Demonstrating the Future of 800G Ethernet at ECOC 2024

At the 2024 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), Synopsys joined the Ethernet Alliance and other member companies to showcase the essential role of 800G Ethernet in advancing high-speed interconnects. In this guest blog post, Synopsys Senior Staff Technical Product Manager Keivan Javadi Khasraghi discusses our demonstrations at the event and how 800G Ethernet is framing the future of data transfer.

AI/ML workloads are pushing the limits of hyperscale data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Even those that have adopted 400G Ethernet are struggling to connect thousands of graphics processing units (GPUs), support more traffic and higher bandwidth accelerators, and scale at the pace of these modern workloads. To address these challenges and drive the pervasive intelligence of tomorrow, 800G technologies and 1.6T standards are being developed today.

The IEEE P802.3df task force recently released version 1.0 of the 800GbE specification, while the IEEE802.3dj task force continues to work on the 1.6T standard. Collective efforts like the Ethernet Alliance are bringing these standards to life with new, interoperable 800Gbps Ethernet links for rack-to-rack and chip-to-chip applications. The links include electrical backplanes, copper DACs, and electro-optical interfaces, all of which are essential for facilitating the compute, memory, and storage disaggregation required by next-generation AI/ML workloads.

Synopsys joined the Ethernet Alliance at the 2024 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC) to showcase the robustness and interoperability of 800G, demonstrating new high-speed interconnects and the progression of standards — from paper to field deployment.

800G Ethernet in Action

To demonstrate the capabilities of 800G Ethernet at ECOC 2024, the Ethernet Alliance established a live network with best-in-class switches, routers, and interconnect solutions. The setup included OSFP, QSFP-DD, and QSFP modules in addition to SFP pluggable form factors, traffic generators, and sophisticated test and measurement solutions.

Figure 2. Ethernet Alliance Interoperability Demonstration at ECOC 2024

The demonstration featured Auto-Negotiation and Link Training (AN/LT) at 800Gbps, including seamless interoperability, error correction, performance optimization, and reduced manual configuration.

Figure 3. 800G AN/LT Demonstration

The demonstration helped validate the end-to-end performance and interoperability of silicon-proven 800G Ethernet technology — across various scenarios and operational metrics, including link testing, latency, and error handling.

From 800G to 1.6T – The Road Ahead

From managing thermal challenges and signal integrity to advancing module design, the Ethernet Alliance provides the collaborative ecosystem, insights, and experience to effectively deploy 800G Ethernet. The progression to 1.6T Ethernet builds on the knowledge gained from previous technology advancements. Leveraging 224G and 112G Ethernet includes advanced modulation schemes and signal processing, setting the stage for 1.6Tbps.

To learn more about the Ethernet Alliance at ECOC 2024, click here.

To learn more about Synopsys 800G Ethernet implementation, click here.