Inphi and NeoPhotonics have completed the first interoperability demonstration of OIF 400ZR Implementation Agreement compliant coherent transceivers, operating successfully across the C-Band over 120km of optical fiber.
Transceiver pairs consisting of Inphi's COLORZ II QSFP-DD with its Canopus 7nm Coherent DSP and NeoPhotonics 400ZR ClearLight OSFP were successfully linked. Both 400ZR coherent optics transceivers carried error-free traffic over a typical data center interconnect (DCI) link configuration (amplified over 120km of fiber) at several wavelengths across the C-Band using Arista 7060 data center switches.
The successful interoperation of NeoPhotonics and Inphi 400ZR transceivers demonstrates the availability of interoperable coherent transceivers for the 400ZR ecosystem, a key step in enabling the next generation of DCI links. 400ZR pluggable transceiver modules significantly reduce the cost and power consumption of DCIs by eliminating the transport network equipment layer.
“We are very excited about the successful interoperable demonstration with NeoPhotonics to bring pluggable 400G coherent optics into the data center,” said Josef Berger, AVP of Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This demonstration proves the readiness to deliver the flexibility of high bandwidth DWDM connectivity between data centers with the ability to rapidly scale capacity and meet our customers’ demands for standards-based pluggable coherent solutions.”
“NeoPhotonics has worked closely with Inphi to combine their Canopus™ DSP with our high-performance laser and coherent optics into a standards-based ClearLight OSFP and QSFP-DD transceiver modules that can meet the needs of our hyper-scale customers,” said Marc Stiller, Vice President of Coherent Modules for NeoPhotonics. “Supporting the interoperable CFEC standard, as defined by OIF, has been a critical part of our design effort, and we’re very pleased to announce this milestone as we continue to work with customers to implement this game-changing technology.”
OIF publishes 400ZR implementation agreeement
OIF published the Implementation Agreement (IA) for a low-cost, 400ZR coherent optical interface.OIF launched the 400ZR project in response to requests from large-scale data center operators and their suppliers for an interoperable coherent interface that transports 400 Gigabit Ethernet over longer distances. Traditional network operators also became interested in 400ZR for their metro needs. Based on their different requirements, OIF developed specs and tweaked the channel requirements so the IA would benefit both data center and network operators. While developing the IA, OIF collaborated closely with other standards bodies.
The 400ZR IA addresses two applications:
- Amplified, point-to-point DWDM links with reaches of 120 km or less
- Unamplified, single wavelength links with a loss budget of 11dB
No restriction on the physical form factor is implied by the IA (QSFP-DD, OSFP, COBO, CFP2, CFP8), but the specifications target a pluggable DCO architecture with port densities equivalent to grey client optics.
NeoPhotonics samples 400ZR OSFP coherent transceiver
NeoPhotonics began sampling its new 400ZR ClearLight OSFP transceiver to a leading cloud -related customer.
The new transceiver utilizes NeoPhotonics Silicon Photonics Coherent Optical Subassembly (COSA) and low power consumption, ultra-narrow linewidth Nano-ITLA tunable laser, combined with the latest generation of 7 nm DSP, to provide full 400ZR transmission in a standard data center OSFP form factor.
NeoPhotonics said its new 400ZR ClearLight OSFP transceiver can be plugged directly into switches and router, simplifying data center interconnect (DCI) networks by eliminating a layer of network equipment and a set of short reach client-side transceivers. The new OSFP module is capable of tuning to 75 GHz or 100GHz spaced wavelength channels, as specified in the OIF agreement, and operates in 400ZR mode for Cloud DCI applications. For longer metro reaches, the module is designed to support 400ZR+ modes.
This ClearLight OSFP module can also be optionally provisioned to tune over the entire “Super C-Band”, or up to 6.4 Terahertz, increasing the capacity of an optical fiber by up to 50% over standard implementations. NeoPhotonics provides arrayed waveguide gratings for multiplexing and de-multiplexing with 75GHz and 100GHz wavelength channel spacings, supporting 85 and 64 channels respectively, with filter responses optimized for high baud rate coherent signals.
The new transceiver utilizes NeoPhotonics Silicon Photonics Coherent Optical Subassembly (COSA) and low power consumption, ultra-narrow linewidth Nano-ITLA tunable laser, combined with the latest generation of 7 nm DSP, to provide full 400ZR transmission in a standard data center OSFP form factor.
NeoPhotonics said its new 400ZR ClearLight OSFP transceiver can be plugged directly into switches and router, simplifying data center interconnect (DCI) networks by eliminating a layer of network equipment and a set of short reach client-side transceivers. The new OSFP module is capable of tuning to 75 GHz or 100GHz spaced wavelength channels, as specified in the OIF agreement, and operates in 400ZR mode for Cloud DCI applications. For longer metro reaches, the module is designed to support 400ZR+ modes.This ClearLight OSFP module can also be optionally provisioned to tune over the entire “Super C-Band”, or up to 6.4 Terahertz, increasing the capacity of an optical fiber by up to 50% over standard implementations. NeoPhotonics provides arrayed waveguide gratings for multiplexing and de-multiplexing with 75GHz and 100GHz wavelength channel spacings, supporting 85 and 64 channels respectively, with filter responses optimized for high baud rate coherent signals.
Inphi samples first 400ZR QSFP-DD transceiver
Inphi cites several industry firsts for its COLORZ II 400ZR QSFP-DD:
- 400G single-chip, coherent Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit (PIC) that includes all transmit and receive functions
- Innovative, low cost, passive alignment of fiber to the PIC that eliminates the complicated active alignment, using traditional optics
- Low power, high performance, 7nm CMOS-based coherent DSP enabling 400ZR as well as extended reach 100/200/300/400G ZR+ modes
- Integrated industry standard firmware management interface that enables full performance monitoring previously only available in DCI or transport systems directly from the optical module
The 400ZR standard promises to lower the cost and power consumption of metro data center interconnect (DCI) by enabling switch and router companies to offer the same density for both coherent DWDM and client optics in the same chassis. This eliminates a layer of network connectivity that was previously required and supports high capacity DWDM connectivity directly from data center switches.
