100G Ethernet Is Gaining Broader Market

100G CFP2-ACO and Inphi’s 100G PAM4 modules are in use; long-distance data
center interconnect and long-haul transmission are less costly now, and
single-wavelength 100G standard will further reduce fiber and cost. 100G
technologies are making progress in an inspiring way.

A Call for 100G Revolution

Currently most data centers rely on 10GbE and 40GbE, and these technologies work
well for some time. Almost everyone has no issue with 10G or 40G and they felt these
speeds are more than enough. But issue becomes apparent when looking at it from
the data center aspect. The traffic growth of Enterprise networks and service
providers is demanding for more efficient and cost-effective technologies to deal with
higher bandwidth. This is why 100G is mentioned more frequently in these days,
especially in DCI and 100G DWDM networks. 100G technologies are called for a
network transmission revolution.

What’s Happening in 100G Technology?

On Jan. 22, 2016, the Optical Internetworking Forum published the Implementation
Agreement (IA) document for CFP2-ACO module. On Mar. 22, 2016, Inphi Corp. (a
specialist in this area) announced the industry¡¯s first 100G QSFP28 form factor for
80km DWDM DCI. Almost at the same time, AppliedMicro demonstrated world’s first
100G PAM4 single-wavelength solution at the OFC. Then on Mar. 8, 2017, members
of SWDM MSA group, consisting of the likes of Gigalight, Commscope, etc., released
the specifications for 100G SWDM4 module that works over multimode fiber.

100G CFP2-ACO and PAM4 Are Real, 100G SWDM4 Is Near

CFP2-ACO

CFP2-ACO belongs to the 100G coherent DWDM family. It has no digital signal
processor (DSP) in the package but relies on the Host board/card, so the total power
consumption (less than 12 W) of the module will not exceed power designation of the
CFP2 form factor. Instead it has analog optical components and full C-band tunable
laser on the module.

The CFP2-ACO module, along with existing CFP-DCO and in-development

CFP2-DCO, mainly serves for 100G long-distance data center interconnect/metro and
100G long-haul applications. Transceiver brands like Gigalight have been supplying
some of these 100G DWDM coherent CFPs.

Inphi 100G PAM4

Inph’s 100G QSFP28 PAM4 module combines a pair of 50Gbps wavelengths to
create the 100Gbps transmission.

The most significant breakthrough for this QSFP28 module is that it fills the gap in the
DCI within a distance of 80 km of each other. Previously there was no 100G DWDM in
QSFP28 form factor available, and sub 80km DCI was mainly relied on 10G DWDM.
As the Cloud data centers are moving to adopt 100G to meet their switching and
routing requirements, the high-density, low-latency and low power DWDM links are on
demand. Inphi 100G PAM4 module is exactly such a QSFP28 form factor for this
purpose, and Inphi will supply Microsoft this module.

However, the dual laser PAM4 (2x50G) is not the most optimized 100G solution. The
best solution is the single laser 100G PAM4 technology, for its lower power
dissipation, higher reliability and lower cost especially in large-scale deployment. As
for the single-wavelength 100G transceiver, we can still find it not far away for
single-wavelength 100G PAM4 technology to develop into the most desirable
QSFP28 100G transceiver for DCI.

100G technology on the multimode side also kept up with the advance. The SWDM
MSA specifications gave detailed information (see some in figures below) about the
100G SWDM4 module, including the module block diagram, the power dissipation,
and the color code, etc. After reading the optical specifications for the 100G SWDM4
module, it is not hard to know that transceiver manufacturers will soon make it real. At
that time, short-reach 100G transmission will use only two fibers (now is 8 or 20 fibers)
and it will be a significant reduction on fiber count and space.The main difference in
application is mainly due to their supported distances. In the whole, these 100G
standard transceivers and DAC/ AOC cable assemblies are typically used for
distances less than 40 km, together with future 100G SWDM4 module. When
combined with DWDM technology, these modules can also support longer distances.
100G PAM4 is typically for distances between 40 km and 80 km. And coherent
CFP/CFP2 DWDM optical transceivers are for 100G metro/DCI connectivity up to 80
km or a long-haul link more than 1000 km.

Note: There’s a simple way to move to 100G if you do not bother to change your
present infrastructure. That is by using 100G transponder/muxponder.
100G transponder/ muxponder is a device that aggregates multiple lower rate
services onto a 100G DWDM link typically for long-distance transmission. The 100G
muxponder can multiplex multiprotocol and multi-rate services instead of only one
type, such as 8GFC, 10GbE LAN/SAN, 40GbE LAN, OTU2, STM64/OC-192, etc. The
advantage of using 100G transponder/muxponder is that a redesign of the network is
not required. The muxponder/transponder uses an existing wavelength in the DWDM
network. In comparison to other solutions, the 100G muxponder saves considerable
space and costs for space and energy.