Intel targets 5G fronthaul with a 100G CWDM4 module

• Intel announced at ECOC that it is sampling a 10km extended temperature range 100-gigabit CWDM4 optical module for 5G fronthaul. 

• Another announced pluggable module pursued by Intel is the 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) parallel fibre DR4 standard.

• Intel, a backer of the CWDM8 MSA, says the 8-wavelength 400-gigabit module will not be in production before 2020.

Intel has expanded its portfolio of silicon photonics-based optical modules to address 5G mobile fronthaul and 400GbE.

Robert BlumAt the European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) being held in Rome this week, Intel announced it is sampling a 100-gigabit CWDM4 module in a QSFP form factor for wireless fronthaul applications.

The CWDM4 module has an extended temperature range, -20°C to +85°C, and a 10km reach.

“The final samples are available now and [the product] will go into production in the first quarter of 2019,” says Robert Blum, director of strategic marketing and business development at Intel’s silicon photonics product division.

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ONF’s operators seize control of their networking needs

• The eight ONF service providers will develop reference designs addressing the network edge.
• The service providers want to spur the deployment of open-source designs after becoming frustrated with the systems vendors failing to deliver what they need. 
• The reference designs will be up and running before year-end.
• New partners have committed to join since the consortium announced its strategic plan

The service providers leading the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) will publish open designs to address next-generation networking needs.

Timon SloaneThe ONF service providers - NTT Group, AT&T, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Comcast, China Unicom, Turk Telekom and Google - are taking a hands-on approach to the design of their networks after becoming frustrated with what they perceive as foot-dragging by the systems vendors.

“All eight [operators] have come together to say in unison that they are going to work inside the ONF to craft explicit plans - blueprints - for the industry for how to deploy open-source-based solutions,” says Timon Sloane, vice president of marketing and ecosystem at the ONF. 

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Ciena goes stackable with 8180 'white box' and 6500 RLS

Ciena has unveiled two products - the 8180 coherent networking platform and the 6500 reconfigurable line system - that target cable and cellular operators that are deploying fibre deep in their networks, closer to subscribers.

The 6500 line system is also aimed at the data centre interconnect market given how the webscale players are experiencing a near-doubling of traffic each year.

Source: Ciena

The cable industry is moving to a distributed access architecture (DAA) that brings fibre closer to the network’s edge and splits part of the functionality of the cable modem termination system (CMTS) - the remote PHY - closer to end users. The cable operators are deploying fibre to boost the data rates they can offer homes and businesses.

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Oclaro makes available its EMLs and backs 400G-FR4

Lumentum’s plan to acquire Oclaro for $1.8 billion may have dominated the news at last month’s OFC show held in San Diego, but it was business as usual for Oclaro with its product and strategy announcements.

Adam Carter, chief commercial officer (pictured), positions Oclaro’s announcements in terms of general industry trends. 

“On the line side, everywhere there are 100-gigabit and 200-gigabit wavelengths, you will see that transition to 400 gigabit and 600 gigabit,” he says. “And on the client side, you have 100 gigabit going to 400 gigabit.” 

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5G-PON: SK Telecom’s unified distribution network

SK Telecom has detailed a networking architecture based on wavelength division multiplexing-passive optical network (WDM-PON) technology that it says will simplify the rollout of 5G while delivering significant cost savings.

The telecom operator has already deployed the networking architecture, dubbed 5G-PON, for its LTE network and is offering the design to the 5G network standards of the ITU-T.

“SK Telecom is already witnessing a great amount of cost reductions from the deployment of 5G-PON,” says Seungjoo Hong, manager of the Broadband Technology Lab at SK Telecom (pictured).

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Creating a long-term view for the semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry is set for considerable change over the next 15 years.

“We are at an inflection point in the history of the [chip] industry,” says Thomas Conte, an IEEE Fellow. “It will be very different and very diverse; there won’t be one semiconductor industry.” 

Conte (pictured) is co-chair of the IEEE Rebooting Computing initiative that is sponsoring the International Roadmap of Devices and Systems (IRDS) programme. The IRDS is defining technology roadmaps over a 15-year horizon and in November will publish its first that spans nine focus areas. (See The emergence of the IRDS, below).

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Telefonica tests XGS-PON

Part 1: XGS and TWDM passive optical networks

Telefonica is the latest operator to test XGS-PON, the 10-gigabit passive optical networking standard.

“Operators want to show they are taking the maximum from their fibre investment,” says Ana Pesovic, marketing manager for fibre at Nokia, the supplier of the XGS-PON equipment used for the operator’s lab tests. “Telefonica has been really aggressive in their fibre deployments in the last couple of years.”

Ana Pesovic

XGS-PON

Approved by the ITU-T in 2016, XGS-PON supports two rates: 10-gigabit symmetrical and the asymmetrical rate of 10 gigabits downstream (to the user) and 2.5 gigabits upstream.

XGS-PON has largely superseded the earlier XG-PON standard which supports the 10-gigabit asymmetrical rate only. “It is fair to say there is no traction for XG-PON,” says Pesovic. “Even in China [an early adopter of XG-PON], we see the interest slowly moving to XGS-PON.”

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