400G Bidirectional MSA Group gets underway

A new 400G Bidirectional (BiDi) Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) Group has been established to promote the adoption of interoperable 400 Gbps optical transceivers for 100-meter multimode fiber (MMF) link distances, such as between switches in data centers.

Founding members of the 400G BiDi MSA include Alibaba, Broadcom, Cisco, Corning Incorporated, Foxconn Interconnect Technology, InnoLight Technology, Inphi Corporation and Sumitomo Electric.

In a press statement, the group said it is working to define optical data link specifications based on a dual wavelength bidirectional transmission technology which enables a reduction in the fiber count relative to other solutions.  The target solution leverages both the widely adopted 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps BiDi Ethernet solutions and is compatible with the widely available and deployed parallel MMF cabling infrastructure.

http://www.400GBiDi-msa.org