- News
9 March 2018
OIF and Ethernet Alliance to operate live FlexE traffic over 400G network at OFC
© Semiconductor Today Magazine / Juno PublishiPicture: Disco’s DAL7440 KABRA laser saw.
At the Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC 2018) in San Diego, CA, USA (13-15 March), industry-leading organizations, the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) and the Ethernet Alliance are giving a joint interoperating 400Gbps Ethernet (400GbE) network demonstration featuring 400Gbps of Flex Ethernet (FlexE) traffic sent over four bonded 100GbE interfaces streaming over the Ethernet Alliance 400GbE network and interconnecting the OIF and Ethernet Alliance booths on the exhibit floor.
The demonstration is designed to showcase the Ethernet Alliance’s IEEE 802.3bs 400Gbps technology (ratified in December) and the OIF’s FlexE 1.1 Implementation Agreement (IA).
“This collaborative effort is the ideal opportunity for the OIF to demonstrate the capabilities of its FlexE specification,” believes Nathan Tracy, the OIF’s VP of marketing and a technologist at TE Connectivity. “The Ethernet Alliance’s deployment of the 400GbE network over OFC’s exhibit floor demonstrates the initial availability of the developing 400Gbps ecosystem,” he adds.
“The OIF’s FlexE technology is yet another example of the flexibility that the Next Ethernet Era will enable,” says Ethernet Alliance chairman John D’Ambrosia of Huawei. “We applaud the OIF’s work to leverage Ethernet solutions as the basis of their FlexE implementation agreement.”
Furthering its mission to promote the development and deployment of interoperable networking solutions and services, the OIF is showcasing a variety of projects (including an industry-first) during OFC. The OIF booth #5525, host to 14 member companies, will feature five separate, multi-party demonstrations featuring device and component interoperability. Two FlexE demos will showcase the bonding, subrating and channelization capabilities of the released FlexE 1.1 IA. Separately, a high-speed electrical demo will feature the OIF’s recently released CEI-4.0 56Gbps PAM4 VSR (chip to module) electrical interface in a configuration that includes electrical-to-optical-to-electrical operation. Finally, two additional demos will feature 112Gbps serial (single-channel) electrical signaling in a VSR (chip-to-module) application and a direct attach copper (DAC) cable implementation.
The member companies participating in the OIF demo include Amphenol Corp; Credo Semiconductor; FiberHome Telecommunications Technologies Co Ltd; Finisar; Huawei Technologies Co Ltd; Inphi Corp; Keysight Technologies; Molex LLC; TE Connectivity Ltd; Tektronix Inc; VIAVI Solutions; Xilinx, Inc; Yamaichi Electronics and ZTE Corp.
The Ethernet Alliance OFC 2018 multi-vendor technology demonstration is one of the many steps that the Ethernet Alliance is making in support of interoperable, next-generation technologies, such as PAM4. The demo showcases technologies from copper to optical interconnects at rates of 10GbE to 400GbE, as well as a live 400GbE network.
Taking place in booth #2648, the Ethernet Alliance’s OFC 2018 demo incorporates equipment and solutions from 17 different companies: Amphenol Corp; Anitsu Company; Arista Networks Inc; Cisco Systems Inc; Commscope Holding Co Inc; EXFO Inc; Finisar; Huawei Technologies Co Ltd; Keysight Technologies; Juniper Networks; Molex LLC; Nexans S.A.; Source Photonics Inc; Spirent Communications; TE Connectivity Ltd; Teledyne LeCroy Inc; and Xilinx Inc.
www.oiforum.com/meetings-and-events/oif-ofc-2018
©2006-2020
Juno Publishing and Media Solutions Ltd. All rights reserved. Semiconductor
Today and the editorial material contained within it and related media is
the copyright of Juno Publishing and Media Solutions Ltd. Reproduction in
whole or part without permission from Juno Publishing and Media Solutions
Ltd is forbidden. In most cases, permission will be granted, if the magazine
and publisher are acknowledged.