CASE STUDIES — High Speed Cable Interconnect System

Our customer was one of the top 5 interconnect companies in the world prior to its acquisition. Their products typically employed leading edge technology and the company introduced products on extremely aggressive schedules. Their core competency in interconnect development was unsurpassed. However, their expertise in high speed cable connectors was challenged.

IST was able to fill that void. We were contracted to developed a cable connector system which was compatible with an industry leader’s wire & cable technologies and also connected with our customer's high speed, high density backpanel header modules.

Because of our intimate knowledge and expertise of the electronic interconnects industry, we were able to develop a cable product that met their performance criteria. We also developed and incorporated three key features which greatly enhanced the cable connectors market acceptance over the competition:

  • a mechanical latching mechanism which secured the cable connector to the backpanel
  • an ESD feature which drained any damaging electro-static charge to chassis ground
  • staggered ground and voltage engagement sequence which allowed the cable to be plugged and un-plugged while backpanel power was on. This is typical in the telecom industry and is known as Hot Swapping.

Technical Skills

  • Intimate knowledge of industry, equipment, and application engineering
  • Transmission Line and Signal Fidelity Theory
  • Electronic Contact Physics
  • Electro-mechanical engineering principles
  • Copper Alloy materials selection
  • Polyester Thermoplastic materials selection
  • Injection Molding manufacturing processes
  • Materials Treatments and Finishes

ist gets it done!