NVIDIA Mellanox MFA1A00-E015 100Gb/s EDR InfiniBand QSFP28 Active Optical Cable, 15m LSZH: This is a 15-meter active optical cable (AOC) engineered for InfiniBand EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) point-to-point interconnectivity at 100Gb/s. The NVIDIA P/N is 980-9I13S-00E015. The cable uses VCSEL optics over multi-mode fiber with a Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) jacket. This is a fixed-length integrated assembly with QSFP28 connectors molded onto both ends — it is NOT a transceiver-plus-patch-cord pair, and it is NOT the Ethernet C015 variant (the C-suffix is 100GbE, the E-suffix is EDR IB). This is a refurbished unit.
Engineering Context
EDR InfiniBand operates at 4 lanes of 25.78125Gb/s each (NRZ), delivering 100Gb/s aggregate. The MFA1A00-E015 spans 15m — sufficient for cross-row connections in HPC clusters where passive copper (limited to roughly 3m at EDR) cannot reach. BER is rated at less than 1E-15, and the AOC supports Forward Error Correction (FEC) per the InfiniBand specification. The LSZH jacket emits minimal smoke and no halogens during a fire event, satisfying strict data center fire codes. Integrated optics eliminate dirty fiber end-face faults common to MTP/MPO patch-cord deployments.
Deployment & Use Cases
HPC InfiniBand fabrics interconnecting compute nodes to spine switches across multiple racks. AI/ML training clusters using NVIDIA HGX/DGX nodes over Quantum-1 EDR switches. GPU-to-GPU GPUDirect RDMA paths longer than 5m. Storage interconnect for parallel file systems (Lustre, GPFS, BeeGFS) running on InfiniBand. Note: this cable is sized for InfiniBand EDR — see C015 for the 100GbE Ethernet equivalent.
Technical Specifications
OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number: MFA1A00-E015 (NVIDIA P/N 980-9I13S-00E015)
Form Factor: QSFP28 to QSFP28 (Point-to-Point)
Data Rate: 100Gb/s (4×25.78125Gb/s NRZ)
Protocol: InfiniBand EDR
Cable Type: Active Optical Cable (AOC)
Length: 15m
Jacket: LSZH (Low Smoke Zero Halogen)
BER: <1E-15
FEC: Per IB EDR specification
Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Compatible with NVIDIA Mellanox Quantum-1 (CS7500/CS7510, SB7700/SB7800) EDR switches and ConnectX-4, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6 VPI HCAs operating in InfiniBand mode. NOT designed for 100GbE Ethernet — use MFA1A00-C015 for that. NOT compatible with HDR (200Gb/s) ports without speed renegotiation to EDR. Does not support 4×25G breakout — this is a direct point-to-point cable. Fixed 15m length; cannot be cut or extended.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS tests every AOC for optical power output on all four lanes, link-up at full EDR rate, and connector mechanical integrity before shipment. Visit tes-itsolutions.com for our full InfiniBand cable inventory. Handling time 1–3 business days with global shipping and warranty.