Identity & Definition
The NVIDIA Mellanox MCP1600-E04A is a 100Gb/s InfiniBand EDR enterprise passive copper cable (DAC) in new condition. This direct attach cable uses QSFP28 connectors on both ends to deliver 100Gb/s InfiniBand EDR bandwidth over a 4.5-meter reach. The MCP1600-E04A is a point-to-point passive DAC cable — it is NOT an active optical cable (AOC), NOT a splitter cable, NOT a fiber transceiver, and NOT an Ethernet-specific cable. The "-E" suffix designates the InfiniBand EDR variant of the MCP1600 series.
Engineering Context
The MCP1600-E04A transmits 100Gb/s using four lanes of 25Gb/s NRZ signaling over its QSFP28 interface. The cable features an LSZH (Low-Smoke Zero-Halogen) outer jacket for fire safety compliance in enclosed data center environments. At 4.5 meters, the MCP1600-E04A is one of the longest passive copper options in the MCP1600-E series, providing extended inter-rack reach without active optics. As a passive assembly, it requires no external power and introduces minimal signal latency.
Deployment & Use Cases
The MCP1600-E04A is deployed for InfiniBand EDR connections spanning adjacent racks or longer intra-rack distances. Typical use cases include switch-to-HCA connections in EDR InfiniBand HPC clusters where rack spacing exceeds 3 meters, GPU-to-GPU RDMA interconnects in AI training environments with distributed compute nodes, storage fabric links for Lustre, GPFS, and BeeGFS parallel file systems, and spine-to-leaf switch connections in InfiniBand fabrics requiring extended passive copper reach.
Technical Specifications

Part Number (MPN): MCP1600-E04A
Cable Type: Passive Direct Attach Copper (DAC)
Data Rate: 100Gb/s (InfiniBand EDR)
Connector: QSFP28 to QSFP28
Cable Length: 4.5 meters
Jacket Material: LSZH (Low-Smoke Zero-Halogen)
Signaling: 4x 25Gb/s NRZ
Protocol: InfiniBand EDR
Condition: New

Compatibility & Hard Constraints
The MCP1600-E04A requires EDR InfiniBand-capable QSFP28 ports on both endpoints. At 4.5 meters, passive copper signal attenuation is near the practical limit for QSFP28 DAC; verify host platform support for passive DAC at this length. It is an InfiniBand-specific cable — for 100GbE Ethernet, use the MCP1600-C series. It is NOT compatible with QSFP-DD (400GbE) or QSFP56 (200GbE/HDR) ports. For shorter reaches, the MCP1600-E002 (2m) and MCP1600-E003 (3m) are available. For longer reaches, active optical cables (MFS1200-E series) are required.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Every MCP1600-E04A cable sold by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS is factory-sealed and new. Our team provides technical consultation on NVIDIA Mellanox InfiniBand cable compatibility, passive copper reach limits, and deployment planning. Orders ship within 1–3 business days with worldwide delivery and protective packaging.