ECOC 2023: Vendors and providers stepped up to the interoperability plate
Interoperability was a key theme at the fall ECOC 2023 show. During the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), the Ethernet and Open XR Forum held multi-vendor interoperability demonstrations.
The OIF interoperability demonstration included 39 companies demonstrating interoperability work in four areas - 400ZR+, Co-Packaging solutions, CEI-112G & CEI-224G, and CMIS implementations. During ECOC, OIF also commemorated 25 years dedicated to driving meaningful progress in the industry.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Ethernet, the Ethernet Alliance conducted a multivendor interoperability demonstration. The Ethernet Alliance’s experiential exhibit at ECOC booth #460 encompassed a broad cross-section of Ethernet products and solutions.
With speeds ranging from 10GbE to 800GbE, the demo showcased optical cabling and interconnects, switches, routers, transceivers, test and measurement equipment, and pluggable form factors such as OSFP, QSFP-DD, QSFP, and SFP.
Finally, the Open XR Forum, a multi-source agreement (MSA) working group for XR optics that are developing the emerging point-to-multipoint coherent pluggable transceiver technology, hosted a symposium. The symposium featured the latest transceiver specifications, including thermal, mechanical form factor and electro-optical characteristics.
These interoperability efforts, while highlighting different elements of the optical ecosystem, will be significant as vendors and service provider customers scale products and networks.
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About the Author
Sean BuckleySean Buckley
Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove.
