The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) says it has completed a multi-vendor interoperability demonstration highlighting the expansion of 100G component availability to smaller form factors by testing live traffic over media including optical fiber, copper cables, and backplanes.
Operating under the theme of "OIF Interoperability 2014 - Accelerating Momentum on the Road to Next-Generation Architectures," the demo will be repeated at the upcoming ECOC Exhibition in Cannes, France, September 22-24.
The event will mark the OIF's fifth demonstration of 4x25-Gbps channels and includes nine different demo scenarios featuring 11 different participating companies. The OIF members participating in the demos include Amphenol Fiber Optic Products, Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR), Fujitsu Optical Components, Inphi Corp. (NYSE: IPHI), JDSU Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU; TSX: JDU), Molex Inc. (NASDAQ:MOLX) , MoSys, Semtech, TE Connectivity (NYSE: TEL), Xilinx, and Yamaichi Electronics along with Keysight Technologies and Tektronix, Inc. providing testing equipment.
The demonstrations at ECOC will include:
- CFP4 optical modules from multiple suppliers with CEI-28G-VSR electrical channels interoperating over a range of single mode fiber lengths
- A CFP4 active copper cable assembly operating with CEI-28G-VSR links with multiple ASIC suppliers
- Testing and validation of chip-to-module "VSR channels" with compliance boards per CEI-28G-VSR
- Interoperation of various QSFP28 direct attach copper cables (DAC) from multiple vendors over CEI-25G-LR channels
- Three different connector supplier’s electrical backplane connectors showing CEI-25G-LR operation with multiple SerDes suppliers
- A demonstration of the effects of variations in surface condition on thermal performance with the 400G CDFP Style 2 pluggable module as per the ongoing OIF thermal interface development project.
"OIF members continue to lead the industry in developing agreements that enable an interoperable ecosystem of hardware based on 25- to 28-Gbps electrical and optical channels," said Ed Frlan of Semtech and the OIF PLL Interoperability Working Group chair. "The demonstrations at ECOC validate the work that has been completed within the OIF and the next-generation work that is in-process."
OIF leaders will also speak at the ECOC Market Focus Theatre on the subject of software-defined networking (SDN; see "OIF touts optical SDN role"). Verizon’s Vishnu Shukla, OIF president, and Deutsche Telekom’s Hans-Martin Foisel, OIF board member and Carrier Working Group chair, will discuss “Software-Defined Networking (SDN) – What It Means for Optical Networking” on September 21, 2:00 pm – 5:30 pm. Shukla will also present “Transport SDN at OIF – Assuring a Seamless Evolution to Interoperable Transport Networks of the Future” on September 24, 10:20 am - 10:50 am.
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