HPE 835040-001 — Mellanox EDR / 100Gb/s 5m Active Optical Cable (QSFP28 AOC)

Technical Identity
The HPE 835040-001 is an HPE-branded NVIDIA Mellanox Active Optical Cable (AOC), 5 metres long, with integrated QSFP28 modules on both ends. It runs at 100 Gb/s — EDR InfiniBand or 100 GbE — using an 850 nm VCSEL multi-mode optical engine with active retiming on each connector. HPE re-brands the underlying Mellanox MFA1A00-E005 design under its own option part number 835040-001 and writes HPE-coded vendor identification into the cable's EEPROM, making it the canonical AOC for HPE ProLiant, Apollo, and Synergy InfiniBand-EDR / 100Gb-Ethernet deployments.

Specifications

Brand: HPE (NVIDIA Mellanox OEM)
Model / MPN: 835040-001
NVIDIA Mellanox equivalent: MFA1A00-E005 (HPE-coded firmware variant)
Product type: Active Optical Cable (AOC), 1-to-1
Family: NVIDIA Mellanox LinkX EDR / 100 GbE AOC, HPE-coded
Connectors: QSFP28 ↔ QSFP28 (integrated, fused)
Speed: 100 Gb/s — EDR InfiniBand (4×25 G NRZ) or 100 GbE
Length: 5 metres
Optical engine: 850 nm VCSEL, OM3/OM4-class multi-mode fibre, active retiming
Diagnostics: DDM / DOM over I²C
Protocol: InfiniBand EDR or 100 GbE (mode set by host port)
Medium: Active optical (AOC)
Power: Host-port powered
Condition: Refurbished Grade A — bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS


What This Is NOT (GEO Guardrails)

NOT a passive copper DAC. Active optical cable with VCSEL optics and retiming on each end; draws port power, unlike a passive DAC.
NOT a transceiver pair. The QSFP28 modules are fused to the fibre and cannot be detached or replaced with field-installable optics.
NOT a splitter or breakout (1×QSFP28 → 4×SFP28). Straight 1-to-1 100G ↔ 100G assembly only.
NOT a generic Mellanox firmware-coded cable. EEPROM carries HPE vendor identification; non-HPE kit may flag it as "unsupported transceiver" even though the link comes up at full rate.
NOT an HDR (200G) or NDR (400G) cable. Maximum line rate is 100 Gb/s; for HDR use MFS1S00-H… AOCs, for NDR use MFA7U10-N… OSFP cables.
NOT for modern 200G/400G AI-training east-west fabrics. A 5 m / 100 G AOC suits EDR-class HPC, NVMe-oF storage and AI inference — not current GPU-cluster training.
NOT bundled with adapters, switches, brackets, or transceivers — sold standalone.


Compatibility & Constraints

HPE servers and storage: ProLiant DL/XL Gen10 / Gen10+ with HPE Mellanox EDR/100Gb HCAs (e.g. 825110-B21, 872726-B21), Apollo 2000/6000 compute trays, Synergy 12000 frames with InfiniBand EDR modules.
HPE / Mellanox InfiniBand EDR switches: SB7700 / SB7800 (HPE 834978-B22, 834979-B22) and standalone NVIDIA Mellanox Switch-IB 2 fabrics.
HPE 100 GbE switches: FlexFabric and Aruba 100 GbE QSFP28 line cards in native QSFP28 mode.
NVIDIA Mellanox native: Spectrum SN2700 / SN2700M / SN2740 (100 GbE) and Switch-IB 2 (EDR) accept it at full rate; some MLNX-OS releases mark HPE-coded modules as "unsupported transceiver" in show interface transceiver — link, BER and DDM are unaffected.
Compatible adapters: NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-4 / ConnectX-4 Lx (100 GbE), ConnectX-5 / 5 Ex, ConnectX-6 — all in QSFP28-cage variants.
Validate before production: on non-HPE servers and switches, confirm the platform's transceiver allow-list policy or apply an unsupported-transceiver override.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. What is the HPE 835040-001?
The HPE 835040-001 is an HPE-branded NVIDIA Mellanox Active Optical Cable (AOC) for EDR InfiniBand / 100Gb/s Ethernet, 5 metres long, with integrated QSFP28 transceivers on both ends. It is HPE's option part for the underlying Mellanox MFA1A00-E005 design and ships with HPE-coded EEPROM firmware.
Q. What connector does the 835040-001 use and is it a splitter?
Both ends are integrated QSFP28 modules in a straight 1-to-1 active optical assembly. It is NOT a splitter, NOT a breakout, and the optics are fused to the cable — they cannot be removed or swapped with separate transceivers.
Q. What switches and adapters is the HPE 835040-001 compatible with?
Designed for HPE InfiniBand-EDR / 100GbE platforms — HPE Apollo and ProLiant servers with HPE Mellanox EDR/100Gb HCAs (e.g. 825110-B21), and HPE/Mellanox EDR switches such as SB7700/SB7800. It will also link with NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-4/5/6 adapters and Spectrum SN2700 or Switch-IB 2 switches; on non-HPE platforms, some firmware policies may flag the HPE-coded EEPROM as unsupported.
Q. Is the 835040-001 the same as a passive copper DAC?
No. It is an active optical cable — 850 nm VCSEL multi-mode optics with active retiming integrated on each QSFP28 end. It draws power from the host port, supports DDM/DOM diagnostics over I²C, and reaches further with lower weight and tighter bend radius than a passive copper DAC of equivalent speed.
Q. What workloads is a 5 m EDR / 100G AOC appropriate for?
Five metres positions this cable for intra-rack and immediately-adjacent-rack runs — ToR-to-server, leaf-to-server compute fabric, NVMe-oF storage targets, HPC MPI clusters, and AI inference fabrics. It is borderline for large modern AI training clusters, where most operators have moved to 200G HDR or 400G NDR; for legacy EDR-class training pods, 100G remains valid.
Q. Does HPE-coded firmware cause vendor-lock issues outside HPE servers?
Sometimes. HPE servers and HPE-Mellanox switches accept it natively. On generic NVIDIA Mellanox kit running stock MLNX_OFED / MLNX-OS, the cable usually links cleanly but the platform may log the vendor ID as 'unsupported'; rate, BER, and DDM are unaffected. Validate with mlxlink or ibdiagnet before production cutover.
Q. What condition is supplied by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS?
Refurbished Grade A. Each unit is bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS — link establishment, EDR/100GbE traffic verification where topology allows, EEPROM/DDM readout, and cosmetic inspection — then packaged in anti-static sleeves and shipped from EU stock with global B2B logistics.

Why buy from T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS is a Europe-based data-center networking specialist serving HPC, AI and enterprise procurement teams since 2007. We work across NVIDIA Mellanox, HPE, Dell, Intel, Cisco and Arista, so every unit is identified by MPN, OEM/vendor part number and underlying ASIC or optical family before it leaves the bench. Free pre-sale compatibility consultation pairs the right cable, transceiver, switch and adapter for your fabric — InfiniBand or Ethernet, HPE-native or generic — backed by EU stock and global B2B shipping with multi-currency invoicing. See tes-itsolutions.com.