Now that 100G optical units are entering volume deployment, 400G is very clearly on the horizon. As recently reported here, the push is now officially "on" for 400-Gigabit Ethernet standard. Additionally, a new white paper from Fujitsu US summarizes the progress and direction of efforts to develop and implement this next generation of high-speed optical networking technology.

The white paper notes that "as vendors and the optical industry evaluate different 400G modulation, channel size, and OSNR options, it will be critical to adopt a single, standardized approach, as was achieved with 100G optical interfaces."

"The industry is trying to avoid the mistakes made with 40G optics, which lacked any industry standards," notes Fujitsu. "As a result, an alphabet soup of five or six different 40G modulation techniques were developed by vendors, resulting in a very fractured 40G component industry, low component volumes, lack of compatible dual sources for 40G components, and few cost reductions or volume efficiencies. Fortunately, these mistakes were avoided at 100G through a common industry approach, standardized within the OIF."

The white paper advises that a similar approach to 400G OIF standardization will be needed to ensure a healthy, robust, component supply chain with wide choices and competitive pricing.

View and download the white paper here.

See also:Ethernet bandwidth: How fast is enough?