Open Eye Consortium touts 400G, 800G specifications for short and long reach based on 100G per lane

Feb. 24, 2022
The MSA also revealed the onset of work toward multilane, 100 Gbps per lane, 3-km parallel single-mode (PSM) fiber specifications.

The Open Eye Consortium (Open Eye MSA) has made its 100 Gbps per lane, long-reach, single-mode specification for 400G and 800G applications publicly available. Simultaneously, its has made complementary specifications for short-reach, multimode fiber applications available internally.

As is the case with the MSA’s previous specifications (see, for example, “Open Eye Consortium releases analog 50-Gbps LR1 and LR4 specifications” and “Open Eye Consortium completes specifications for 53G-per-lane multimode SR4, single-mode LR modules”), the two new specifications were developed to enable low-power, low-cost optical modules for hyperscale data center connectivity. These new specifications complement the Open Eye MSA’s previously released single and multi-mode specifications.

The publicly released 100 Gbps per lane single-mode specification targets 4x100 Gbps WDM modules for 3-km 400G-FR4-3 applications (400G-FR4-3). The 100 Gbps per lane multimode specification, currently available only to MSA members, pertains to 400-Gbps SR4-Lite and 800 Gbps SR8-Lite applications. The specification defines 50-m reach at an 850-nm VCSEL wavelength over OM4 fiber, as well as 30 m at 940 nm over OM4 and OM5 fiber.

The MSA also revealed the onset of work toward multilane, 100 Gbps per lane, 3-km parallel single-mode (PSM) fiber specifications. The MSA says its members welcome input from the end-user community on these new specifications.

The Open Eye MSA was founded in 2019 to develop specifications for PAM4-based data center modules leveraging analog clock and data recovery (CDR) based architectures as a lower-cost alternative to all-digital approaches (see “Open Eye MSA targets DSP-free PAM4 optical transceiver designs”).

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About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.

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