Experience the Unmatched Versatility of Ethernet in Ethernet Alliance’s 2024 OFC Demo
Multivendor interoperability demo, paired with cutting-edge LPO display illustrates Ethernet’s capacity for handling hyperscale, AI/ML workloads, and other demanding applications
BEAVERTON, OR, Mar 12, 2024 – The Ethernet Alliance, a global consortium dedicated to the continued success and advancement of Ethernet technologies, today revealed details of its upcoming exhibit at booth #1415 during the 2024 Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC). The premier global optical communications and networking expo will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, Calif., March 26-28, 2024.
With 20 industry-leading Ethernet Alliance members in attendance, and one of the organization’s most popular interoperability demos, the organization’s OFC 2024 installation showcases Ethernet’s exceptional versatility and reliability at speeds of up to 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The installation incorporates a wide range of switches, routers, interconnects and interfaces including OSFP, QSFP-DD, QSFP, and SFP pluggable form factors. The demo also features the latest in test and measurement solutions including physical layer and traffic generation tools for ensuring Ethernet’s capacity for accommodating even the most demanding applications.
“Ethernet continues to be the workhorse of today’s ever-evolving networking ecosystem. With a seemingly endless capacity for adaptation, it effortlessly handles diverse workloads ranging from enterprise and home wired connectivity, to hyperscaler artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications,” said Peter Jones, chair, Ethernet Alliance. “As the need for enhanced processing power and data capacity surges, Ethernet’s signature dependability and seamless interoperability are redrawing the boundaries of technology innovation.”
With one of its largest contingents of participating member companies, the Ethernet Alliance OFC 2024 exhibit includes contributions from Alphawave Semi (LSE:AWE); AMD (NASDAQ:AMD); Amphenol Corporation (NYSE:APH); Anritsu Corporation (TYO:6754); Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE:ANET); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO); EXFO; Hyper Photonix Ltd.; Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR); Keysight Technologies Inc. (NYSE:KEYS); Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL); MultiLane, Inc.; Panduit; Spectra7 Microsystems, Inc. (TSXV:SEV); Spirent Communications plc (LSE:SPT); Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ:SNPS); TE Connectivity Ltd. (NYSE:TEL); Teledyne LeCroy Inc. (NYSE:TDY) / Xena Networks Inc.; VeEX, Inc.; and Wilder Technologies, LLC.
As the leading industry voice of Ethernet, the Ethernet Alliance is also offering a look at the latest in Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO) at its OFC 2024 booth. Featuring state-of-the-art solutions from various member companies, the display illustrates how LPO technologies extend the reach and capacity of Ethernet networks by enabling high-speed optical connectivity between devices while maintaining compatibility with Ethernet standards and protocols.
Alongside top industry leaders, the organization will also be participating in OFCnet, a high-capacity network providing connectivity between the OFC 2024 expo floor and external sites. First introduced in 2022, the live network facilitates booth-to-booth connectivity for on-site demonstrations, as well as connections to National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), and spotlights emerging technologies including quantum networking, networking for big data, and other applications.
Debuting at OFC 2024 is the latest edition of the Ethernet Alliance Ethernet Roadmap. Newly updated for 2024, the industry’s only Ethernet roadmap addresses the latest developments in AI/ML; Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN); and the full spectrum of Ethernet speeds from 1 GbE to 800 GbE. The Ethernet Roadmap covers the pressing issue of sustainability and related developments over the last decade. Complimentary copies of the 2024 roadmap will be available at the Ethernet Alliance’s exhibit at booth #1415 as well as available for download at its website. You can learn more now in Charting a Bold Future: the 2024 Ethernet Roadmap at the Ethernet Alliance blog: https://ethernetalliance.org/blog/2024/03/12/charting-a-bold-future-the-2024-ethernet-roadmap/
To learn more about OFC 2024, visit https://www.ofcconference.org. For additional information about the Ethernet Alliance, visit https://bit.ly/EA-OFC24, follow @EthernetAllianc on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, or LinkedIn.
The Ethernet Alliance is a global consortium that includes system and component vendors, and industry experts who are committed to the continued success and expansion of Ethernet technology. The Ethernet Alliance takes Ethernet standards to market by supporting activities that span from incubation of new Ethernet technologies to interoperability demonstrations and education. The organization’s plans may be found on the Events page of its website.
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Media Contact:
Laurie Davis
Interprose for Ethernet Alliance
+1 804 337 2569
Member Comments:
“We are witnessing an exciting era of technological advancements, fueled by innovation and the adoption of groundbreaking technologies. Applications like generative AI are constantly adapting and requiring petabytes of data to be moved around, driving innovations in efficiency and bandwidth with an emphasis on interoperability.
Ethernet ANLT (AutoNegotiation, Link Training) is critical for interoperability, and Alphawave Semi is excited to be participating in the EA at OFC event to demonstrated how its complete Ethernet Solution (ZeusCORE PHY+OmegaCORE Controller) can enable “plug and play,” a critical benefit and testament to Ethernet that has allowed it to persevere for 50 years.” – Michael Klempa, product marketing specialist, Alphawave Semi
“As we approach OFC 2024 and the opportunity that it presents to showcase the many advances in the world of Ethernet, Amphenol is proud to once again participate in the Ethernet Alliance booth and live demonstration. As one of the world’s leading suppliers of Optics, LPO’s, AOC’s and award-winning DACs Amphenol is joining with twenty other Ethernet manufacturers in a live demonstration showcasing how Ethernet is changing the world with cutting edge technology and interoperability. Please stop by the Ethernet Alliance booth to see all that Ethernet has to offer.” – Chris Lyon, cloud business development manager, Amphenol CS, and president, Ethernet Alliance
“As demanding AI use cases continue to grow and move data across networks and hyperscale data centers, 800G Ethernet provides the bandwidth needed to manage these ever-increasing workloads. AMD is proud of its work with the Ethernet Alliance and its ecosystem partners to contribute its Versal Premium silicon for interoperability to ensure that these 800G-based systems will be able to deliver the necessary performance and security for systems today and in the future.” – Harpinder Matharu, senior director, Data Center and Communications Group, AMD
“We are proud to participate in Ethernet Alliance’s live multi-vendor interoperability demonstrations, showcasing the advanced capabilities of our Network Master™ Pro MT1040A with 400G ZR, Open ZR+, and dual 400GbE. This participation demonstrates our commitment to interoperability and collaboration within the industry, ultimately benefiting our customers with wider compatibility and more efficient network deployments.” – Shu Zhuang, senior product marketing manager, Anritsu
“Arista is demonstrating interoperability with our high density 800G systems and connectivity options that include: Low power 800G Linear Pluggable Optics (LPO), ultra low latency 100G and 25G optics, 400ZR for DCI, and 100G/lane copper cables. The multi-vendor Ethernet Alliance demonstrations continue to drive Ethernet’s success in AI, cloud, financial, service provider and enterprise networks.” – Martin Hull, vice president, Systems Engineering and Platforms, Arista Networks
“Ethernet’s growing prominence, ubiquity, and efficiency is key for AI/ML applications that will bring scale, simplicity and interoperability for the Hyperscale network operators.
Cisco is showcasing a Cisco 8000 Series 2RU 64x QSFP-DD800 switch with support for native 800GE based on the Cisco Silicon One G200 with SONiC as the NOS. The system is designed for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) front and back end ethernet networks and high-bandwidth data center compute switching. It is now sampling to multiple web-scale customers.
Cisco Silicon One G200 was designed to address demands for higher bandwidth, lower latency, feature rich solution to fuel the transition to ethernet-based AI/ML networking. It offers line rate power-efficient performance, high radix, low latency, advanced congestion aware load balancing, and telemetry features that AI/ML networks demand. It has a fully shared packet buffer that allows optimal burst absorption and job completion.” – Gurudatt Shenoy, VP product management, Cisco Systems
“The growth of 800Gb Ethernet has expanded the importance and responsibility of the test and measurement community, especially so with the advancements around interconnect schemes. Electrical and optical test parameters and new cabling and transceiver solutions provide significant challenges for specification conformance and ensuring interoperability. EXFO is excited to participate with the Ethernet Alliance and the members and showcase test capabilities for the landscape of 800Gb optical and electrical interconnect test requirements.” – David J. Rodgers, senior business development manager – SME, EXFO
“The Ethernet Alliance interoperability event at OFC 2024 is a fantastic opportunity for Hyper Photonix to collaborate with a broad range of network and test equipment manufacturers to showcase the latest advances the Ethernet ecosystem has to offer, including our Hyper Silicon™ photonics 400GBASE-DR4 and 800GBASE-DR8 optical transceivers. It’s an honor to participate in this premier event with so many industry partners dedicated to fostering cooperation, innovation, and accelerating wide-scale deployment of state-of-the-art networking technology.” – Henry Plaessmann, senior director of sales & business development, Hyper Photonix
“Juniper Networks is a proud, longstanding, and active member of The Ethernet Alliance. We champion multi-vendor collaborations that lead meaningful, standards-based market innovations. In 2023, Juniper contributed to EA’s multi-vendor interop, validating that 400G coherent technologies have crossed the chasm to become a mature solution supported by a vibrant ecosystem.
“This year, we are looking ahead to the industry’s transition to 800G. At OFC ’24 Juniper will participate in one of the first public 800ZR system interoperability demonstrations, including Juniper’s PTX10002-36QDD router and 800ZR (beta) transceivers. We are also excited to showcase our new 100G-ZR transceivers which will revolutionize cloud metro applications. Juniper is committed to supporting these technologies to enable our global customers to realize the compelling benefits of IP over DWDM in a myriad of WAN use cases.” – Julius Francis, senior director, product strategy, Wide Area Networking, Juniper Networks
As AI workloads and infrastructure expand rapidly, the data center interconnects that support this transition to AI must keep pace as evolving Ethernet standards drive bandwidth and data connectivity of next generation networks. Keysight is working closely with the Ethernet Alliance and the partner members to demonstrate 800GE interoperability using AresONE 800GE QSFP-DD-M and AresONE 800GE OSFP800-M Test Solutions.” – Ram Periakaruppan, vice president and general manager, Network Test and Security Solutions, Keysight
“Marvell Alaska® DSPs are playing an important role in data centers as they transition to higher interconnect bandwidths, driven by accelerated computing and AI. As part of this year’s OFC multi-vendor demo, Marvell will showcase our Alaska C X9340P MACsec PHY, enabling secure 800GbE inter and intra data center links, and our Alaska A 800G AEC DSP, powering the transition of short reach copper interconnects from passive Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables to Active Electrical Cables (AEC).” – Venu Balasubramonian, vice president of product marketing, Connectivity Business Unit, Marvell
“We are humbled to be one of the newest members of the Ethernet Alliance. Our membership allows us to take a more active role in contributing to the evolution of the ethernet ecosystem. Streamlining interoperability is one of MultiLane’s core competencies in this space, and we are looking forward to enabling fellow members to that effect.” – Hani Daou, business development manager, MultiLane
“Panduit is pleased to once again join the Ethernet Alliance’s Interoperability demonstration at OFC 2024. This demonstration highlights how products from a diverse list of market leaders work seamlessly together assuring flexible and scalable customer deployments from 25G per lane up to 800G per port with existing singlemode and multimode fiber cabling.” – Bob Wagner, senior business development manager, Panduit
“Spectra7 is proud to be showcasing our Active Copper Cable (ACC) technology in the Ethernet Alliance Interop Demo at OFC 2024. As the industry leader in ACCs, we will be demonstrating broad interoperability and robust performance with 800G OSFP, 800G QSFP-DD, 400G QSFP-DD and 200G QSFP form factors. ACCs are preferred by Hyperscalers and Switch OEMs due to the lower power, cost and latency compared to competing technologies as data rates and interface densities increasingly shorten the lengths that passive copper cables can service.” – John Mitchell, chief marketing officer, Spectra7
“Spirent is proud to continue its participation in the Ethernet Alliance interoperability demonstration at OFC 2024. With the AI revolution upon us, bandwidth requirements are accelerating and the migration to higher speeds like 800G is expected to significantly accelerate in 2024. 51.2 Tbps chips are also enabling another wave of 800G and 400G deployments. Leveraging our decades of experience in Ethernet testing, Spirent is well placed to help this dynamic industry, from chipsets, transceivers, cabling, network equipment, to data centers evolve and be successful. Partnering with the Ethernet Alliance and members, Spirent is demonstrating the latest 800G and 400G solutions for validating the reliability, high performance, and interoperability of Ethernet technologies across the entire ecosystem to meet the unprecedented demand for low latency and high bandwidth connectivity.” – Aniket Khosla, vice president of wireline product management, Spirent
“Ever-growing compute demand in the era of pervasive intelligence is pushing data center providers, and their ecosystem, to future-proof their infrastructure. Ethernet protocol innovation is key to addressing the high bandwidth and low latency needs of these massive workloads. As an active member of the Ethernet Alliance, Synopsys provides chip and systems designers with a path to 1.6T Ethernet throughput with complete, trusted, and standards-compliant IP solutions that reduce integration risk and accelerate time to market.” – John Koeter, senior vice president of product management and strategy for IP, Synopsys
“Ethernet Alliance’s Interoperability event at OFC 2024 Is once again a critical opportunity for TE Connectivity (TE) to demonstrate how we leverage technology to deliver next generation higher speed, higher density products that can enable Ethernet to meet future needs such as networks optimized for AI and ML applications. As a founding principal member of the Ethernet Alliance, TE is proud to provide our highest speed passive and active electrical and optical connectivity products in the Ethernet Alliance physical interoperability demonstrations. Current Ethernet deployments deliver data rates of 800 Gbps and in the near future aim for 1.6 Tbps. These roadmaps depend on organizations such as the Ethernet Alliance to bring together the ecosystem to address the technical challenges of delivering robust interoperable solutions.” – Nathan Tracy, principal technologist, system architecture team, TE Connectivity
Teledyne LeCroy is excited to again be part of the Ethernet Alliance technical demonstrations at OFC. Now with the Xena traffic generators and SierraNet protocol analyzers, we have a much bigger footprint in Ethernet testing and are looking forward to demonstrating the capabilities of Ethernet devices using 112G SerDes to deliver 800Gbps per port. This is an important milestone as we head towards Terabit Ethernet, and highlights the critical value of our traffic generator, Physical Layer testing and protocol analysis solutions, especially for large data centers and vendors of network backbone technology solutions.” – Nick Kriczky, vice president products and services, Teledyne LeCroy Protocol Solutions Group (PSG)
“VeEX is pleased to join Ethernet Alliance’s live multi-vendor interoperability demonstrations at OFC 2024. As the global leader in network testing, we recognize the pivotal role of multi-vendor interoperability in driving successful adoption and deployment of next generation equipment and services. We are proudly demonstrating our RXT and MPA multi-port traffic generator/analyzer solutions for lab, production and field environments, including the new RXT-6800, the industry’s smallest field portable test solution up to 800G in a single test module.” – Keith Cole, VP product marketing NEMs, VeEX
“Thrilled to collaborate with Ethernet Alliance at OFC 2024, where innovation meets connectivity. Together, we’re forging the future of networking. Wilder’s industry compliant test fixtures enable advancements in connectivity that propel industries forward. EA provides a collaborative environment where daily competitors come to work together to show the world interoperability achievements when using Ethernet. Join us as we shape the landscape of connectivity via a vast array of form factors and data rates.” – Tim Brackett, technical sales director, Wilder Technologies
