Direct Attach & Active Optical Cables

A Direct Attach Copper cable or DAC cable is a twinax copper cable used to connect ports to switches, routers, servers or data storage equipment for short transmission distance. It consists of a shielded twinax copper cable with pluggable connectors on either end such as SFP+, SFP28, QSFP28 and QSFP+.

Our Direct Attach Cables are used in short reach, high density, high speed interconnect data centre applications. They are designed for networking, data storage and telecom systems where you need the highest possible network efficiency, low power consumption and low latency at an affordable price. We supply both Passive and Active options. Active DAC has a signal amplification, class clock, data recovery (CDR) and equalizer technology to support longer distances than standard Passive DAC cables which have no electrical components built into the cable assembly.

DAC cables are most often used to connect equipment located within the same data rack with short transmission distance requirements, typically 1-2m. That said we do offer 0.5-15m lengths.

We recommend a Passive DAC is used for transmission of up to 7m and an Active DAC is suitable for 7-15m.

Our Active Optical Cables are used in high density, high speed interconnect data centre applications.  They are used as an alternative to Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables to offer an increased distance and performance. They are also lighter weight, reduce bulkiness, have a higher bandwidth, and low power consumption. They are designed for networking, data storage and telecom systems where you need the highest possible network efficiency, lower power consumption and low latency at an affordable price. 

With our compatibility guarantee you can be sure we only sell products that meet or exceed the vendor specification with compliance to all MSA standards and protocols. Each product is uniquely serialised, and we proudly offer a lifetime warranty on all our products.

We can Customise to your requirements. Please contact us do discuss your requirements.