Sliver Internal Cabled Interconnects

TE Connectivity (TE), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, today announced the launch of its new Sliver internal cabled interconnects, which provide one of the most flexible solutions in the market for making internal input/output (I/O) connections on the board. This new technology simplifies design and helps lower overall costs by eliminating the need for re-timers and costlier, lower-loss printed circuit board (PCB) materials, while reaching speeds up to 25 gigabits per second (Gbps) with the use of TE high speed cable.

“Our new Sliver internal cabled interconnect system has been enthusiastically adopted by our initial customers as a solution to data rate increase challenges,” said Melissa Knox, product manager of Data and Devices at TE Connectivity. “This flexible, robust and cost-effective connector and cable assembly solution provides improved performance and extended reach while also saving space and lowering design costs for a range of data rate signals within data networking applications.”
As rates increase for data communications equipment like servers, switching, routers, and storage, the standard PCB material has too much uncontrolled signal loss to allow for clean transmission of these signals through PCB traces. TE"s Sliver interconnect product line provides an inexpensive, robust solution with a small, high-density connector and cable assembly that route high-speed signals from the microprocessors to other locations (e.g. to other boards, to other microprocessor chips, to the backplane, to I/O).

TE’s Sliver products can be used across many applications, data rates, and protocols (including PCI express, SAS, Ethernet). There are several interconnectivity options, including chip-to-chip, board-to-board, chip-to-front panel I/O, and high-speed card edge. It is a scalable platform that can be extended in increments of eight differential signal pairs for convenient and efficient pin configurations.
The new Sliver internal cabled interconnects also solve the design challenge of making products as small as possible with a 0.6mm contact pitch. This super slim design also has a uniquely robust metal housing on the connector cage to help withstand cable pull, and an active latch on the housing provides additional connection security.