Windstream Wholesale completes 400G ZR+ trials

Windstream Wholesale completed interoperability testing of QSFP-DD form factor ZR+ pluggable modules from II-VI and Acacia, now part of Cisco. 

The tests established 400 Gigabit links in a production environment over a 1,027-kilometer link. The team also leveraged the Marvell Deneb Coherent DSP within a native 0 dBm II-VI pluggable and the Acacia module using the Greylock DSP. Industry standard oFEC algorithms were also used in the trials.

“These successful trials demonstrate that Windstream Wholesale remains the optical technology leader in making 400G wavelengths the default deployment for large wholesale and hyperscale customers,” said Buddy Bayer, president of Enterprise and Wholesale at Windstream. “Interoperability is key to simplifying high-performance networks in a cost and energy-efficient manner, and no other service provider has done more than Windstream toward making it a reality in the marketplace. This significant achievement validates Windstream’s strategy of open, disaggregated optical networking.”

Windstream also announced it has become the first service provider member of the OpenZR+ MSA. 

“We see the OpenZR+ community as well-positioned to make progress around standardization and interoperability in the high-performance transceiver arena,” said Art Nichols, vice president of network architecture and technology at Windstream. “Our goal is not simply to take advantage of our interop and optimization learnings internally, but to also contribute to the industry as a whole in driving open networking forward.”

“We would like to thank Windstream for their industry leadership in driving the technology and hosting the multivendor interoperability trials,” said Matthias Berger, vice president, coherent technology, II-VI Incorporated. “The success of these trials validates the level of maturity of the 400G ZR+ ecosystem which is essential to enable open systems and network architectures such as IP-over-DWDM.”

“As one of the founding members of the OpenZR+ MSA, we are excited to see the industry embracing interoperability and moving towards open networking architectures,” said Tom Williams, senior director of marketing for Acacia, now part of Cisco, and co-chair of the OpenZR+ MSA. “Interoperability and the introduction of new modules, such as our recently announced Bright 400ZR+ QSFP-DD pluggable, will be key to accelerating the adoption of router-based optics in transport networks.”

https://news.windstream.com/news/news-details/2022/Windstream-Wholesale-Successfully-Completes-Industrys-First-400G-ZR-Interoperability-Trials/default.aspx

Karl Gass provides an overview of the OIF's 400ZR multivendor interoperability demonstration at OFC22 in San Diego, California.

Two set-ups are tested:

• 400GE to Transport DWDM link - from an EXFO traffic generator/analyze via NeoPhotonics OSFP traversing a Cisco Open Line System to a Ciena Open Line system to a Cisco CFP-DCO in a Viavi traffic generator/analyzer
• Round robin path consisting of 14 QSFP-DD modules, including modules from Cisco, Juniper, Ciena, Marvell, NeoPhotonics, and Fujitsu

https://youtu.be/DC3_4bcuFVg

Windstream Wholesale completes 1000 km 400G ZR+ field trials

Wednesday, March 09, 2022  II-VI, Windstream Wholesale  

Windstream Wholesale completed 1000 km 400G field trials leveraging pluggable modules from II-VI with QSFP-DD-DCO optics that achieve a high transmit power of 0dBm. The trials demonstrated unprecedented performance with strong working margins over a production network route and traversing up to 24 ROADMs in a lab environment.During the field trial, Windstream Wholesale closed established a 400G link on a 1,000+ kilometer link between Phoenix and...

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Marvell intros low power, multi-mode 400G DSP

Monday, June 07, 2021  #400G, Marvell  

Marvell announced sampling of is new Deneb ultra-low power, multi-mode 400G DSP for disaggregated optical platforms. The new 7nm CDSP for 400G pluggable, which is compatible with its predecessor (Canopus), provides a seamless upgrade to interoperable pluggables across multiple platforms. Deneb can be used to enable standards based ITU, Open ROADM and OpenZR+ compliant 100G/200G/300G/400G pluggable transceivers."Standards-based interoperable...

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What's hot at #OFC22? 400ZR

 It comes as no surprise that one of the hottest topics from the past 3 years is still a hot topic at #OFC22.  400ZR is ramping with new applications now coming on, says Tom Williams, Vice President, Acacia - now part of Cisco.

https://youtu.be/yeLAD_T4Hzc

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NeoPhotonics ships QSFP-DD and OSFP 400ZR coherent modules

NeoPhotonics announced the general availability of its QSFP-DD and OSFP 400ZR pluggable modules.

These products utilize 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 node DSP, to provide full 400ZR transmission in a standard data center QSFP-DD or OSFP form factor that can be plugged directly into switches and routers. 

NeoPhotonics QSFP-DD and OSFP modules have completed reliability qualification and have passed 2000 hours of High Temperature Operating Life (HTOL) as well as other critical tests per Telcordia requirements.

The company recently announced that it had used its QSFP-DD coherent pluggable transceiver to transmit at a 400 Gbps data rate over a distance of 800 km in a 75GHz-spaced DWDM system with more than 3.5 dB of OSNR margin in the optical signal while remaining within the power consumption envelope of the QSFP-DD module’s power specification.

“This demonstration of high data rates over longer distances shows the potential of these game-changing products, and we expect to see increasing deployment of coherent pluggable modules with different use cases, from data center interconnect to metro and regional applications as well as 5G wireless backhaul,” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics. “Since the beginning of coherent transmission, NeoPhotonics has been at the forefront in meeting the volume needs of our customers, as is indicated by our recent announcement that we had shipped a cumulative total of more than two million ultra-narrow linewidth tunable lasers,” concluded Mr. Jenks.

https://www.neophotonics.com/press-releases/?newsId=12491

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ADVA showcases 400ZR DCI interoperability with Acacia and Inphi

ADVA demonstrated interoperability between its FSP 3000 DCI open line system (OLS) and QSFP-DD 400ZR modules from Acacia Communications and Inphi Corporation. 

The trial, which was conducted over a 120km amplified link, featured 400 Gbps  WDM transport using low-power 400ZR pluggable QSFP-DD transceivers from Acacia and Inphi with ADVA’s FSP 3000 DCI OLS. It was carried out under real-world conditions with 400 Gbps channels placed next to the test channels as well as a fully loaded spectrum. To validate three-way line-side interoperability, 400ZR was transmitted from Acacia to Inphi and vice versa. Test results showed that this multi-vendor ecosystem exceeds all OIF 400ZR Implementation Agreement performance metrics. Large-scale DCI network operators now have an easy and cost-effective route to a dynamic, future-proof and open environment.

ADVA said the latest trials using a 120km single-mode fiber show that it exceeds 400ZR performance requirements under fully loaded conditions including 75GHz channel spacing, enabling an aggregate capacity of 26Tbit/s per fiber. ADVA’s DCI OLS and Acacia and Inphi’s QSFP-DD 400ZR modules offer operators a complete and validated solution built on best-of-breed components.

“Today, we’re showing a direct route to open DCI networking using 400ZR. By proving the next-level interoperability of our platform with Acacia and Inphi’s optical interconnect technology, we’re empowering network operators to effortlessly harness the benefits of both 400ZR and open infrastructure. This will be key to reducing cost and complexity in the new breed of high-bandwidth DCI networks,” said Steve Penticost, VP, global business development, ADVA.

“Acacia has a long, proven history of pluggable silicon photonics innovation and has continually driven down the level of power consumption, size and cost of coherent interconnects,” said Tom Williams, VP, marketing, Acacia Communications. “400Gbit/s coherent pluggables enable network operators to support their growing bandwidth demands using power-efficient solutions that offer operational flexibility. By showcasing the interoperability of our high-performance coherent platform in a QSFP form factor with ADVA’s new DCI OLS, we’re giving DCI networks a clear path to a compact and cost-efficient optical layer assembled with best-in-class innovation.”

“ COLORZ II 400ZR enables large cloud operators to connect metro data centers at a fraction of the cost of traditional coherent transport systems and allows switch and router companies to offer the same density for both coherent DWDM and client optics in the same chassis. Interoperable 400ZR solutions allow customers to deploy a validated ecosystem with our innovative low-power, high-performing pluggable solutions and ADVA’s next-generation DCI OLS,” said Josef Berger, AVP, optical interconnect, Inphi. 

https://www.adva.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/20210413-adva-showcases-400zr-dci-solution-with-acacia-and-inphi

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Inphi ramps shipments of 400ZR and ZR+ QSFP-DD transceivers

Inphi announced the commercial availability and production ramp of its COLORZ II 400ZR QSFP-DD pluggable coherent transceivers for cloud data center interconnects (DCIs). Inphi also confirmed that a longer reach variant, COLORZ II 400G ZR+, which extends the reach of COLORZ II from 120km to about 400km, is in final stages of qualification and expected to be commercially available starting next month.

COLORZ II 400ZR and 400ZR+ enable a dramatic increase in switch rack capacity while reducing power consumption by up to 80%. COLORZ II delivers up to 14.4Tb of capacity per rack unit, compared to 2.4Tb or 3.6Tb per RU for competing solutions, representing a 4-6x increase in throughput per chassis. COLORZ II ZR and ZR+ achieve drastically improved density through higher levels of silicon photonics integration as well as much lower power consumption across all coherent transceiver elements.

“COLORZ II 400G ZR and ZR+ are the enabling technology for next-gen data center interconnects,” said Josef Berger, AVP, Product Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This is an important step in realizing our vision of 'The Cloud is the Network™'. The commercial availability and production ramp of COLORZ II 400G ZR and ZR+ demonstrates Inphi's industry leadership as we continue to create solutions that dramatically increase the speed of data movement, while keeping the power and cost low.”

According to market research firm Cignal AI, shipments of 400G ZR and ZR+ modules will expand at a >100% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and provide one-third of worldwide WDM connectivity in 2025.

“The commercial availability of COLORZ II 400ZR makes IP over DWDM viable for network operators,” said Andrew Schmitt, Directing Analyst. “This enables an entirely new type of distributed data center architecture for the cloud and is the first step towards broad adoption in both cloud and traditional service provider networks.”

Inphi said its COLORZ II represents the culmination of several important industry firsts:

• First 400G single-chip, coherent silicon PIC to include all transmit and receive functions
• First low-cost, passive alignment of fiber to the PIC using traditional optics, eliminating the need for complex active alignment
• First low-power, high-performance 7nm CMOS-based coherent DSP enabling 400ZR and 400ZR+ extended reach 100/200/300/400G modes
• First integrated, industry-standard firmware management interface enabling full performance monitoring of DCI or transport systems without direct optical module support

https://www.inphi.com/media-center/press-releases/inphi-announces-commercial-availability-and-production-ramp-of-colorz-ii-400zr-and-zr-qsfp-dd-transceivers/

Wednesday, April 29, 2020  400ZR, OIF  

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...

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NeoPhotonics ships QSFP-DD 400G ZR modules

NeoPhotonics announced the availability of its extended case temperature QSFP-DD 400G ZR modules.

NeoPhotonics said the new 400G ZR modules leverage its Silicon Photonics Coherent Optical Subassembly (COSA) and low power consumption, ultra-narrow linewidth Nano-ITLA tunable laser.  Each of these components can be operated over a wide module case temperature range up to 80C. This enables the Neophotonics 400G ZR modules to be deployed in extended temperature data center environments while reducing cooling requirements and fan power.

“The ability of 400G ZR vendors to offer thermally-optimized designs capable of supporting higher case temperatures will significantly help reduce system cooling requirements,” said Dr. Hacene Chaouch, Distinguished Engineer at Arista Networks. “This is an important consideration for implementing power efficient data center interconnect architectures.” 

“We are pleased to support customers with high-performance 400G ZR modules that operate across a wide thermal envelope, without sacrificing optical performance.” said Tim Jenks, Chairman and CEO of NeoPhotonics.  “By utilizing our leading high-speed coherent components technology and optimizing the entire optics suite through in-house design, we are able to favorably benefit data centers need to reduce power consumption and improve environmental sustainability,” concluded Mr. Jenks.

https://www.neophotonics.com/press-releases/?newsId=12221

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Cignal AI: Strong demand for 400ZR pluggables

Global compact modular revenue grew 24 percent in the third quarter of 2020 (3Q20) over the prior year, versus just 7 percent growth for the total optical market, according to the latest Transport Applications Report from market research firm Cignal AI. Cignal AI defines “compact modular” as small form factor optical hardware that is designed for use in open and disaggregated networks.

“Compact modular is gaining popularity with a wider set of network applications and operators due to the continued adoption of disaggregation outside cloud and colocation,” said Scott Wilkinson, lead analyst at Cignal AI. “The market saw extraordinary growth in Asia Pacific over the last two quarters, with sales in the region now approaching those of EMEA.”

Meanwhile, the 400ZR market is getting underway, with several hundred modules shipped for testing and evaluation in 3Q20. “The demand pipeline for 400ZR remains strong and operators are pleased with the prototypes under evaluation,” said Andrew Schmitt, directing analyst at Cignal AI. “Acacia had a huge quarter thanks to a large buildout at Amazon AWS.”

More Key Findings from the 3Q20 Applications Report

• Although Ciena reported a flat quarter overall for optical sales, its compact modular sales were up 18 percent year over year, and the company maintained its market leadership by a wide margin
• Compact modular sales in APAC grew by more than 75 percent in the quarter; Huawei (mostly in China), Fujitsu (in Japan) and Nokia all more than doubled their sales in the region
• Year-over-year sales of packet-OTN equipment grew only in APAC this quarter, and sales in North America declined by more than 25 percent
• Overall compact modular sales growth is forecast to decelerate to low single digits in 4Q20 as capex budgets evaporate, especially in North America
• Pluggable coherent optics are projected to account for 40 percent of the high-performance optical market by 2024
• Shipments of fixed 400 Gbps+ coherent ports jumped 65 percent sequentially, to over 35,000 ports in the quarter

https://cignal.ai/2021/01/compact-modular-grows-faster-than-overall-optical-market-in-3q20/

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Smartoptics introduces new ROADMs for flexible open line systems

Smartoptics introduced its DCP-R family of DWDM ROADMs for flexible open line systems. The ROADMs are designed for use of the new PAM4 and 400ZR traffic formats mixed with legacy protocols, such as Ethernet and Fibre Channel.

The first members of the DCP-R family are the 9-degree DCP-R-9D-MS and the DCP-R-9D-CS where the MS model supports mixed traffic formats and the CS model is optimized for coherent traffic formats. These products will be followed by higher degree ROADMs optimized for regional applications.

The DCP-R-9D is a dedicated 1U per degree ROADM with Flexgrid, directionless, contentionless and colorless capabilities for 9 degrees The ROADM, with integrated mux/demux for local add/drop, is designed for use with PAM4 and 400ZR transceivers mixed with 100G QPSK, 200G 16QAM, Ethernet and Fibre Channel traffic formats.

Magnus Grenfeldt, CEO Smartoptics, commented: “With our DCP-R ROADMs Smartoptics takes yet another step in serving operators wanting to take advantage of disaggregated, open line systems in their optical infrastructure. Thanks to our unique design it is now possible to combine new traffic formats such as PAM4 and 400ZR for extremely high data rates with Ethernet, Fibre Channel and other legacy formats in the same flexible ROADM-based open line system all the way to the edge of the network.”

https://www.smartoptics.com/press-release/smartoptics-announces-the-dcp-r-family-of-roadms-for-flexible-open-line-systems/

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Marvell to acquire Inphi for optical components business

Marvell Technology Group Ltd. agreed to acquire Inphi Corp. in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately US$10 billion, consisting of $66 in cash and 2.323 shares of stock of the combined company for each Inphi share. Upon closing of the transaction, Marvell shareholders will own approximately 83% of the combined company and Inphi stockholders will own approximately 17% of the combined company.

Inphi’s high-speed electro-optics target data centers as well as wired and wireless carrier networks. The product portfolio includes Inphi transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs); drivers for 100G to 600G coherent optics; optical PHYs for signal recovery, retiming, grooming, error correction and gearbox operations; its COLORZ transceivers based on silicon photonics for 80/120km DWDM connectivity in a QSFP28 form factor; and its Canopus coherent Digital Signal Processors (DSPs)

Marvell said that by combining its storage, networking, processor, and security portfolio with Inphi’s  electro-optics interconnect platform, the combined company will deliver end-to-end technology leadership in data infrastructure. 

“Our acquisition of Inphi will fuel Marvell’s leadership in the cloud and extend our 5G position over the next decade,” said Matt Murphy, president and CEO of Marvell. “Inphi’s technologies are at the heart of cloud data center networks and they continue to extend their leadership with innovative new products, including 400G data center interconnect optical modules, which leverage their unique silicon photonics and DSP technologies. We believe that Inphi’s growing presence with cloud customers will also lead to additional opportunities for Marvell’s DPU and ASIC products.”

“Marvell and Inphi share a vision to enable the world’s data infrastructure and we have both transformed our respective businesses to benefit from the strong secular growth expected in the cloud data center and 5G wireless markets” said Ford Tamer, President and CEO of Inphi. “Combining with Marvell significantly increases our scale, accelerates our access to the next generations of process technology, and opens up new opportunities in 5G connectivity.”

Marvell also stated that intends to reorganize the combined company so that it will be domiciled in the United States, creating a U.S. semiconductor powerhouse with an enterprise value of approximately $40 billion. Upon closing, Ford Tamer, Inphi’s President and CEO, will join Marvell’s Board of Directors.

https://www.marvell.com/announcements/marvell-to-acquire-inphi.html

• In 2016, Inphi acquired ClariPhy Communications, a provider of ultra-high-speed systems-on-chip (SoCs) for multi-terabit data, long haul and metro networking markets for $275 million in cash as well as the assumption of certain liabilities at the close. ClariPhy was one of the first merchant suppliers of coherent DSP technology. The company was based in Irvine, California.
• In 2014, Inphi acquired Cortina Systems' High-Speed Interconnect and Optical Transport product lines for $52.5 million in cash and $73.5 million in stock.  In 2006, Cortina Systems acquired the assets of Intel's optical network components business for $115 million. Cortina was based in Sunnyvale, California.

Acacia and Inphi demo interoperability of 400ZR over 120 km

Tuesday, October 27, 2020  400ZR, Acacia, Inphi  

Acacia Communications and Inphi have demonstrated error-free links in 400ZR mode between Inphi’s COLORZ II QSFP-DD and Acacia’s 400ZR QSFP-DD module in Arista switches over a 120 km amplified link using 75GHz channel spacing. “Hyperscale network operators are planning to utilize interoperable 400ZR solutions to support growing bandwidth requirements between data centers,” said Josef Berger, AVP of Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This...

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Inphi acquires assets in Vietnam from Arrive Technologies

Tuesday, August 04, 2020  Inphi, Vietnam  

Inphi has acquired certain assets from Arrive Technologies, located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Arrive Technologies, founded in 2001, has 112 employees with strong design capabilities in embedded software, digital ASIC, post-silicon validation, and FPGA emulation. The team has designed highly complex transport framers and products including pseudowire and circuit emulation functions with domain expertise including, but not limited to, OTN/SONET, FEC, PTP, and Security (IPsec). Arrive had been engaged with many of Inphi’s system OEM customers in the cloud, telecom, and 5G markets. 

Inphi said the addition of these resources will provide Inphi with front-end design, verification, validation and firmware skills that complement Inphi’s existing design teams in Singapore and Vietnam.

Inphi samples 800G 7nm PAM4 DSP

Monday, March 09, 2020  Inphi  

Inphi is sampling its new Spica 800G 7nm PAM4 DSP, the world’s first 800Gbps or 8x100Gbps PAM4 DSP to enable 800G optical transceiver modules in QSFP-DD800 or OSFP form factors.

Inphi's highly integrated Spica 800G platform includes the company's high-performance, low power PAM4 DSPs alongside its companion market-leading low power linear driver and TIAs.

The company said its Spica 800Gbps PAM4 DSP with integrated 56GBaud driver, enables either 2x400Gbps or 8x100Gbps optical modules with 100Gbps per lane electrical interfaces. Applications could include 800Gbps / 8x100Gbps optical interconnects in a compact form factor for single-mode fibers or multimode fibers. The Spica platform could be matched with Inphi’s 112Gbps Capella SerDes IP for next-generation AI processors and switches.

Inphi samples its 3rd gen, single-lambda PAM4

Monday, March 09, 2020  Inphi  

Inphi has begun sampling its Porrima Gen3 Single-Lambda PAM4 platform based on 7nm technology and optimized for hyperscale data center networks. The new design offers an expanded feature set and enhanced direct drive capability, further expanding the breadth of lasers that can be used with the integrated laser driver. The new platform is also designed to reduce total module power consumption to less than 8W for 400Gbps DR4/FR4 mode in the QSFP-DD form factor.

“Porrima Gen3 is another prime example of our ongoing dedication to this market, by increasing investments to exceed customer needs and stay ahead of the competition,” said Eric Hayes, SVP, Networking Interconnect, Inphi. “Not only are we delivering better performance and lower power with this third-generation PAM4 solution, but we are also making it easy for customers to make a smooth transition. This will accelerate adoption of this total solution and maintain our market leadership position.”

Inphi intros its 2nd gen 112Gbps SerDes in 7nm

Wednesday, January 29, 2020  112G, Inphi  

Inphi released its second-generation, high performance 112Gbps SerDes IP solution in 7nm. Inphi said its new Capella SerDes IP is designed to ensure high performance across the most demanding environments for network connectivity and data transmission. The announcement builds on Inphi’s track record of having shipped over a million 56Gbps and 112Gbps ports to date. “Delivering the next generation of SerDes IP technology is a significant milestone...

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NeoPhotonics samples 400ZR OSFP coherent transceiver

Monday, January 13, 2020  400G, Neophotonics  

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...

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Inphi milestone: 100,000 COLORZ silicon photonics PAM4 units shipped

Thursday, January 09, 2020  Inphi, PAM4, Silicon Photonics  

Inphi noted a company milestone -- the shipment of more than 100,000 COLORZ units, its Silicon Photonics PAM4 platform solution for 80km DWDM connectivity in a QSFP28 form factor. Inphi said its unique approach in integrating PAM4 CMOS with silicon photonics enables the platform to achieve a 60% in cost and a 75% in power savings. Accomplishing the COLORZ ramp to 100k within a span of only three years also validates the network inflection point...

Inphi to acquire eSilicon for $226 million

Monday, November 11, 2019  Inphi  

Inphi Corporation agreed to acquire eSilicon for $216 million in both cash and the assumption of debt.

“The Inphi team is excited to enhance our value proposition to our cloud and telecom customers with the addition of the eSilicon team and IP,” said Ford Tamer, president and CEO of Inphi. “eSilicon adds to Inphi world-class 2.5D packaging, SerDes, custom silicon and operations teams. Just as we successfully leveraged our Cortina and Clariphy acquisitions, eSilicon will advance our shared commitments in driving successful customer engagement, industry-leading innovation, and best of class execution.”

Inphi lists the following drivers for the acquisition:

• Combine Inphi’s DSP, TiA, Driver and SiPho disciplines with eSilicon’s 2.5D packaging and custom silicon design capabilities and accelerate the roadmap for electro-optics, 5nm advanced CMOS process node, and custom DSP solutions
• Augment Inphi’s existing SerDes team and resources
• Extend Inphi’s addressable market in Cloud data center networking and Telecom 5G infrastructure with top tier OEM customers
• Expand Inphi’s presence into new, strategic geographies for talent acquisition with engineering design centers in Italy, Romania, Vietnam, and Spain and operations in Malaysia
• Add between $80 to $120 million to 2020 revenue, be accretive to 2020 EPS and both the 2021 revenue and EPS growth rates
• Increase Inphi’s operational scale with suppliers, lowering costs and resulting in financial leverage
• Result in Inphi paying about 2.2X 2020 revenue in a combination of cash and debt assumption

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Acacia and Inphi demo interoperability of 400ZR over 120 km

Acacia Communications and Inphi have demonstrated error free links in 400ZR mode between Inphi’s COLORZ II QSFP-DD and Acacia’s 400ZR QSFP-DD module in Arista switches over a 120 km amplified link using 75GHz channel spacing. 

“Hyperscale network operators are planning to utilize interoperable 400ZR solutions to support growing bandwidth requirements between data centers,” said Josef Berger, AVP of Marketing, Optical Interconnect at Inphi. “This testing provides an exciting validation of the 400ZR ecosystem designed to meet the need for high-performance, low power coherent pluggable solutions that support cost-effective DWDM architectures for DCI.”

“The industry has been anticipating the availability of interoperable 400ZR solutions to meet the growing demand for DCI bandwidth, particularly for network operators evolving their data center architectures to 400G Ethernet with optical connections between switches,” said Tom Williams, Vice President of Marketing at Acacia. “These solutions provide data center operators with greater flexibility in the components and suppliers they use to build out their networks.”

NeoPhotonics and Inphi show 400ZR interoperability

Tuesday, July 28, 2020  400ZR, Inphi, Neophotonics  

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...

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OIF publishes 400ZR implementation agreeement

Wednesday, April 29, 2020  400ZR, OIF  

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

The IA aims to enable interoperable, cost-effective, 400Gbps implementations based on single-carrier coherent DP-16QAM modulation, low-power DSPs supporting absolute (Non-Differential) phase encoding/decoding, and a Concatenated FEC (C-FEC) with a post-FEC error floor <1 .0e-15.="" 400gbase-r="" 400zr="" a="" as="" operates="" p="" phy.="">

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.

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NeoPhotonics and Inphi show 400ZR interoperability

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

Wednesday, April 29, 2020  400ZR, OIF  

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

The IA aims to enable interoperable, cost-effective, 400Gbps implementations based on single-carrier coherent DP-16QAM modulation, low-power DSPs supporting absolute (Non-Differential) phase encoding/decoding, and a Concatenated FEC (C-FEC) with a post-FEC error floor <1 .0e-15.="" 400gbase-r="" 400zr="" a="" as="" operates="" p="" phy.="">

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

Monday, January 13, 2020  400G, Neophotonics  

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.

Inphi samples first 400ZR QSFP-DD transceiver

Thursday, December 19, 2019  400G, Inphi  

Inphi has begun sampling its COLORZ II 400ZR QSFP-DD pluggable coherent transceiver for cloud data center interconnects (DCIs) to major cloud operators and OEMs.

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.

Inphi said its COLORZ II represents a massive increase in switch rack capacity, while reducing the power consumption by as much as 80%. COLORZ II delivers up to 14.4T of capacity per rack unit (RU), compared to 2.4T or 3.6T per RU on competing solutions, representing a 4-6 x increase in throughput per chassis.

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