MRV Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRVC) has jumped into the 1RU data center interconnect platform game with the OD-4-DCI. The company differentiates the platform from competitors in the increasingly crowded data center interconnect space through its ability to use line cards from other members of the company's OptiDriver family of WDM metro transport systems and, therefore, its support of pluggable interfaces.
With one slot of the four-slot OD-4-DCI reserved for a management card, the platform offers three slots for various combinations of existing and future OptiDriver line cards, according to Zeev Draer, vice president of strategic marketing, and Mannix O'Connor, director of technical marketing at MRV. As those line cards accept pluggable optical transceivers (including CFP2 on the line side and QSFP28 on the client side), customers can tailor the platform to meet their needs and follow a "pay as you grow" implementation strategy, the company sources explained. Such application optimization will enable the same platform to meet the needs of service providers and data center operators as well, the MRV spokesmen added.
The multi-line-card, pluggable optics design also can improve system reliability, O'Connor pointed out. The ability to reuse line cards from other OptiDriver platforms improves return on investment and lessens the odds of stranded chassis space, the two sources said.
In its initial incarnation, the system will support a maximum per-port transmission rate of 100 Gbps; the company touts a total capacity of 1.2 Tbps per platform at launch. However, Draer and O'Connor expect total system capacity to climb as higher-rate optical transceivers become available. Draer said the company likely will support PAM4-based direct-detect operation as the necessary transceivers become available, augmented as necessary with companion amplifier and dispersion compensation capabilities MRV already offers.
As is the case with the other members of the OptiDriver line, network operators can use the MRV's Pro-Vision Life Cycle Service Orchestration (LSO) service management and orchestration software platform to control operation of the OD-4-DCI. The system also is designed for use in open optical line system environments.
The OD-4-DCI is generally available.
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