OFC/NFOEC 2013 industry reflections - Part 4

Gazettabyte asked industry figures for their views after attending the recent OFC/NFOEC show. 

"Spatial domain multiplexing has been a hot topic in R&D labs. However, at this year's OFC we found that incumbent and emerging carriers do not have a near-term need for this technology. Those working on spatial domain multiplexing development should adjust their efforts to align with end-users' needs"

T.J. Xia, Verizon

T.J. Xia, distinguished member of technical staff, Verizon

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an important topic. Looking forward, I expect SDN will involve the transport network so that all layers in the network are controlled by a unified controller to enhance network efficiency and enable application-driven networking.

Spatial domain multiplexing has been a hot topic in R&D labs. However, at this year's OFC we found that incumbent and emerging carriers do not have a near-term need for this technology. Those working on spatial domain multiplexing development should adjust their efforts to align with end-users' needs.

Several things are worthy to watch. Silicon photonics has the potential to drop the cost of optical interfaces dramatically. Low-cost pluggables such as CFP2, CFP4 and QSFP28 will change the cost model of client connections. Also, I expect adaptive, DSP-enabled transmission to enable high spectral efficiencies for all link conditions. 

Andrew Schmitt, principal analyst, optical at Infonetics Research

The Cisco CPAK announcement was noteworthy because the amount of attention it generated was wildly out of proportion to the product they presented. They essentially built the CFP2 with slightly better specs.

"It was very disappointing to see how breathless people were about this [CPAK] announcement. When I asked another analyst on a panel if he thought Cisco could out-innovate the entire component industry he said yes, which I think is just ridiculous."

Cisco has successfully exploited the slave labour and capital of the module vendors for over a decade and I don't see why they would suddenly want to be in that business.

The LightWire technology is much better used in other applications than modules, and ultimately the CPAK is most meaningful as a production proof-of-concept. I explored this issue in depth in a research note for clients.

It was very disappointing to see how breathless people were about this announcement. When I asked another analyst on a panel if he thought Cisco could out-innovate the entire component industry he said yes, which I think is just ridiculous.

There were also some indications surrounding CFP2 customers that cast doubt on the near-term adoption of the technology, with suppliers such as Sumitomo Electric deciding to forgo development entirely in favour of CFP4 and/ or QSFP.

I think CFP2 ultimately will be successful outside of enterprise and data centre applications but there is not a near-term catalyst for adoption of this format, particularly now that Cisco has bowed out, at least for now.

SDN is a really big deal for data centres and enterprise networking but its applications in most carrier networks will be constrained to only a few areas relative to multi-layer management.

Within carrier networks, I think SDN is ultimately a catalyst for optical vendors to potentially add value to their systems, and a threat to router vendors as it makes bypass architectures easier to implement.

"Pluggable coherent is going to be just huge at OFC/NFOEC 2014"

Optical companies like ADVA Optical Networking, Ciena and Infinera are pushing the envelope here and the degree to which optical equipment companies are successful is dependent on who their customers are and how hungry these customers are for solutions.

Meanwhile, pluggable coherent is going to be just huge at OFC/NFOEC 2014, followed by QSFP/ CFP4 prototyping and more important production planning and reliability. Everyone is going to use different technologies to get there and it will be interesting to see what works best.

I also think the second half of 2013 will see an increase in deployment of common equipment such as amplifiers and ROADMs.

Magnus Olson, director hardware engineering, Transmode

Two clear trends from the conference, affecting quite different layers of the optical networks, are silicon photonics and SDN.

"If you happen to have an indium phosphide fab, the need for silicon photonics is probably not that urgent. If you don't, now seems very worthwhile to look into silicon photonics"

Silicon photonics, deep down in the physical layer, is now emerging rapidly from basic research to first product realisation. Whereas some module and component companies barely have taken the step from lithium niobate modulators to indium phospide, others have already advanced indium phosphide photonic integrated circuits (PICs) in place.

If you happen to have an indium phosphide fab, the need for silicon photonics is probably not that urgent. If you don't, now seems very worthwhile to look into silicon photonics.

Silicon photonics is a technology that should help take out the cost of optics for 100 Gigabit and beyond, primarily for short distance, data centre applications.

SDN, on the other hand, continues to mature. There is considerable momentum and lively discussion in the research community as well as within the standardisation bodies that could perhaps help SDN to succeed where Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) failed.

Ongoing industry consolidation has reduced the number of companies to meet and discuss issues with to a reasonable number. The larger optical module vendors all have full portfolios and hence the consolidation would likely slow down for awhile.  The spirit at the show was quite optimistic, in a very positive, sustainable way.

As for emerging developments, the migration of form factors for 100 Gigabit, from CFP via CFP2 to CFP4 and beyond, is important to monitor and influence from a wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) vendor point of view.

We should learn from the evolution of the SFP+, originally invented with purely grey data centre applications. Once the form factor is well established and mature, coloured versions start to appear.

If not properly taken into account from the start in the multi-source agreement (MSA) work with respect to, for example, power classes, it is not easy to accommodate tunable dense WDM versions in these form factors. Pluggable optics are crucial for cost as well as flexibility, on both the client side and line side.

Shai Rephaeli, vice president of interconnect products, Mellanox

At OFC, many companies demonstrated 25 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) prototypes and solutions, both multi mode and single mode.

Thus, a healthy ecosystem for the 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) InfiniBand looks to be well aligned with our introduction of new NIC (network interface controller)/ HCA (Infiniband host channel adaptor) and switch systems.

However, a significant increase in power consumption compared to current 10Gbps and 14Gbps product is observed. This requires the industry to focus heavily on power optimisation and thermal solutions.

"One development to watch is 1310nm and 1550nm VCSELs"

Standardisation for 25Gbps single mode fibre solutions is a big challenge. All the industry leaders have products at some level of development, but each company is driving its own technology. There may be a real interoperability barrier, considering the different technologies: WDM/ 1310nm, parallel and pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) which, itself, may have several flavours: 4-levels, 8-levels and 16-levels.

One development to watch is 1310nm and 1550nm VCSELs, which can bring the data centre/ multi-mode fibre volume and prices into the mid-reach market. This technology can be important for the new large-scale data centres, requiring connections significantly longer than 100m.

Part 1: Software-defined networking: A network game-changer, click here

Part 2: OFC/NFOEC 2013 industry reflections, click here

Part 3: OFC/NFOEC 2013 industry reflections, click here

Part 5: OFC/NFEC 2013 industry reflections, click here