Switching to a stacked QSFP-DD connector doubled the port count inside the existing chassis footprint.
Why a stacked QSFP-DD connector was the answer
The problem
A university research group building an AI training cluster found that the aggregation switches were fully populated well before the racks were full. Replacing the switches would have meant a full fabric redesign and a lengthy procurement cycle; the group needed more ports inside the existing chassis footprint.
What we found
The switches used QSFP-DD cages, and the platform supported stacked configurations that had not been populated when the equipment was originally specified. The constraint was board area rather than switch capacity.
What we supplied
QSFP-DD 112G connectors with 2×1 stacked configurations, which place two 400G ports in the board area previously occupied by one. Supplied genuine through the authorised Amphenol channel with full traceability, and with no minimum order quantity — important because the group needed a small number of ports rather than a full chassis load.
The outcome
Port count roughly doubled without a chassis change, and the group was able to add compute nodes to the fabric without re-engineering the aggregation layer. The same stacked configuration has since been adopted for a second cluster.
Products used in this project
Send us the application detail and we will confirm which of our connectors or cable assemblies suits the duty, or propose a custom construction. You can also review our quality control process and the documentation supplied with each order.
What this means for your project
Port density problems are often solved inside the existing chassis rather than by replacing it. Checking what the platform already supports, before assuming a refresh is required, is the step that saved this project a procurement cycle.
Reference material for the standards referenced above is published by ISO and the RoHS compliance guide. Where a project requires conformance to a particular standard, tell us at the enquiry stage and we will confirm what documentation we can supply.