At the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2016) in Dusseldorf, Germany (19-21 September), optical and photonic product maker Lumentum Operation LLC of Milpitas, CA, USA and fiber-optic communications component and subsystem maker Finisar Corp of Sunnyvale, CA, USA are showcasing what is claimed to be the industry's first interoperability demonstration of 100G SWDM4 optical transceivers.
The demonstration is taking place on the exhibit floor at ECOC, with a live data link set up to run between the Lumentum and Finisar booths. The two module makers will be exchanging data generated by local sources through their respective SWDM4 optical transceivers. They will be linked via a traditional duplex multi-mode fiber (MMF) link, demonstrating the transceivers' ability to communicate with each other. The QSFP28 modules will be plugged into test systems provided by Anritsu and Viavi.
Using shortwave wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM, a novel technology in short-reach data communications), multiple data streams from lasers emitting different wavelengths in the 850nm band are optically multiplexed into a single fiber at the transmitter and de-multiplexed at the receiver into the original data streams. This provides a direct, low-cost solution for 100G data-rate upgrades for data-center customers who have an installed base of duplex MMF running at 10G currently. Before SWDM, the standard upgrade path was to switch to multi-mode ribbon fiber and use 100G SR4 over four parallel data streams.
"SWDM is expected to play an important part in the migration from a 10G-centric data center to an architecture based on 40, 100 or 200G," says James Wynia, director of product management at Dell EMC Networking. "We are pleased to see multiple vendors embrace a common interface because of the security of supply it provides to end customers."
Lumentum and Finisar use a common set of transceiver optical specifications in order to provide interoperability of their respective transceivers. This benefits users by presenting two well known optical module suppliers with this key technology for the most economical 100Gbps upgrade path.
"This demonstration marks an important step in the development of a low-cost 100G solution for a great many customers who have made the investment over the years in a duplex multi-mode fiber infrastructure for their data centers," says Lumentum product line manager Kevin Redner. "We knew the technology existed to use SWDM for 100G short-reach applications, and today we're pleased to show that customers can move confidently forward knowing that they have multiple sources for this product," he adds.
"SWDM technology enables data-center operators to extract ongoing value from their legacy duplex multi-mode fiber plant," says Finisar senior product line manager Tony Abdilla. "Duplex multi-mode fiber was widely deployed for 10G data transmission. With SWDM transceivers, the same fiber can be used to carry 100G data."
In 2015 the SWDM Alliance was created with the express purpose of promoting this technology in response to a need in the industry. With SWDM4, an optical transceiver with a standard QSFP28/CAUI-4 electrical interface can be plugged into an Ethernet switch or network interface controller (NIC) and drive 100Gbps over legacy duplex MMF.
