What Can We Expect from ECOC 2021?

Traditionally, the two major optical communications technology tradeshows, OFC and ECOC, have balanced each other quite nicely. Generally held six months apart, OFC would provide a look at what the major technical trends would be for the year and ECOC would offer an opportunity to measure how far those trends had progressed midway toward the next OFC.But that was before COVID-19 played havoc with both events. Last year, OFC was held on time but, in terms of attendance, was a shell of itself. ECOC was postponed to December in hopes of outlasting the pandemic but then was held virtually. This year, OFC was postponed to June but still didn’t escape the pandemic’s effects, evolving to a virtual format as well. And while ECOC is back in September (September 13-16 in Bordeaux, France, as a matter of fact) and ready for live attendees as of this writing, few would be surprised if rising infection rates adversely affect participation from companies and attendees who make their homes outside of Europe.Regardless of the pandemic, however, it seems certain that ECOC 2021 will be held in some form. And while OFC will only be about three months in the rearview mirror, the event in France will still offer the chance to see how several optical communications trends have advanced.

Co-Packaged Optics and the OSFP-XD

The most eye-catching technology development at OFC 2021 was the announcement of the OSFP-XD, a double-density version of the OSFP touted as providing more or less everything co-packaged optics (CPO) promises with – advocates insist – less technical risk. As described by Arista Networks Founder, Chief Development Officer, and Chairman Andy Bechtolsheim early in the conference program, the new form factor will leverage twice the number of electrical channels as the current 800G OSFP while maintaining the same module size. The increase in the number of channels would enable the OSFP-XD to support 1.6 Tbps with current 100G-per-lane SerDes technology and with the power efficiency expected to be desired when supporting 51.2T switch chips. When 200G SerDes completes development, such modules would support 3.2 Tbps for the needs of 104.4T switching devices.
However, nothing about the new module has appeared on the OSFP Multisource Agreement website as of early August. Perhaps ECOC 2021 will provide an opportunity for a formal introduction of an OSFP-XD development effort.
Regardless of the claims of OSFP-XD advocates, it’s unlikely that companies working on CPO technology will throw up their hands in despair and turn to other pursuits. OFC featured announcements of several new CPO initiatives, including relevant technology from emerging companies such as Avicena, Ayar Labs, LIPAC, and POET Technologies. We should see more on CPO in Bordeaux. The ECOC conference program contains a two-part session first thing Monday morning, September 13, titled “Co-Packaging Optics: How Many Fibers Are Too Many?” and other presentations related to CPO are sprinkled throughout the week. Meanwhile, exhibitors on the show floor likely will have a few things to say about CPO as well.

Nothing Hollow about Hollowcore Fiber

The other technology that spun heads at OFC 2021 was hollowcore fiber – and the technology would be expected to get plenty of play at ECOC. Such fiber is the subject of a conference tutorial session in the early afternoon of Wednesday, September 15, for example.
With the submission deadlines for both the post-deadline papers and the exhibit hall Market Focus sessions not yet expired as this issue was going to press, it’s difficult to say whether there will be other presentations on hollowcore fiber to attend. Neither of the two major companies active in hollowcore fiber – Lumenisity and OFS – were on the exhibitor list as of early August. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be represented at the event in some form, raising the chances that more info on hollowcore fiber will be forthcoming.

800G Progress Continues

Both coherent- and PAM4-based 800G technology made impressions at OFC 2021 and should do the same at ECOC. Both Infinera and Ciena are shipping 800G coherent capabilities for their systems, and their competitors will be looking for the enabling technologies that will help them catch up. Merchant DSPs with such horsepower would be most welcome, which means representatives from these companies will be looking for news from NTT Electronics and Marvell/Inphi along these lines. Meanwhile, a few companies unveiled 800-Gbps Ethernet transceivers based on PAM4 transmission at OFC 2021. It would make sense if other optical module vendors followed suit.

Moving toward a Terabit – and Beyond

And with 800G technology reaching the field, R&D attention now turns to what comes next. Market research firms have already made predictions about the next transmission rates for service provider and data center networks. Analysts at the Dell’Oro Group say they expect to see 1.2-Tbps coherent transmission reach the field within the next five years, with their LightCounting counterparts predicting that Google will deploy 1.6-Tbps data center modules within the same timeframe (OSFP-XD, perhaps?).
It’s natural to expect to find presentations within the conference program that describe experimental transmissions at these rates and greater. It may be too early to expect announcements from show floor participants about products designed to support such rates (beyond taking 800G technology and using it twice for a 2x800G approach to 1.6 Tbps). But those walking the exhibit aisles should find a few stands where such roadmaps will be discussed.
Exhibit hall denizens likely will find a number of other technologies of interest as well. It seems likely that ECOC 2021 won’t be as busy as past editions. But that doesn’t mean it will lack for displays of innovation.
STEPHEN HARDY is editorial director of Lightwave.