Latin America. Through the definition of IEEE standards, Channel Fiber and industry specifications, higher speeds are sought towards migration paths of 200 Gbps, 400 Gbps and more, with single-mode and multi-mode fiber.
The continuous growth in data center bandwidth has forced us to prepare new paths that support higher speeds. A 10 Gbps link, once regarded as extremely fast, is giving way to links of 100 Gbps and more. Through IEEE standard definition, Channel Fiber, and industry specifications, higher speeds are sought that provide cost-effective migration paths at 200 Gbps, 400 Gbps and more, with single-mode and multi-mode fiber.
"To understand this variety of options you have, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the 'alphabet soup' formed by the suffixes used to distinguish the types of transceivers," said Matias Peluffo, Director of Fiber Solutions for In-House Plant and Data Center asia/Pacific, "we started with the IEEE suffixes used for 10G: 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR and 10GBASE-ER. SR is always used for multimode fiber and stands for short range (400 meters in OM4). LR and ER are used for single-mode fiber, LR is long range (10 kms) and ER is extended range (40 km)."
Although it might seem straightforward, suffixes become more complex to account for the techniques used to achieve higher speeds, including using multiple fibers and multiple wavelengths, adding a numerical designator to indicate the number of wavelengths or fibers used. For example, for 100G in single-mode the suffix LR4 refers to the use of four wavelengths in each fiber, but for 100G in multimode, the SUFFIX SR4 refers to the use of four pairs of fibers.
But suffixes are not unique to the IEEE; multiple-source agreements (MSAs) have their own suffixes. The SWDM Alliance uses the SWDM4 suffix for Shortwave Division Multiplexing over duplex multimode, in addition to a numerical designator that refers to four wavelengths over each fiber. Also single-mode MSAs introduced PSM4 for Parallel Monomode using four fibers and CWDM4 for LongWave Division Multiplexing using four wavelengths.
"Several new suffixes are currently being adopted in the IEEE for the new 100G, 200G and 400G standards. An SR2 suffix was introduced for 100G using 2 multimode pairs. A DR (Datacenter Reach) suffix was introduced for the 500 m individual mode, and DR4 was adopted to designate four pairs of fibers. Another new suffix, FR (said to stand for Fiber Reach), was introduced for 2 km single-mode solutions, with FR4 indicating four wavelengths and FR8 indicating eight wavelengths. If we look at all these new suffixes, this 'alphabet soup' is no longer so simple," Matias Peluffo added.
Although it is not easy to understand this whole combination of letters, this designation, like the numerical one, is necessary to reduce confusion, since multiple fibers and multiple wavelengths can be used simultaneously. Because of this complexity, IEEE experts have opened a discussion to start a project that can help clear up confusion in designations, including a proposal to combine the number of fiber pairs and the number of wavelengths under a new suffix scheme, through which it is hoped to reduce confusion.
The new suffix scheme proposes the separation of the numerical designator for the number of pairs of fibers followed by the designator for the number of wavelengths, separated by a point. Using this scheme the suffix for 200G multimode using a pair of fibers and four wavelengths would be SR1.4 (a dot pair four wavelengths), while other options for 200G and 400G may include SR2.4 (two dot four wavelength pairs) or SR4.2 (four pairs dot two wavelengths).
"Currently, data centers are increasingly powered by fiber, so the proposal to familiarize yourself with this 'suffix alphabet soup' is not a crazy idea, because understanding it facilitates decision making for the correct operation in the infrastructure," concluded the Director of Fiber Solutions for Internal Plant and Data Center of Asia / Pacific.
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