OIF extends Micro Intradyne Coherent Receiver IA to 400-Gbps operation

Members of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) have approved additions to the Micro Intradyne Coherent Receiver implementation agreement (IA). The group also released a new Flex Coherent DWDM framework document and announced initial plans for another transport SDN demo.

The new IA # OIF-DPC-MRX-02.0 Micro Intradyne Coherent Receiver IA includes three classes of receivers, varying in their RF frequency response, that support Flex Coherent DWDM transmission at 400 Gbps and higher transmission rates. Specifically, it describes a receiver for modulation and data-rate agnostic coherent applications having nominal symbol rates up to 64 Gbaud. The OIF launched work on the original IA in 2015, and companies began to deliver product based on the specification last year (see, for example, "NeoPhotonics showcases 64-Gbaud micro-intradyne coherent receiver at ECOC").

Meanwhile, the OIF has added to it beyond 100G efforts with the publication of the Flex Coherent DWDM Transmission framework document. The document offers a roadmap toward a single technical approach for a variety of network applications, including long-haul, metro, and data center inter-connect (DCI). As was the case with the OIF's previous framework documents, the publication provides direction on the technical developments required by system and component providers, in this case to create a flex coherent optical transceiver.

"Our system vendor members continue to flow down future system requirements so that component suppliers can be ready with products to support their designs," said Karl Gass of Qorvo and optical vice chair of the OIF's Physical and Link Layer Working Group.

Finally, the OIF says it plans to hold another global transport SDN interop demo. The group has worked with the ONF on a pair of such demonstrations (see "OIF and ONF enjoy joint Transport SDN demonstration success" and "OIF details release plans for SDN Transport API demo results"). The OIF says the upcoming exercise will build on the 2016 demonstration to show APIs at work in the context of commercial transport SDN use cases. The OIF say it wants input from the service provider community, including those that have not participated in past interop demonstrations, on how the demonstration should proceed. Interested parties can take an anonymous survey on the subject until September 8, 2017.

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