OIF members inaugurated three new projects during this month’s Q2 2021 Technical and MA&E Committees Meeting May 10-14. The trio of new efforts include the External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) Module Project, the Application of Artificial Intelligence to Enhanced Network Operations Project, and the CEI-112G-Linear Project. The members also agreed to poll operators for input ahead of the 2022 Transport SDN Interoperability Demonstration.
The ELSFP module effort will seek to define a new form factor for a blind-mate pluggable external light source module that can be used in co-packaged optics (CPO) applications. The work complements OIF’s CPO Framework Implementation Agreement efforts (see “OIF targets Co-Packaging Framework Implementation Agreement”). However, project participants are expected to create provisions – such as support for more fibers, thermal aspects, and optical power classes – that will enable extended use beyond the initial generation of CPO engines.
“The ELSFP project is an important step for enabling co-packaged optics deployments,” stated Gary Nicholl of Cisco, who is an OIF board member. “And, the project objectives include the necessary technical considerations to ensure this project will be relevant for multiple generations.”
The AI and network operations effort will result in a whitepaper that describes use cases to which AI can contribute toward the development and operation of intelligent, resilient, and high-performance optical and packet networks. Such networks will be essential to support upcoming 5G applications as well as other scenarios, OIF points out.
OIF members also determined that a linear chip-to-optical engine interface is needed to enable low-power, low-cost, small-form-factor 112G serial optical modules, particularly those for CPO, Near Package Optics (NPO), and server/GPU applications. So they have launched an effort to facilitate the use of such optical modules.
Finally, the OIF Networking Interoperability Working Group has initiated a survey of operators for their input and interest in participating in a 2022 Transport SDN Interoperability Demonstration. The deadline to complete the survey is Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Interested operators can click here to download the survey. OIF has conducted several such demonstrations, usually focused on specific aspects of transport SDN interoperability as enabled by such elements as Transport API (see, for example, “OIF and ONF enjoy joint Transport SDN demonstration success”).
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