Finisar showcases CFP8 400 Gigabit Ethernet optical transceiver at ECOC 2015

Optical component and subsystems developer Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR) is providing a glimpse of what 400 Gigabit Ethernet modules might look like at ECOC 2015 in Valencia, Spain. The company is showing the CFP8 format for a 400 Gigabit Ethernet optical transceiver.

CFP8 is an emerging form factor currently under development by members of the CFP multisource agreement (MSA). While an MSA alliance has put forth the CDFP form factor for 400 Gigabit Ethernet (see "CDFP Rev. 3.0 for 400-Gbps optical modules now available"), some within that group have suggested it may prove to be best suited for the multimode fiber PMD, which is based on 16 conventional fibers (32 if you're counting both transmission and reception requirements; see "The journey to 400 Gigabit Ethernet"). Thus, there may be a requirement for a different form factor for the single-mode fiber PMDs, particularly those based on two fibers (one each for send and receive).

The CFP8 will be approximately the size of a CFP2, Finisar says. It will accommodate both the CDAUI-16 (16x25G) and CDAUI-8 (8x50G) electrical interfaces that the IEEE P802.3bs 400 Gigabit Ethernet Task Force has adopted, and thus will support both multimode fiber and single-mode fiber applications. A 1RU host system card fully populated with CFP8 optical modules would support a total of 6.4 Tbps, Finisar says.

The company also says the CFP8 should find use in high-density 4x100GbE fan-out applications, where it would offer greater faceplate density than QSFP28 devices.

For more information on optical transceivers and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer's Guide.