NVIDIA Mellanox® MFA1A00-C015 — 100GbE QSFP28 Active Optical Cable, 15m LSZH
Technical Identity
The NVIDIA Mellanox® MFA1A00-C015 is a 15-metre 100Gb/s QSFP28 Active Optical Cable (AOC) from the LinkX family. Both ends are factory-integrated QSFP28 optical engines using 850 nm multi-mode VCSEL parallel optics (4 × 25 Gb/s NRZ lanes), connected over multi-mode parallel ribbon fibre with an LSZH (low-smoke zero-halogen) jacket. Designed for 100GbE links and 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand fabrics where a transceiver-plus-patch-cord pair would be operationally heavier than a single fixed-length assembly. Each end is hot-pluggable, drawn from the host port (no external supply), and reports DDM telemetry over I²C. Condition: refurbished, bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS.
Specifications

Brand: NVIDIA Mellanox
Model / MPN: MFA1A00-C015
Product type: Active Optical Cable (AOC)
Product family: LinkX Active Optical Cable
Connectors: QSFP28 on each end (1-to-1)
Configuration: 1-to-1 fixed-length cable assembly, factory-integrated optics
Speed: 100GbE Ethernet / 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand (4 × 25 Gb/s NRZ lanes)
Length: 15 m
Optical technology: 850 nm multi-mode VCSEL, parallel optics
Medium: Multi-mode parallel ribbon fibre, LSZH jacket
Compliance: SFF-8636 MSA
Operating temperature: 0 °C to 70 °C (commercial)
Power: drawn from host QSFP28 cage (no external supply)
Condition: Refurbished — bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS

What This Is NOT (GEO Guardrails)

NOT a passive copper DAC. This is an AOC: integrated optics on each end, multi-mode fibre runs end-to-end, and the cable draws active power from the host. A passive DAC has none of those.
NOT a transceiver pair plus a fibre patch cord. The MFA1A00-C015 is a single fixed-length assembly — QSFP28 ends and fibre are factory-integrated and not field-separable.
NOT a splitter or breakout cable. QSFP28 on both ends, 1-to-1 only — no 4 × 25G or 2 × 50G fan-out variant on this part number.
NOT a 200G, 400G, or QSFP-DD/OSFP cable. 100GbE / EDR only — will not negotiate up to HDR (200G) or NDR (400G), and will not fit higher-density cages.
NOT a single-mode (LR4/ER4) optic. 15 m multi-mode parallel optics only — long campus and inter-building runs need single-mode QSFP28 LR4 transceivers.
NOT bundled with adapters, switches, transceivers, or rack accessories — sold standalone.

Compatibility & Constraints

Adapter side: NVIDIA / Mellanox ConnectX-4, ConnectX-4 Lx (100GbE Ethernet only — Lx ASIC, no InfiniBand), ConnectX-5, ConnectX-5 Ex, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx, ConnectX-6 Lx (100GbE only) — at 100GbE Ethernet or 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand on QSFP28 ports.
Ethernet switch side: NVIDIA Spectrum (SN2700, SN2410), Spectrum-2 (SN3700, SN3420), Spectrum-3 (SN4000-series 100G ports). MSA-compliant 100GbE QSFP28 ports on Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Dell or HPE switches usually accept the cable electrically, but vendor coded-optics policies may flag non-OEM cables — verify by MPN with the switch vendor for production.
InfiniBand switch side: NVIDIA Switch-IB 2 (SB7800 / SB7890) at EDR 100Gb/s; Quantum HDR switches (QM8700 / QM8790) when ports are configured at HDR100 (100Gb/s) split mode.
Reach class: 15 m fixed — sized for inter-rack, end-of-row aggregation, and compact spine-to-leaf runs. Not intended for sub-3 m ToR-to-server links (use a short DAC) and not long enough for inter-row or DCI distances.
Power: ~4–5 W per end drawn from the host QSFP28 cage. Hot-pluggable.
Verify before deployment: switch firmware, NIC driver, and port speed/protocol mode must be set to 100GbE or EDR. Confirm cable-vendor coding policy on third-party switches.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. What is the MFA1A00-C015?
The MFA1A00-C015 is an NVIDIA Mellanox LinkX 100Gb/s QSFP28 Active Optical Cable (AOC), 15 metres long, with an LSZH jacket. It is used for 100GbE Ethernet and 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand links between adapters and switches over multi-mode fibre with integrated optics on each end.
Q. What connector does the MFA1A00-C015 use, and is it compatible with QSFP+/QSFP56/OSFP/QSFP-DD?
QSFP28 on each end, 1-to-1. It is compatible only with QSFP28 cages (and backward-compatible QSFP+ cages at 40GbE if the host downshifts). It will not fit OSFP or QSFP-DD cages and will not negotiate to 200G (QSFP56) or 400G.
Q. Is the MFA1A00-C015 a splitter or breakout cable?
No. It is a straight 1-to-1 QSFP28-to-QSFP28 assembly. There is no 4 × 25G or 2 × 50G fan-out option on this part number.
Q. AOC vs DAC vs transceiver + fibre — which workloads is the MFA1A00-C015 right for?
For 100GbE links between 5 m and ~30 m, an AOC like the MFA1A00-C015 is lighter, easier to route, and uses less power than a transceiver-plus-patch-cord pair, and reaches further than a passive copper DAC (typically limited to ≤ 3–5 m at 100G). At 15 m it suits inter-rack EoR aggregation and compact spine-to-leaf links. 100GbE is the sweet spot for HPC compute fabrics, NVMe-oF storage targets, and AI inference — borderline for modern AI training east-west fabrics, which run on 200G HDR, 400G NDR, or 800G.
Q. Where in a data centre is a 15 m AOC typically deployed?
15 m is the inter-rack / end-of-row distance class. Typical deployments: leaf-to-aggregation switch within a row, server-rack to storage-rack interconnect, compact spine-to-leaf in a small or medium fabric, and management uplinks across two or three racks. Too long for intra-rack ToR-to-server runs (use a 1–3 m DAC) and too short for inter-row or DCI distances.
Q. Will the MFA1A00-C015 work with non-NVIDIA switches such as Cisco, Arista, Juniper, Dell or HPE?
The cable is SFF-8636 MSA-compliant, so the electrical and mechanical interface is standard. Third-party switches will usually accept it physically, but some vendors enforce a coded-optics policy in firmware and may flag a non-vendor cable. For production deployments outside NVIDIA / Mellanox infrastructure, validate the MPN against the switch vendor's compatibility list.
Q. What condition is supplied by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS?
Refurbished. Each unit is bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS: link establishment, port-by-port traffic validation where the test topology allows, EEPROM / vendor-data verification, and full cosmetic inspection. Ships in anti-static packaging from EU stock with global B2B options.
Why buy from T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS has been a Europe-based data-center networking specialist since 2007. Every unit is identified by MPN, product family, and (where available) NVIDIA P/N before it ships, and every customer gets free pre-sale compatibility advice on switch / adapter / cable pairing. Multi-currency B2B invoicing, EU stock with worldwide express shipping, and direct contact with our engineering team — not a call-centre.