The Quest

When the journey to 100 Gigabit Ethernet began over 10 years ago, the question was often asked when would native 100 Gb/s Ethernet be specified?  Flash forward to 2018 and we find the industry still in the midst of that journey.  True,  the IEEE 802.3bs™ standard specified 100 Gb/s per optical wavelength specification (400GBASE-DR4), but the IEEE 802.3ck™ Task Force has just begun its work to specify 100 Gb/s electrical signaling for electrical interfaces.

Members of the Ethernet Alliance recognized years ago that the industry would eventually develop this technology, and back in 2014 we challenged the industry with the Quest for Ethernet’s Holy Grail –

• Challenge #1 – Ethernet Alliance’s Holy Cup of 100 GbE Lambda – The first company to publicly demonstrate a 100 GbE Single Lambda in a QSFP28 will win the Holy Cup
• Challenge #2 – Ethernet Alliance’s Holy Grail of 100 GbE SFP – The first company to publicly demonstrate a 100GbE SFP will win the Holy Grail

For a company to successfully complete either of these quests, here are the requirements –

Requirements: Challenge #1 – Ethernet Alliance’s Holy Cup of 100GbE Lambda

• Housed in a QSFP28 pluggable module, driven from a host board with an IEEE 802.3 specified 4x25Gb/s electrical interface
• Uses a single wavelength of light
• Demonstrated link (complete link consisting of electrical interfaces and optical link) that achieves either of the two reach distances noted:
• 2km over duplex SMF with a 4.0dB insertion loss
• 100m over duplex MMF with a 2.0dB insertion loss

Requirements: Challenge #2 – Ethernet Alliance’s Holy Grail of 100 GbE SFP 

• Housed in an SFP pluggable module, driven from a host board with a serial 100 Gb/s electrical interface
• Uses a single wavelength of light
• Demonstrated link (complete link consisting of electrical interfaces and optical link) that achieves either of the two reach distances noted:
• 2km over duplex SMF with a 4.0dB insertion loss
• 100m over duplex MMF with a 2.0dB insertion loss

Any companies planning to showcase any such public demonstrations at ECOC 2018 are encouraged to contact the Ethernet Alliance at admin@ethernetalliance.org to arrange a meeting with members of the Ethernet Alliance Board of Directors (or their delegates) to review their demonstration.  The Ethernet Alliance Board of Directors will determine the winner or winners, and award plaques to all winners to commemorate their achievement of bringing 100 Gb/s single lambda optics to the market.

I am looking forward to enjoying a gelato in Rome next month, and seeing any public demonstrations that will bring the quest for Ethernet’s Holy Grail to completion.