Communications Industry Researchers (CIR) expects the demand for 800G optical transceivers to pick up strongly this decade. The market research firm predicts in a new report, Beyond 400G: The Prospects for 800G, Terabit Pluggables, On-Board Optics, and Co-Packaged Optics, that sales of such optical modules will reach $245 million by 2025 and $2.5 billion by 2029.
CIR notes that work on 800 Gigabit Ethernet modules is already underway, via specification efforts from organizations such as the 800G Pluggable MSA and the Ethernet Technology Consortium (see “800G Pluggable MSA targets PAM4-based 8x100G, 4x200G transmission for data center networks” and “25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium renames to Ethernet Technology Consortium, launches 800GBASE-R 800GbE specification”). CIR expects such modules to find favor in “interbuilding connectivity,” with the technology becoming widespread in data centers that make significant use of 200G servers. The market research firm also expects to see service providers begin to deploy 800G pluggable transceivers by the end of the forecast period via technology it describes as “somewhat proprietary to the equipment makers.”
"800G represents a new era in optical networking speeds and latencies to accommodate the substantial uptick in video conferencing, streaming and digital entertainment as well new applications including virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence services,” notes Lawrence Gasman, author of the study and president of CIR.
However, while pluggables are popular, CIR predicts the approach will run out of steam when requirements reach 1.6 Tbps. Co-packaged optics likely will take over, with onboard optics perhaps serving as an interim step, according to the report.
Beyond 400G: The Prospects for 800G, Terabit Pluggables, On-Board Optics, and Co-Packaged Optics examines the drivers and demand for technology that delivers 800 Gbps and above. The report is especially focused on technologies coming out of the efforts to build high-speed interfaces based on pluggable optics, on-board optics, and co-packaged optics. CIR compares the approaches, discusses their viability, and constructs roadmaps for each technology.
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