Module makers rush to fill the 100 Gig mid-reach void

You may give little thought as to how your Facebook page is constructed each time you log in, or the data centre ramifications when you access Gmail. But for the internet giants, what is clear is that they need cheaper, higher-speed optical links to connect their equipment that match the growing size of their hyper-scale data centres. 

The challenge for the web players is that existing 100 Gig links are either too short or too expensive. Ten and 40 Gig multimode interfaces span 300m, but at 100 Gig the reach plummets; the existing IEEE 802.3 Ethernet 100GBASE-SR10 and 100GBASE-SR4 multi-mode standards are 100m only. Meanwhile, the 10km reach of the next IEEE interface option, the 100 Gig single-mode 100GBASE-LR4, is overkill and expensive; the LR4 being sevenfold the cost of the 100GBASE-SR10, according to market research firm, LightCounting.

"The largest data centre operators will tell you less than 1km, less than 500m, is their sweet spot," says Martin Hull, director of product management at switch vendor, Arista Networks. Hyperscale data centres use a flatter switching architecture known as leaf and spine. "The flatter switching architectures require larger quantities of economical links between the leaf and spine switches," says Dale Murray, principal analyst at LightCounting.

A 'leaf' can be a top-of-rack switch connecting the servers to the larger-capacity 'spine' of the switch architecture. Operators want 100GbE interfaces with sufficient optical link budget to span 500m and greater distances, to interconnect the leaf and spine, or the spine to the data centre's edge router.

The optical industry has been heeding the web companies' request.

One reason the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet Working Group created the 802.3bm Task Force is to address mid-reach demand by creating a specification for a cheaper 500m interface. Four proposals emerged: parallel single mode (PSM4), coarse WDM (CWDM), pulse amplitude modulation, and discrete multi-tone.  But none of the proposals passed the 75% voting threshold to become a standard. 

The optical industry has since pursued a multi-source agreement (MSA) strategy to bring the much-needed solutions to market. In the last year, no fewer than four single-mode interfaces have emerged: the CLR4 Alliance, and the CWDM4, PSM4 and OpenOptics MSAs.

"The MSA-based solutions will have two important advantages," says Murray. "All will be much less expensive than a 10km 100Gig LR4 module and all can be accommodated by a QSFP28 form factor."

The 100 GbE PSM4, backed by the leading optical module makers (see table above), differs from the other three designs in using parallel ribbon fibre and having a 500m rather than a 2km reach. The PSM4 uses four 25 Gig channels, each sent over a fibre, such that four fibres are used in each direction. The PSM4 is technically straightforward and is likely to be the most economical for links up to 500m. In contrast, the CLR4, CWDM4 and OpenOptical all use 4x25 Gig WDM over duplex fibre. Thus, while the PSM4 will likely be the cheapest of the four modules, the link's cost advantage is eroded with distance due to the ribbon fibre cost.

The PSM4 is also attractive for secondary applications; the 25 Gig channels could be used as individual 'breakout' links. Already there is industry interest in 25GbE, while the module could be used in future for 32 Gig Fibre Channel and high-density 128 Gig Fibre Channel. 

The OpenOptics MSA, backed by Mellanox and start-up Ranovus, operates in the 1550nm C-band and uses dense WDM, whereas the CLR4 Alliance and CWDM4 operate around 1310nm and use CWDM. The 100 GbE OpenOptics is also 4x25 Gig, such that the wavelengths can be spaced far apart but DWDM promises a roadmap for even higher speed interfaces.    

The CLR4 Alliance is an Intel-Arista initiative that has garnered wide industry backing, but it is not an MSA. The specification is very similar to the CWDM4. Both the CLR4 and the CWDM4 include forward error correction (FEC) but whereas FEC is fundamental to the CWDM4, it is an option with the CLR4.

"We have focussed on the FEC-enabled [CWDM4] version so that optical manufacturers can develop the lowest possible cost components to support the interface," says Mitchell Fields, senior director, product marketing and strategy, fiber-optics product division at Avago. FEC adds flexibility, he says, not just in relaxing the components' specification but also simplifying module testing.

The backers of CWDM4 and CLR4 are working to align their specifications and while it is likely the two will interoperate, it remains unclear whether the two will merge.

The CWDM4 specification is likely to be completed in September with first products appearing as early as one or two quarters later. Arista points out that it already has a switch that could use CWDM4/ CLR4 modules now if they were available. 

John D'Ambrosia, chairman of the Ethernet Alliance, regrets that four specifications have emerged. "My own personal belief is that it would be better for the industry overall if we didn't have so many choices," he says. "But the reality is there are a lot of different applications out there." 

LightCounting expects the PSM4 and a merged CWDM offering will find strong market traction. "Avago, Finisar, JDSU and Oclaro are participating in both categories, demonstrating that each has its own value proposition," says Murray.

This article first appeared in the Optical Connections ECOC '14 magazine issue.

For a more detailed article on mid-reach optics, see p28 of the Autumn issue of Fibre Systems, click here

Article Revision: 30/10/2014: Updated members list of the OpenOptics MSA