HSSDC, or high speed serial data connector, is an interconnect technology for high-speed data transfer from cable to board (or vice versa) for applications such as gigabyte Ethernet, storage, servers and workstations. Using HSSDC, copper implementation of fibre channel and other serial data applications can reach speeds of up to 2.125 Gbps over long distances. HSSDC has been approved by ANSI committees for use in fibre channel and serial storage architectures, as well as for being included in the new IEEE 802.3 MHz Ethernet standard.
The HSSDC connectors are fully shielded, stay connected using a "click" latching system and have "make first/ break last" ground contacts that ensure a reliable and non interfering connection. Circuit boards are designed to integrate into either a PC board providing 6 to 8 connections or in a PCI slot which can allow integration of up to four connectors into one card slot.
HSSDC technology has cable plugs that incorporate a small printed circuit board which can include equalization circuitry to extend the usable length of copper cable to over 30 meters. Equalization can reduce the amount of "cross talk" expected over current Ethernet implementations. Cross talk is the undesired interference or talking between one part of a network and another. This reduction of interference decreases the amount of lost data and network load, thereby increasing overall transfer speeds.
HSSDC2 is a newer family of interconnect solutions that includes shielded and adapter receptacles, copper pluggable modules, cable assemblies and a cable plug kit. HSSDC's plugs are die cast with a stamped latch/ground spring, impedance controlled PCB and seven high-speed contact pads.
Developed from the original HSSDC design, this new connector system utilizes less electricity and has a smaller form factor – providing overall space savings - than HSSDC connectors. This new adaptation of standard HSSDC has been specified by the InfiniBand Trade association for 1X I/O applications and suitable for fibre channel and gigabyte Ethernet applications.
HSSDC2 is currently capable of providing transfer speeds of 2.5 Gbps, an increase of only 0.35 Gbps over HSSDC. While currently only a minor increase, future generations of this system will allow the data transfer capability to be increased by as much as double, to 5.0 Gbps. HSSDC2 products are used for storage devices, routers, network switches, and network interface cards (NICs).
For highest performance, both these connectors are designed with the aid of advanced modeling techniques including electromagnetic modeling tools and sophisticated circuit simulations. This optimizes the equalization circuitry for different ranges of cables, including long distance applications up to 30 meters.
Andrew Lang is the marketing manager for Circuit Assembly eStore. Andrew works in a variety of areas for Circuit Assembly. This includes the full spectrum of product development and marketing, beginning at product conception, continuing with engineering, and ending with marketing strategies.
