22 March 2017

Mellanox doubles silicon photonics Ethernet transceiver speeds to 200Gb/s

Mellanox Technologies Ltd of Sunnyvale, CA, USA and Yokneam, Israel (a supplier of end-to-end InfiniBand and Ethernet interconnect solutions and services for data-center servers and storage systems) has launched a line of 200Gb/s silicon photonics and vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based transceivers in the same QSFP28 package as existing 100Gb/s products, doubling the bandwidth for hyperscale Web 2.0 and cloud 100Gb/s networks. The firm is also introducing 200Gb/s active optical cables (AOCs) and direct attach copper cables (DACs), including breakout cables, to allow for end-to-end 200Gb/s Ethernet networks.

“Our hyperscale customers can double their bandwidth and scale to 200G while using their existing installed fiber and without changing to a new form factor,” says Amir Prescher, senior VP of business development & general manager of the interconnect business. “There is no need to wait for a new 400G form factor. Using the same QSFP package as 100G, Mellanox’s 200Gb/s products provide better ROI [return on investment] and compelling cost advantages today,” he adds.

Specifically, Mellanox is announcing the following products:

• 200Gb/s 1550nm DR4 QSFP28 silicon photonics transceiver for reaches of 500m on single-mode fiber;
• 200Gb/s SR4 VCSEL QSFP28 transceiver for reaches of 100m on OM4 multi-mode fiber;
• 200Gb/s QSFP28 active optical cable (AOC) for reaches to 100m;
• 200Gb/s QSFP28 direct attach copper (DAC) cable for reaches of 3m; and
• 200Gb/s QSFP28 to 4 x 50Gb/s SFP28 copper splitter cables to connect 50Gb/s servers to TOR switches

The next generation of switches and servers will run at 50G per lane interfaces. These transceivers and DACs support the new IEEE 200GAUI electrical standard, using 25GBaud PAM4 signaling, literally doubling the lane speed.

Exhibiting in booth 3715 at the Optical Fiber Communications conference & exhibition (OFC 2017) in Los Angeles (21-23 March), Mellanox is giving live demonstrations of all its end-to-end solutions in switching, network adapter and copper and optical cables and transceivers, including:

• a live 200Gb/s silicon photonics demonstration;
• Spectrum SN2700, SN2410 and SN2100 100Gb/s QSFP28/SFP28 switches;
• ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-5 25G/50G/100Gb/s QSFP28/SFP28 network adapters;
• LinkX 25G/50G/100Gb/s DAC and AOC cables and 100G SR4 and PSM4 transceivers;
• new Quantum switches with 40 ports of 200Gb/s QSFP28 in 1Ru chassis;
• new ConnectX-6 adapters with two ports of 200Gb/s QSFP28; and
• silicon photonics optical engines and components.

At OFC, Mellanox is also demonstrating interoperability of its silicon photonics 100Gb/s PSM4 with Innolight, AOI, Oclaro, and Hisense transceivers in both its booth and in the adjacent Ethernet Alliance booth 1709.

See related items:

Mellanox launches 100Gb/s silicon photonics optical engine product line

Mellanox ships 200,000th optical transceiver module for next-gen 100Gb/s networks

Tags: II-VI Inc AOC

Visit: www.ofcconference.org/

Visit: www.ii-vi-photonics.com