Timbercon announces XFP electrical loopback

May 28, 2008
MAY 28, 2008 -- Timbercon has finished prototype testing of its new XFP Electrical Loopbacks with three key customers and has a limited sample quantity on hand for exclusive pre-production release.

MAY 28, 2008 -- Timbercon Inc. (search for Timbercon) announced that it has finished prototype testing of its new XFP Electrical Loopbacks with three key customers and has a limited sample quantity on hand for exclusive pre-production release.

The Timbercon EL-10-07001 XFP electrical loopback is used for testing XFP transceiver ports in host/system boards. By substituting for a full-featured XFP transceiver, the electrical loopback provides a cost effective method for XFP port testing, Timbercon asserts.

The EL-10-07001 is packaged in a standard MSA housing compatible with all XFP ports. Transmit data from the host is electrically routed (internal to the loopback module) to the receive data outputs and back to the host. The electrical loopback path is designed using an XFP signal conditioner IC to ensure signal integrity over 300 mm of enhanced FR4 or 200 mm of standard FR4 as required by the XFP MSA section 2.1. Since the loopback module does not contain laser diodes, photodiodes, laser driver, or transimpedance amplifier chips it provides an economical way to exercise XFP ports during R&D validation, production testing, and field testing, Timbercon says.

In addition to the electrical loopback function, the EL-10-07001 provides an MSA standard 2-wire serial communication interface to digital diagnostics, pre-loaded EEPROM memory maps (standard and customized), and XFP power level 3 loading of all four XFP voltage supplies (+1.8 V, +3.3 V, +5.0 V, and -5.2 V).

The XFP loopback contains two LEDs to enable quick and visible performance indication. The green LED is illuminated when the module is fully plugged in and has power. The amber LED is illuminated when the module is receiving valid data traffic. Internally this function is generated by the CDR/signal conditioner.

"After great success with our SFP, HSSDC, and RJ-232 electrical loopbacks, XFP is the next logical step for Timbercon's electrical loopback product line with the SFP+ next on our horizon." said Justin Redd, director of engineering.

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