InnoLight leverages Spirent to demo 800G Ethernet interoperability

April 20, 2021
While the IEEE has just started work toward potential 800 Gigabit Ethernet specifications, Spirent says it has already received several requests from customers for 800G test capabilities.

Test equipment vendor Spirent Communications plc (LSE:SPT) and optical transceiver specialist InnoLight Technology reveal they have collaborated to validate 800G optical transceiver interoperability based on Ethernet transmission. The demonstration successfully validated an 800G link and line rate traffic transmission using IEEE 802.3ck OSFPs for VSR applications.

While the IEEE has just started work toward potential 800 Gigabit Ethernet specifications (see “IEEE 802.3 Beyond 400Gb/s Ethernet Study Group formed”), Spirent says it has already received several requests from customers for 800G test capabilities. At least some of these likely are driven by multi-source agreement (MSA) partnerships aimed toward the development of 800G Ethernet transceivers, such as the 800G Pluggable MSA and the Ethernet Technology Consortium (see “800G Pluggable MSA targets PAM4-based 8x100G, 4x200G transmission for data center networks” and “25 Gigabit Ethernet Consortium renames to Ethernet Technology Consortium, launches 800GBASE-R 800GbE specification”). InnoLight is a member of the latter group.

“We were delighted to work with Spirent to showcase this latest step towards 800G interoperability,” commented Osa Mok, chief marketing officer for InnoLight. “As vendor-agnostic test and measurement leaders, Spirent was able to help us create the environment to continuously test and validate the performance of our 800-Gbps OSFP DR8+ 2-km SMP optical transceivers, which are such vital components of the future data center and cloud network ecosystem.”

“We are seeing increasing demand from customers for 800G test solutions, and this partnership with InnoLight is a major step forward in proving interoperability and increasing customer confidence in this new technology,” added Abhitesh Kastuar, general manager, Cloud & IP, Spirent Communications. “We are working at the bleeding edge of current high-speed Ethernet technology development to enable our customers to design, develop, and eventually deploy 800G technology, and this successful interoperability demonstration will give early adopters the confidence to accelerate design and development of their 800G capable next-gen devices.”

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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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