INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling
Silicon Line announces new
integrated circuits for optical cables
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S
ilicon Line GmbH, has introduced a
new line of integrated circuits (ICs)
with transmission speeds of 16 to 18
gigabytes per second (Gb/s).
The new chips will be produced in single-
channel and four-channel versions, enabling
the production of active optical cables with
speeds up 72 Gb/s. Likely applications for the
ICs include active optical cables for HDMI –
and DisplayPort-enabled devices, as well as
customised cable solutions for Virtual Reality
headsets, 4K and 8K TV and commercial
products. Silicon Line is a global leader in
developing and providing innovative optical
link technology for consumer, commercial
and industrial electronics.
Ruud van der Linden, CEO, announced
that Silicon Line sales had doubled for the
second consecutive year in 2018 and that
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INTELLIGENTCIO
the company, which recently completed
an expansion of its production capacity
at its Hasselt, Belgium facility, will add
another shift to the plant’s production
schedule this Autumn. The Hasselt factory
manufactures Silicon Line’s patented
optical components which are combined
with the company’s ICs to fabricate
modules used inside the housings at either
end of active optical cables.
“Module sales to existing customers continue
to grow, as do the number of customers we
serve,” said van der Linden. “With bandwidth
specifications for connectivity standards only
increasing, we see a very bright future for
active optical technology and our company.”
Active optical cables using Silicon Line
technology require no outside power
source for converting and transmitting
electrical signals as optical signals and
offer many benefits over conventional
copper connections. They are much lighter
and more flexible than copper for high
bandwidth applications, have a longer
transmission distance and no susceptibility
to electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Silicon Line kicked off 2019 by
demonstrating the world’s first active optical
cables with the company’s embedded
proprietary technology to support all
features of the recently released HDMI 2.1
specification at the Consumer Electronics
Show (CES) in January.
The company believes this will become
the standard for connectivity with TVs, set
top boxes, video game consoles and other
consumer electronics that will start coming
to market this year. n
www.intelligentcio.com