NOVEMBER 13, 2008 -- At its Q4 meeting last month, the Optical Internetworking Forum (search for OIF) announced a 100G Long-Haul DWDM Transmission Module project. In addition, OIF members approved the completion of SFI-S, an implementation agreement that defines a scalable interface between SERDES and Framer devices from 40G to 100G and beyond.
The 100G Long-Haul DWDM Transmission Module - Electromechanical (MSA-100G-LH-EM) project will define mechanical dimensions of an optical line interface module, as well as the electrical connector, maximum power consumption, and communication interface. This project is part of the OIF's efforts to accelerate the availability of 100G networks.
"In an attempt to alleviate the problems of early adopters, the OIF is bringing together carriers, systems vendors, and component suppliers to arrive at a consensus solution," explains Karl Gass of Sandia National Laboratories and the Physical and Link Layer Working Group vice chair. "The 100G Electromechanical project will give suppliers a starting point for multi-source transponder designs. The OIF continues to identify projects that are required to address the 100G needs of the industry," he adds.
At the Q4 meeting, the OIF membership also approved an implementation agreement that defines a scalable interface between SERDES and Framer devices from 40G to 100G and beyond for the physical layer. The SFI-S IA is based on 4 - 20 data lines plus deskew channel, for aggregate data bandwidths in the range of 40 � 160 Gbits/sec. The SFI-S project is an extension of the prevalent OIF SFI-4 specification for electrical 10-Gbit/sec interfaces used on all 300-pin transponders. SFI-S is targeted to support the 100G work being addressed by standards bodies like IEEE 802.3ba and ITU-T and forums like ATIS and the Ethernet Alliance.
The implementation agreement is available at http://www.oiforum.com/public/documents/OIF_SFI-S_01.0_IA.pdf
Meanwhile, Torsten Wuth of Nokia Siemens Networks was newly elected to the OIF and will serve a two-year term as the Physical & Link Layer User Group chair.
In the board of directors election, the OIF membership reelected Hans-Martin Foisel of Deutsche Telekom, Steve Joiner of Finisar and Stephen Shew of Nortel Networks to two-year terms; Hans-Martin Foisel will continue to serve as president; Stephen Shew will continue as secretary/treasurer. Alessandro D'Alessandro of Telecom Italia and Jeff Hutchins of CoreOptics were also reelected to the board of directors for one-year terms. Monica Lazer of AT&T continues to serve as vice president, and Jim Jones of Alcatel-Lucent continues to serve as vice president of marketing, both as part of two-year terms on the board.
In addition, the OIF announced that the following members were reelected for one-year terms: Dave Brown of Alcatel-Lucent and Rod Smith of Tyco Electronics as Market Awareness & Education (MA&E) Committee co-chairs; Lyndon Ong of Ciena as Technical Committee Chair; and Chuck Sannipoli of IP Infusion as Technical Committee Vice Chair. Jonathan Sadler of Tellabs was reelected to a two-year term as Architecture and Signaling working group chair.