The European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2024 is next week and AI is expected to once again be a hot topic as questions continue to linger around where it will impact most and how network operators can make sure they’re ready with a future-proof network to handle the anticipated surge. In addition to AI, there have also been exciting coherent technology developments around pluggable interoperable interfaces at 800G and 1.6T. Those topics will also be top of mind at the show as the industry converges on what needs to happen to make those transitions go as smoothly as we saw with 400G.
AIs Effect on Optical Transport Network
While the near-term focus on high-capacity interconnects for AI applications has been on short reach connections within AI clusters, the industry is already seeing bandwidth requirements begin to increase, requiring additional coherent connectivity between datacenters supporting AI. And while there is general agreement that the resulting bandwidth demand from AI applications translates to increased traffic across the network, the industry is in the early stages of understanding how specific segments of the network are affected. Coherent optical interconnects for high-capacity transport beyond the data center already provide performance-optimized transponder solutions at 1.2T per wavelength as well as 400G router-to-router wavelengths moving to 800G using MSA pluggable modules. As discussed in this recent blog, we believe this technology can continue to play a role with expanding traffic demands in the metro, data center interconnect, long haul, and beyond.
To learn more about how AI will impact optical networks, stop by the ECOC workshop on 9/22 at 14:00 CET and listen to Acacia’s Timo Pfau give a talk titled “How Will AI Affect Future Transmission Systems?”
Interoperable 400G and 800G Demonstrations
Following the explosive growth of 400G pluggables, next-generation switch/router ASICs are now being introduced with 800G I/O port speeds, creating the need for 800G optical interfaces for data center interconnect (DCI.) As we will hear at this year’s ECOC, these pluggables are following the same 400G MSA pluggable cycle, with multiple standardization bodies such as OIF, Open ROADM and the IEEE working in parallel to provide industry standards for 800G optical transmission and 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). Interoperability will be key for driving the economies of scale that can enable these modules to experience similar levels of success as 400G while also helping to define the path to 1.6T pluggables in the future.
As a leader in 400G coherent pluggable shipments, Acacia is excited to be participating in the OIF interoperability demo showcasing both its 400G and 800G pluggables. The demos will take place in the OIF booth #B83 and will spotlight interoperability innovations in 800ZR, 400ZR and multi-span optics and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) – all pivotal for shaping the next decade of industry standards.
Announced earlier this year, Acacia’s newest portfolio of silicon-based 800G coherent pluggables are powered by Delphi, Acacia’s 9th generation DSP. These modules have been designed to provide double the connectivity speed from 400G to 800G to support DCI upgrades, and the high baud rate design has already been proven in Acacia’s deployed CIM 8 module. In addition, the Interoperable 800G ZR+ modules in this family were the first in the industry to support the OpenROADM specifications that include interoperable PCS transmission capability, which expands the market for 800G pluggables beyond simple DCI into regional and even long-haul networks. Acacia will be hosting private demonstrations of its Interoperable 800G ZR+ module in its private meeting room.
To meet customer needs and drive future adoption, it’s important for 800G coherent MSA pluggables to have several key features and capabilities including optical transmission, client traffic, low power consumption, and interoperable module management. One of the key functional requirements that operators are looking for is Coherent-CMIS compliance. This feature provides a well-defined mechanism to initialize and manage optical and copper modules in a standard way, while still providing the capability to provide custom functionality. This commonality makes integration into different host platforms easier for both the host and module vendors.
To learn more about CMIS compliance, come see Acacia’s Doug Cattarusa give an ECOC Market Focus presentation titled “CMIS: Is Plug-and-Play Possible?” on Monday, 9/23 at 14:40 CET.
Expanded Use Cases for Router-based Optics
The introduction of 400G coherent pluggable optics in metro reach applications enabled the collapsing of network layers, converging the optical transport and IP layers. A recent report from Cignal AI predicts IP-over-DWDM port deployments to top 700k in 2027. Recent advances in coherent technology allowed for the expansion of coherent and interoperable MSA pluggable module capabilities into long haul and ultra long haul reaches as well as migration from 400G links to 800G links. Acacia’s 400G ultra-long-haul (ULH) modules leveraging 130+ Gbaud data rate technology enable the reach capability of 400G to extend from metro/regional reaches to ultra long-haul reaches, reducing the barrier for network operators to deploy IP-over DWDM adoption for network operators desiring IP-over-DWDM beyond metro/regional applications.
OIF Takes the Lead in Defining 1600ZR and 1600ZR+ Standards
The OIF launched efforts last year on 1.6T coherent optical interconnect solutions and is already making progress towards interoperable 1600ZR and 1600ZR+ implementation agreements. While there is still much work to be done in the standards bodies around 1.6T, we expect this year’s ECOC to be a sounding board for the industry to discuss solutions for some of the key challenges around this transition. This includes the use of advanced technologies for high baud rate modulation and smaller CMOS nodes not yet supported in volume for high baud rate modulation, power consumption, options for single or dual optical carrier, internal optical amplification requirements, and backwards compatibility to 800ZR/ZR+ and 400ZR/ZR+ interfaces.
See Us at ECOC 2024!
If you are attending ECOC this year and want to connect, we’d welcome the opportunity to meet with you. Click here to set up a meeting. We hope to see you in Frankfurt!
