[May 13, 2013]

OIF Members Tackle SDN, 400G Interconnect and More

The Optical Internetworking Forum members defined a number of new projects for both Networking and Physical and Link Layer (PLL) technologies in their quarterly meeting last month. The OIF's (News - Alert) networking group continues to work with the Forum's Carrier members to define requirements for Transport SDN. As part of this activity, work has started on an SDN Framework document to better focus the conflicting and confusing requirements that vary in the industry for Transport SDN. Separately, plans for an SDN networking interoperability demonstration are currently in the works for 2014 and will showcase technology outlined in the SDN Framework document. On the PLL side, two projects addressing Thermal Interface requirements and CFP2 Coherent Optics Transceiver module were also started. Members also completed and approved the Next Generation Interconnect Framework white paper as well as implementation agreements on Multilink Gearbox and a Multilayer Amendment for E-NNI.

"The OIF is working on defining a framework for the industry to clarify the interfaces required in the Transport SDN ecosystem, leveraging input from carriers," said Jonathan Sadler, Tellabs (News - Alert) and the OIF's Technical Committee chair. "In addition, the OIF is advancing work in 100G interconnect and has completed implementation agreements that focus on technology from past interoperability demonstrations. The Forum continues to drive technology efforts that are necessary for providing higher speeds and lower costs for the industry."

The OIF will be presenting an overview of the Carrier SDN Requirements and SDN Framework project as well as the newly completed 400G/1T Next Generation Interconnect Framework whitepaper in a workshop at the Light Reading Packet-Optical Transport Evolution 2013 in New York City on May 14^th at 8:15 am. Presenting on behalf of the OIF are OIF president Vishnu Shukla of Verizon and Dave Brown of Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert) and an OIF board member.

"A consensus has been reached by Forum members agreeing that development work must begin to address next generation data rates for future systems and determine what interconnects should have defined interoperability requirements," said Nathan Tracy of TE Connectivity (News - Alert) and the OIF's Technical Committee vice chair. The Next Generation Interconnect Framework white paper, which addresses technical challenges for the next generation higher data rates and higher throughputs required for systems operating beyond 100G and identifies applications spaces where OIF development work may be required, will be presented at next week's Light Reading Conference. The presentation also shares the results of recent interoperability tests on the OIF CEI-28G-VSR draft implementation agreement conducted by the OIF.

New Projects

A new project on Thermal Management will specify a module-type agnostic thermal interface between an optical module and a host bringing consistency and standardization to the industry. A second new project focuses on a Coherent Optics Transceiver module in a CFP2 form factor and will help maximize faceplate density and minimize first install costs on metro/regional line-side transport or switching platforms.

Completed IAs

The Multi-link Gearbox 2.0 implementation agreement defines a 4x25G lane configuration comprised of 20 MLG lanes and an 8x25G lane configuration comprised of 40 MLG lanes. Both are configured to carry multiple 10GBASE-R signals or a single 40GBASE-R signal. This IA will serve as an important infrastructure element in high rate systems.

A second IA, the Multilayer Amendment defines generic signaling and routing extensions to the OIF's E-NNI 2.0 implementation agreement in support of multilayer networks. Based on technology demonstrated in past interoperability tests the Multilayer Amendment provides the ability for the control plane to determine the lowest cost way to deliver a service using different technologies.

About the OIF

Launched in 1998, the OIF is the first industry group to unite representatives from data and optical networking disciplines, including many of the world's leading carriers, component manufacturers and system vendors. The OIF promotes the development and deployment of interoperable networking solutions and services through the creation of Implementation Agreements (IAs) for optical, interconnect, network processing, component and networking systems technologies. The OIF actively supports and extends the work of standards bodies and industry forums with the goal of promoting worldwide compatibility of optical internetworking products. Information on the OIF can be found at http://www.oiforum.com.

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