only takes up the equivalent space of half a regular 32-gauge copper cable. It provides an amazing reach that’s 20 times more! This innovation is one of the first major breakthroughs in achieving a more efficient and sustainable data center infrastructure.
Addressing Industry Needs
Meanwhile, Point2 has recently launched its e-Tube cable. This launch comes at a time when data centers are looking for ways to get away from optical technology. Per industry experts, while customers love fiber technology in general, they usually end up frustrated when facing the unknowns that come with photonics.
“Customers love fiber. But what they hate is the photonics.” – Dave Welch
Point2’s community-first approach takes all these worries into account. It provides a low-risk alternative that uses electronic components rather than complicated and more fragile optical components.
“Electronics have been demonstrated to be inherently more reliable than optics.” – Dave Welch
The e-Tube system includes a digital brain that integrates effortlessly with GPUs. It features a terahertz-frequency modulator and mixer, which produces a highly effective means to encode data onto the terahertz signal. This integration provides a very elegant solution for intimately connecting single GPUs to the network switches that make up today’s scale-out network fabrics.
“Happens to be a beautiful distance for scale-up in data centers.” – Dave Welch
Funding and Future Prospects
Point2 Technology, launched nine years ago by veterans from Marvell, Nvidia and Samsung, did particularly well recently on the funding front. The firm raised over $55 million in venture capital with deeply-valued investments including Molex, the world’s leading producer of computer cables and connections. This capital support has enabled Point2 to direct resources to research and development of its innovative e-Tube technology. In return, the company is quickly gaining ground on its competitors.
As Point2 gets ready for production, the implications for data centers are huge. Fast, high-capacity, low-latency links would reshape the flow and management of data transmission through networks. Beyond safety, this innovation will be a game changer for reducing power consumption too.