The Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density 800 (QSFP-DD800) Multisource Agreement (MSA) group has released its first hardware specification for the QSFP-DD800 transceiver form factor. The specification is incremental to the QSFP-DD 5.0 specification, according to the group.
As the name implies, the QSFP-DD800 effort aims to foster development of optical transceivers in the QSFP-DD form factor capable of transmitting 800 Gbps. The QSFP-DD has been specified for applications up to 400 Gbps (see “QSFP-DD MSA targets 200G, 400G optical transceivers”). The MSA, announced last September, is backed by Broadcom, Cisco, II-VI, Intel, Juniper Networks, Marvell, Molex, and Samtec (see "QSFP-DD800 MSA Group targets 800-Gbps pluggable transceivers"). The group says it will act as an incubator in collaboration with the QSFP-DD MSA to provide specifications to the latter group in hopes that the QSFP-DD800 will be included within the QSFP-DD specifications.
Toward that end, the QSFP-DD800 transceiver pads have been optimized to improve signal integrity for 100-Gbps per lane without affecting backwards compatibility with existing QSFP modules. Meanwhile, the new specification defines what the MSA group says is a novel 2x1 connector/cage, with cabled upper ports as an option to address the signal loss issues the group says are associated with tradition PCBs. The group adds it plans to define other connector/cage variants, including 2x1 SMT implementations that operate at 100 Gbps per lane.
“In the short time our group has collaborated, we are thrilled to introduce this first specification for the next generation of the QSFP family of modules,” said Scott Sommers, co-chair of the QSFP-DD800 MSA. “As signal integrity and thermal management remain challenges for the optical communications industry, our MSA group is confident that its solutions will meet performance needs.”
“With their superior system integration and design flexibility, QSFP modules continue to be the cornerstone in building next generation networks and network equipment, especially as port speeds increase to 800G,” added Mark Nowell, the other co-chair. “Furthermore, their ability to increase switch and routing bandwidth density without sacrificing backwards compatibility with QSFP-DD, QSFP56, and QSFP28 modules provide network operators tremendous commercial and operational advantages.”
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