Who will be the winner in the field of data communication, DAC cables or AOC cables?

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AOC cables have a longer transmission distance and reduce electromagnetic interference, which has led to the misconception that this more innovative technology should be adopted in all aspects of the network. However, in data centers, using DAC cables is often the wisest option as DAC provides significant advantages in terms of capital expenditure, operating expenses, performance, and reliability. Here are some advantages of DAC copper cables compared to optical cables:

  • Distance

DAC cables can be extended up to several meters, depending on network speed, which is usually more than sufficient for interconnection within data centers. Whether connecting servers within a single rack or switches within a cluster, DAC provides the ability to achieve reliable and cost-effective transmission with the highest available bandwidth.

  • Cost

When it comes to capital costs, DAC provides significant savings. Generally speaking, the cost of passive copper cables is 2 to 5 times cheaper than AOC cables of the same length. In addition, due to the fact that DAC does not consume electricity and its thermal design requires low cooling, it can significantly save data center operating expenses. If DAC copper cable is used instead of AOC cable, hundreds of kilowatts of electricity can be saved.

  • Reliability and speed

One of the biggest advantages of DAC is reliability, which is measured by mean time between failures (MTBF). The MTBF of passive copper cables is approximately 500 million hours – typically one order of magnitude higher than the industry standard for optical cables. DAC provides a major benefit for enterprise data centers, where reliable data transmission is crucial: avoiding downtime.

AOC (Active Optical Cable) active fiber optic cable refers to optical transceiver devices required in the communication process. A communication cable that converts electrical signals into optical signals, or converts optical signals into electrical signals. The optical transceivers at both ends of the optical cable provide photoelectric conversion and optical transmission functions.

AOC cable is composed of multimode optical fibers, optical transceiver devices, control chips, and parallel optical modules. Compared to DAC high-speed cables, AOC active optical cables have many advantages such as high transmission speed, long transmission distance, low energy consumption, and easy use, which can help communication equipment enjoy the huge advantages of optical transmission.

Advantages of AOC cable:

  • Lightweight: Compared to high-speed cables, it has a much smaller volume and weight
  • Anti electromagnetic interference: Since optical fibers transmit optical signals, they are not easily affected by electromagnetic interference

Disadvantages of AOC cable:

  • Compared to DAC cables, the cost is higher
  • One end module damage will result in the entire active cable being scrapped

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