The CWDM8 Multi-Source Agreement group released a new technical specification for 400 Gb/s optical links up to 10 km over duplex single-mode fiber (SMF).
The group promotes the use of 8-wavelength Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing technology.in modern data centers and to support the deployment of 12.8T Ethernet switches and other advanced networking equipment with 50G SERDES. Current members of the CWDM8 MSA are Accton, Applied Optoelectronics, Barefoot Networks, Credo Semiconductor, Hisense, Innovium, Intel, MACOM, Mellanox, Neophotonics, New H3C Technologies, and Rockley Photonics.
The new specification, which is available at the organization’s website, represents the industry’s first 400G 10 km interface specifically targeted for implementation in next-generation optical module form factors such as QSFP-DD or OSFP for high-density data center networking equipment.
The new 10 km reach specification joins the 2 km reach 400G specification that the MSA Group released in November 2017. These 400G CWDM8 optical interfaces were developed to support a wide range of high-bandwidth networking applications in data center, campus, enterprise, and metropolitan area networks.
