Point2 Technology has produced truly remarkable technology for the data center space. Home to some of the world’s first wireless bicycle technologies, Shimano recently launched their innovative e-Tube cable that increases data transmission efficiency. Point2 Technology was established nine years ago by an experienced team of industry veterans from Marvell, Nvidia, and Samsung. They set out to be the first company to adapt radio technology for data centers, a goal which predates AttoTude’s similar attempts by several years. With $55 million in venture funding, primarily from Molex, a leading maker of computer cables and connections, Point2 is poised to revolutionize how data centers operate.
Under Dave Welch’s leadership Point2 Technology has already established a deep bank of research talent in photonics. That’s the company’s aim—to connect existing technologies and bring something altogether new to the market. The e-Tube cable is powered by a single, strong silicon chip. This chip converts incoming digital information into modulated millimeter-wave frequencies, providing unsurpassed data transmission quality and speed.
Advancements in Data Transmission
The e-Tube cable, well, e-Tube’s something pretty darn special with its specifications. This high speed cable is compatible with length up to 20M. It’s thin but it delivers a compelling 1.6 terabits per second and occupies half the volume of a standard 32-gauge copper cable. This innovation increases their speed exponentially. In addition, it increases reach, allowing up to 20x the distance of traditional copper cabling.
David Kuo is vice president of product marketing and business development for Point2 Technology. His bottom line—whatever you do, be more flexible and quicker to respond to the rising thirst for bandwidth. We refer to it as the copper cliff,” Kuo said. He pointed out the limitations that copper cables face when pushing towards terabit-per-second speeds. As demands have increased, he points out that physical realities require shorter and thicker cables.
Just last year, Point2 Technology had its work published to the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. To accomplish this milestone, they worked with engineers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, among others. Through this tactical partnership, Shimano’s innovation developed utilizing 28-nanometer CMOS technology to maximize performance of the e-Tube cable. This improvement further cements its suitability for high performance, next-generation data centers.
The Shift from Copper to Radio Technology
Point2 Technology isn’t the only company looking to improve this key piece of data transmission. In fact, competitors such as Credo are creating huge investments in advanced technologies to help respond to the requirements of next generation data centers. Don Barnetson, senior vice president and head of product at Credo, remarks on the industry’s ongoing reliance on copper technology: “You start with passive copper and you do everything you can to run in passive copper as long as you can.”
Point2’s e-Tube cable is the kind of breakthrough we’d say qualifies as a paradigm shift. This shift being to using radio frequencies instead. Welch underscored how much customers appreciate fiber optics for their extreme speed and reliability. All too often, they struggle with photonics. Consumers rave about fiber, but what they can’t stand is the photonics,” he said. Electronics have already been proven to be inherently more robust than optics.
SMART’s strategic pivot to radio technology addresses these issues directly. Perhaps more interestingly, it shatters the limits on how much processing data centers can do. Welch is hopeful that this transition will open up path-breaking opportunities by enabling data to flow in spaces limited by older technologies.
Future Developments and Opportunities
Point2’s e-Tube cable will be optimized for connecting large numbers of small, individual graphics processing units (GPUs) to network switches. This application meshes especially well with the needs of scale-out networks. By doing this, data centers can get the most processing power out of their servers while keeping latency as low as possible.
Looking beyond the current projects, Welch hopes to see the e-Tube applied to even larger and more complex situations. As for the first use cases, he said pluggable connections would be the technology’s first application. The true pot of gold is radio transceivers being co-packaged with processors. This ambition is a testament to the desire to constantly push the envelope on what data transmission solutions are capable of.
As Point2 Technology carves its niche into the ever-evolving data center world, it finds itself at a crossroads of challenges and opportunity. The company is focused on breaking boundaries in data transmission. Simultaneously, it is addressing the industry’s pressing needs like a serious player.