The 4WDM MSA (4-wavelength Wavelength Division Multiplexing Multi-Source Agreement) Group has announced its formation as an industry consortium dedicated to defining optical specifications and promoting the adoption of interoperable 100G (4x25G) optical transceivers for 10km based on the CWDM4 wavelength grid, and for 20km and 40km based on the LAN-WDM wavelength grid, over duplex single-mode fiber (SMF).
These extended reaches are important for modern datacenter interconnects and mobile backhaul applications. The 4WDM MSA participants say they are responding to previously unmet industry needs for longer reaches, lower costs and lower power consumption, compared with previously available standards, in small form factors.
"The CWDM4 MSA defined the first duplex low-cost 100G specification for 2km reaches based on a CWDM grid and using RS (528,514) FEC [Reed-Solomon forward error correction]," notes Dale Murray, principal analyst at LightCounting Market Research. "Now the 4WDM MSA is extending the value proposition of the CWDM4 MSA and RS-FEC to define an even more cost-effective set of specifications for reaches from 10 to 40km," he adds. "Customers, particularly hyperscale cloud service providers and carriers, are looking for optimized solutions for up to 40km."
Founding members of the 4WDM MSA include Broadcom Ltd, Brocade, Ciena, ColorChip, Dell Inc, Finisar Corp, Foxconn Interconnect Technology, Huawei Technology Co Ltd, Intel Corp, Juniper Networks, Kaiam Corp, Lumentum, MACOM Technology, Oclaro Inc, Skorpios Technologies Inc, Source Photonics, and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd.
