Cisco 40GBASE-CR4 Passive Copper Cable - Direct attach cable - QSFP+ to QSFP+ - 3 m - twinaxial - orange - for Catalyst 3016, Nexus 3016, 3064-E, 3064PQ, 3064-X

Product Overview

AI-generated summary

At ~£170 ex-VAT for a 3m QSFP+ direct-attach twinax, this is the kind of “it just works” cable you buy when you know the port mapping and distance are already locked in. Passive copper direct-attach is genuinely great value in that narrow use-case: low-latency, no power-hungry optics, and fewer points of failure than you’d get with optics plus modules. For racks in the same row—especially around Catalyst/Nexus 30xx gear where these are commonly used—this is a sensible, operationally boring purchase (which is what you want).

Who should buy: teams connecting switches-to-switches or switch-to-close devices where 3m is within spec and you prefer simplicity over optical spares. Who shouldn’t: if you’re expecting cable runs to drift beyond what you planned, or you might later repurpose ports across floors/rows. Also, if budget is tight, it’s worth shopping around for compatible alternatives—Cisco branding/certification can be priced aggressively, and with passive twinax you’re buying reach and compatibility more than “performance.” If your environment is well-defined and short-cable routing is the norm, it’s a fair buy; if you need flexibility or longer reach, you’ll regret not going optical instead.