SAN JOSE – The
Optical Internetworking Forum launched three projects to define serial interfaces running at 50-56 Gbits/second. The efforts aim to reduce pin counts and package sizes for future 100 and 400 Gbit/s optical modules and Fibre Channel interfaces beyond the planned 32 Gbit/s generation.
OIF working groups aim to hammer out implementation agreements vendors can use to create interoperable products beyond the 25-28 Gbit/s interfaces OIF has defined to date. The projects were proposed at the OIF’s second quarter meeting in April in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
“Based on our Common Electrical Interface (CEI) work, the industry has turned to the OIF to drive the next phase in electrical interfaces which will include data rates up to 56 Gbits/s.” said Dave Stauffer an IBM engineer and chair of the OIF’s physical and link layer working group.
The CEI-56G-Very Short Reach project targets the next speed jump for chip-to-optical module interfaces beyond 28 Gbits/s. It will include single lane interfaces for 40 Gbits/s modules and 8-10 lane interfaces for 400 Gbits/s modules.
Two other projects target interfaces at levels of integration previously not addressed by OIF standards.
The Ultra Short Reach Electrical Interface will define die-to-die links over distances of less than 10 mm between an ASIC and an optical engine at data rates up to and including 56 Gbits/s. It aims to enable multi-chip modules and other advanced packages.
The Close Proximity Electrical Interface will describe a similar speed link with a reach of less than 50 mm. It addresses chip-to-chip connections for use between adjacent chips on a printed circuit board, geared for low power board-mounted optical engines.
“As with prior generations of CEI, the primary technical hurdles are to define channel models that meet industry needs and to determine appropriate serdes technologies that operate over these channels,” said Stauffer in an email exchange. “The standards development process must make trade-offs to reach cost-effective solutions in terms of silicon area, power, packaging, and interconnect,” he added.
The OIF does not publish time frames for its projects. The group was launched in 1998 to create leading edge implementation agreements that enable interoperable products from a range of electrical and optical systems and component vendors.
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