5 March 2014

OIF completes three implementation agreements for 100G electrical interfaces; starts project for 400G

Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) members have approved revision 3.1 of the Common Electrical Interface (CEI) implementation agreement (IA) document, which specifies the electrical characteristics of transmitters, receivers and channels for interface speeds up to 28Gb/s. The latest revision of the IA is key to addressing the challenges of 100G technology and includes two new clauses defining additional CEI-28G interfaces that are currently being implemented in products by suppliers.

“The OIF has focused on keeping the CEI IA up-to-date and forward looking,” says OIF Physical and Link Layer working group chair & board member David Stauffer of Kandou Bus S.A. of Lausanne, Switzerland and Northampton Science Park, UK (a semiconductor firm that designs serial links, SerDes and associated technologies). “These new interface definitions are important as the industry is currently deploying 100G applications and needs to continually support faster and more cost-effective electrical interfaces to optical components.”

CEI-28G-VSR specifies a chip-to-module electrical interface for the range 19.6-28.1Gsym/s, with up to 10dB of loss and a single connector. This clause of the IA defines the characteristics required to communicate between an optical module and a host chip and meet interoperability requirements at the module connector. CEI-28G-VSR is the definitive module interconnection for the 28G generation and has been implemented by several optical module products.

CEI-28G-MR defines requirements for a chip-to-chip medium-reach high-speed electrical interface between nominal baud rates of 19.90Gsym/s and 28.1Gsym/s with 20dB of loss. Past work from the OIF found the need for a specification optimized for medium-reach, shorter-length backplane channels with lower loss. Transmitters and receivers optimized to meet CEI-28G-MR and used in medium-reach applications will offer power advantages over components designed for higher-loss backplanes. The CEI-28G-MR signals the completion of the 28G IAs.

New project and workshop seek to develop 56Gb/s requirements

The OIF is working on several electrical 56Gb/s specifications that will enable higher-density 100 and 400Gb/s systems. These specifications will be suitable for use in both chip-to-module and chip-to-chip applications and are expected to play a key role in enabling the next generation of many different high-speed systems. The new project (started during the first-quarter meeting) will address medium-reach applications and is in addition to 56Gb/s projects started for short-reach interface applications.

Also at the quarterly meeting, the OIF conducted a workshop on 56G that tackled next-generation electrical link technology to support 400G. This workshop cultivated input from industry leaders on where 56G is heading and how to address the next-generation applications. The OIF says it will continue to seek industry input as necessary for the success of 400G standards. It is anticipated that 400Gb/s interfaces will require denser electrical links than current 28Gb/s serial link technology.

Other developments from the quarterly meeting include elections for 2-year terms of Kandou’s Dave Stauffer as the OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group chair and Ed Frlan of Semtech as the OIF Physical and Link Layer Interoperability Working Group chair.

See related items:

OIF members approve Implementation Agreements for 100G applications, plus medium-reach CEI-28G

Tags: OIF

Visit: www.oiforum.com/public/documents/OIF_CEI_03.1.pdf