wiredInUSA June 2020

Long distance certification

Plan to secure domestic cable supply

Thunderbolt 3 AOC

The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) has announced that Egypt will be the location of the largest optic fiber cable plant in the Middle East and North Africa. At a cost of $63.2 million, the 50,000m 2 plant in Al-Ain Sokhna is expected to begin operations within the third quarter of 2021. The project is part of an initial agreement signed between the government-owned Arab Organization for Industrialisation (AOI) and IT service provider Benya Capital. The deal is part of the government’s efforts to boost the industrial sector, promote local technology and reduce imports, explained AOI chairman Abdel-Moneim Al-Tarras. SCZone chairman Yehia Zaki anticipates: “The annual production capacity of the project [will be] four million kilometers of cables,” to meet the needs of telecom, power, gas and oil firms, as well as the new cities being built in Egypt. Benya Capital has chosen Corning Inc as a strategic supplier for the plant.

Sumitomo Electric Industries has been given Thunderbolt 3 certification from Intel Corporation, the company that established the Thunderbolt 3 standard, for its new active optical cables (AOCs). Sumitomo Electric has developed 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 AOCs for high speed transmission over long distances. Thunderbolt is a general purpose fast data transmission standard for data communication between a personal computer and peripheral devices. Sumitomo Electric undertook the development of Thunderbolt cables, based on technical specifications disclosed by Intel, and in 2010 acquired the world’s first Thunderbolt certification. In November 2015, the company obtained a further certification for Thunderbolt 3 cables that enable 40Gbps transmission. The Thunderbolt 3 cables currently available have a maximum transmission speed of 40Gbps and a maximum length of 2m. Sumitomo Electric has developed the new Thunderbolt 3 AOC by combining its optical fiber cable technology with its optical module technology to enable transmission up to 50m, while maintaining a transmission speed of 40Gbps.

wiredInUSA - June 2020

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