Yamaichi Electronics has announced development of the OSFP-VLC connector, which it plans to display at DesignCon 2023 late this month in San Diego. The connector is a vertical version of the OSFP connector and is designed to be compatible to the Vertical Line Card (VLC) platform startup Nubis Communications described at ECOC 2022.
The VLC architecture features a vertical line card with vertical I/O connectors such as the OSFP-VLC and ASICs mounted side by side. This approach shortens the signal trace distance to within 3 to 4 inches while leveraging existing module, board assembly processes, and signal transmission technology. The design enables high-speed connectivity such as 112G at lower cost than conventional horizontal line card architectures while decreasing board count and offering improved cooling efficiency, according to Yamaichi.
Target applications for the OSFP-VLC include data center servers, routers, and switches; supercomputers; and optical transceivers.
Nubis Communications, founded by industry veteran Peter Winzer and headquartered in New Providence, NJ, is in stealth mode. It describes itself as "creating the most advanced interconnect technologies in the world to support the next generation of AI and machine learning breakthroughs." According to the site JUSTIA Patents, the company has received patents for optical fiber-to-chip interconnection, an optical fiber cable and raceway design, and a communication system employing optical frame templates.
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