NVIDIA Mellanox MFA1A00-C003 100GbE QSFP28 Active Optical Cable, 3m LSZH: This is a 3-meter active optical cable (AOC) engineered for 100Gb/s Ethernet (100GbE) point-to-point interconnectivity. The cable uses VCSEL optics over multi-mode fiber with a Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) jacket. This is NOT a passive copper DAC, NOT an InfiniBand-optimized AOC, and NOT a breakout cable.
Engineering Context: The MFA1A00-C003 carries 4x25Gb/s NRZ lanes encoded for 100GbE per IEEE 802.3bm, with maximum power consumption of 3.5W per QSFP28 end. The integrated VCSEL transceivers are factory-coupled to the multi-mode fiber, eliminating connector contamination as a failure mode. Bit error rate is specified at less than 1E-15 with KP4 FEC.
Deployment & Use Cases: Top-of-rack to server interconnects in 25/100GbE storage and compute racks, ConnectX-4/5/6 to Spectrum SN2000/SN3000 switch links, leaf-to-spine uplinks under 5m, NVMe-over-Fabrics (RoCEv2) host-to-switch connectivity, and short-reach 100GbE links where DAC weight or EMI is a concern.
Model: MFA1A00-C003 (NVIDIA P/N: 980-9I13S-00C003)
Data Rate: 100GbE (4x25Gb/s NRZ)
Connectors: QSFP28 to QSFP28
Cable Type: Active Optical Cable (AOC), point-to-point
Length: 3 meters
Fiber: Multi-mode (OM3/OM4 equivalent), VCSEL 850nm
Jacket: LSZH (Low Smoke Zero Halogen)
Power Draw: ≤3.5W per end
Protocol: 100GbE Ethernet (IEEE 802.3bm)
Condition: Refurbished
Compatibility & Constraints: Validated with NVIDIA Mellanox Spectrum SN2010/SN2100/SN2700/SN3000 switches and ConnectX-4/5/6 100GbE adapters. This cable is Ethernet-only — it is NOT optimized for InfiniBand EDR. For InfiniBand EDR 100Gb/s, use the MFA1A00-Exxx series. Fixed-length: cannot be shortened or re-terminated in the field.
Why TES: Functionally tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS engineers prior to shipment. T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS ships within 1–3 business days from European stock with documented testing results.