Choosing 100G DAC or 100G AOC?

What is the 100G AOC cable?
 

The 100G AOC cable refers to the communication cable that needs to use external energy to convert electrical signals into optical signals, or convert optical signals into electrical signals. The optical transceivers at both ends of the optical cable provide photoelectric conversion and optical transmission functions, and the transmission rate reaches 100Gb/s.

What is the 100G DAC cable?
 

100G DAC cable using silver conductor and foam insulation core wire, which has good attenuation performance and low delay performance, that can make sure signal transmission is correct and the transmission speed can be increase, it is a short connection solution instead of the optical transceiver, the price is much cheaper than the same type of optical transceiver, which can effectively save the cost and lower power consumption, it has been widely welcomed in short-distance connection applications.



What's the difference between the 100G AOC cable and 100G DAC cable？
 

Passive and active DAC use copper cable to deliver the electric signals. Passive DAC can transmit signals directly without signal conditioning, active DAC uses the driving chip inside the transceivers to boost signals, and AOC requires external power to convert signals from electric to optical, and then electric at last. It uses optical fibers not the copper cables to complete the transmission.



100G DAC vs 100G AOC, which one should be chose?

The Advantages and Disadvantages of 100G DAC Cable:

Advantages
* Enough data rate for various applications;
* Lower power consumption: 
* Interchangeability;
* Faster transmission: 
* Cost effective;
 

Disadvantages
* Heavy and bulky, difficult to be managed;
* Vulnerable to the effects of EMI;

For 1~5m link length, 100G DAC is the ideal choice for data center. Usually data center applied DACs in large quantity, DAC cable could save about 60% or more compared with AOC cable, so there will be a large amount to be save.
 

The Advantages and Disadvantages of 100G AOC Cable:

Advantages
* Greater bandwidth;
* Lightweight;
* EMI immunity;
* Better bend radius;
 

Disadvantages
* Expensive;

For 1~100m link length, 100G AOC is preferable for data center. The cables of AOC are thin and AOC has better bend radius than DAC, so if the data centers don't have enough space for cabling, AOC is a good choice. 

Also, the AOC cable is thin and space-saved, so the switches will have more room for air flow and easy for cooling system. AOC always has a good eye pattern, and its performance is very good. It can meet up to 100m on OM3 MMF or up to 150m on OM4 MMF.