FREMONT, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 11, 2021 — Highlights from OIF’s first member meeting of the year include a new co-packaging project launch, an industry talk from Vladimir Kozlov, founder and CEO, LightCounting and a joint workshop with the Telecom Infra Project (TIP) Mandatory Use Case Requirements for SDN for Transport (MUST) project. Additionally, members elected a new Networking & Operations Working Group Chair following the meeting. The Q121 Technical and MA&E Committees Meeting was held virtually February 22-26.

NEW PROJECT
OIF started a 3.2T Co-Packaged Module project for intra data center switching applications. The 3.2T Co-Packaged Optical Module Implementation Agreement (IA) is the first project initiated under the umbrella of the Co-Packaged Framework Project announced in November 2020. The IA will define a 3.2T co-packaged optical module that targets Ethernet switching applications utilizing 100G electrical lanes. It will include the following interoperability specifications:

• Optical interface options supporting 400GBASE-FR4 and 400GBASE-DR4 with backwards compatible to 200G interfaces
• CEI-112G-XSR high speed electrical interfaces
• Electrical, mechanical, and management interfaces

“This 3.2T Co-Packaging project builds on OIF’s 20+ year successful track record to anticipate and address the industry’s needs,” said Jeff Hutchins, Ranovus and OIF Physical and Link Layer Working Group, Co-Packaging Vice Chair. “With its broad membership from across the eco-system, OIF is well positioned to create unified host, module and control specifications.”

“The industry has clearly articulated the need for a standardized co-packaged solution to address data center power constraints, and further, to enable new network architectures and applications,” said Mark Filer, Microsoft Principal Hardware Engineer and OIF Board Member. “The 3.2T Co-Packaged Optical Module project is a concrete step toward that goal, and OIF is uniquely qualified to rapidly execute on the implementation agreement in order to meet the market needs.”

GUEST SPEAKER

The meeting’s guest speaker, Kozlov, provided attendees with an overview of the market for Ethernet and DWDM optics such as “ZR optics” for DCI applications, including trends, forecasts and expected changes in the supplier landscape.

“Transition from pluggable to co-packaged optics is a radical change for the industry, but there is no other way to support future bandwidth requirements of Mega Datacenters and AI clusters,” said Kozlov.

TIP MUST WORKSHOP

Members of the OIF Networking Interoperability Working Group and TIP MUST project held a joint workshop. The members agreed to explore potential projects to further define, validate and implement transport SDN technologies in open, disaggregated open optical networks. This work will leverage the TIP MUST reference architecture and use cases as well as the experience and findings of the successful OIF 2020 Transport SDN API Interoperability Demonstration.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

Members elected Jia He, Huawei Technologies., Ltd., as the new Networking & Operations Working Group Chair.

About OIF
OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Building on more than 20 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 100+ industry leading network operators, system vendors, component vendors and test equipment vendors collaborating to develop interoperable electrical, optical and control solutions that directly impact the industry’s ecosystem and facilitate global connectivity in the open network world. Connect with OIF at @OIForum, on LinkedIn and at http://www.oiforum.com.

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Leah Wilkinson
Wilkinson + Associates for OIF
Email: leah@wilkinson.associates
Office: 703-907-0010