Increasing data demand requires faster data rates across the data center. This is especially true of the transceivers and pluggable cages and modules common to these applications.
One company can’t do it alone. MSAs continue to proliferate as component manufacturers, equipment providers and interested third parties collaborate to speed industry adoption.
Samtec has recently joined two new MSAs: QSFP-DD800 and Open Eye. Both efforts will contribute to next-gen, high-speed copper and optical transceiver technologies.
QSFP-DD800 MSA
Current QSFP and QSFP-DD solutions are popular across the industry. QSFP solutions support 100 Gbps (4 x 25 Gbps) while QSFP-DD solutions provide 200 Gbps (8 x 25 Gbps) and 400 Gbps (8 x 50 Gbps) connectivity. What about QSFP-DD800?
Bleeding edge silicon currently support 56 Gbps PAM4 transceivers data rates. As an example, Xilinx recently released its first production-grade FPGA with 56 Gbps PAM4 transceivers. Test silicon is typically available to support 112 Gbps PAM4 data rates.
What about interconnect options? That is where the QSFP-DD800 MSA comes in. Since the QSFP-DD form factor has been so successful, QSFP-DD800 will build upon that to enable 100 Gbps over 8 lanes.
The MSA was launched with eight industry leaders, including Samtec. What is the combined goal? Collaborative development to increase pluggable transceiver speeds to 800 Gbps.
For more information, please visit www.qsfp-dd800.com.
Open Eye MSA
QSFP-DD covers both front-panel interconnect as well as 800 Gbps (8 x 100 Gbps) copper and optical transceivers. What about other optical interfaces and transceiver options?
The Open Eye MSA will develop optical transmitter and receiver specifications to enable optical module implementation using a wide range of optical and electronics technologies.
Optical fibers operate in both single mode and multi mode versions. As such, the Open Eye MSA will develop different specifications to support the industry requirements.
As with copper, 56 Gbps PAM4 data rates are common across optical interfaces. The Open Eye MSA will support such 56 Gbps PAM host requirements as OIF CEI-56G-VSR-PAM4 and IEEE 50GAUI-1, 100GAUI-2, 200GAUI-4, 400GAUI-8. Future efforts will focus on 100 Gbps channels.
For more information, please visit www.openeye-msa.org.
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