The Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC) is celebrating 50 years of optical networking and communications this year. The milestone highlights decades of innovation from companies such as Acacia that have delivered optical networking technology enabling network operators to continually expand their bandwidth, deliver faster networks, and offer more services.

One of those innovations that we believe will be a dominant topic at OFC this year is coherent optics. Coherent pluggable modules have been critical for enabling network operators to keep up with bandwidth demands over the last decade, and according to Cignal AI, they will account for most of the future bandwidth growth driven by applications such as generative AI and machine learning. Acacia pioneered the coherent pluggable more than 10 years ago with the introduction of the industry’s first 100G CFP module in 2014 and has been a market leader ever since having shipped half a million 400G ports based on the Greylock DSP, including more than 25,000 Bright 400ZR+ ports.

Acacia continues to innovate and will illustrate its industry-leading optical networking advancements through the following demonstrations and speaking sessions:

Demonstrations:

• 200G per lane optical engine products – Demonstrating the recently announced 200G/lane silicon photonics optical engine with transmitter and receiver designs supporting DR4, DR8 and 2xFR4 configurations.
• Delphi DSP-based Coherent Pluggable Portfolio including new L-Band 400G ULH – Showcasing Acacia’s broad 400G module portfolio powered by Acacia’s 9th generation DSP Delphi including 800ZR, 800G ZR+ with interoperable Probabilistic Constellation Shaping (PCS), and 400G Ultra Long Haul. 400G modules in QSFP-DD form factor and 800G modules in both OSFP and QSFP-DD form factors are available with C and L-Band versions.
• OIF multi-vendor interoperability (Booth #5745) – Showing interoperability of 800ZR, 400ZR, OpenZR+ and Multi-Span Optics enhancing multi-vendor interoperability in high-capacity, long-distance optical networks and Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) standardizing the management of optical and electrical devices to simplify scalability.
• OpenROADM compliant 800G ZR+ coherent modules – Featuring a link between the OIF booth (#5745) and OpenROADM booth (#5128) demonstrating the high-performance interop PCS interface which expands the market for 800G pluggables beyond metro DCI into regional and even long-haul networks. Acacia’s award-winning 800G ZR+ modules were the first in the industry to support the OpenROADM specification.
• Ethernet Alliance (Booth #5173) – Showing interoperability of Acacia 800G ZR interconnects.

Speaking Sessions:

Monday, March 31

• Optica Executive Forum: Status of Photonic-enabled Modules and Interconnects
  — Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
  — Time: 10:35-11:50 am
  — Location: Marriott Marquis
• Multi-rate PAM4 Silicon Photonic Based Receiver Assembly with -10dBm iFEC Sensitivity at 226Gb/s/λ and 125mW/Ch CMOS TIA
  — Speaker: Mahdi Parvizi, Principal Engineer
  — Time: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
  — Location: Rooms 211-212 (Level 2)

Tuesday, April 1

• Market Watch: Optical Modules, Transceivers and Applications
  — Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
  — Time: 2:15 – 3:45 pm
  — Location: Theater I

Wednesday, April 2

• Network Operator Summit: Interoperation of Optical Pluggable Transceivers and IP/Optical Integration
  — Moderator: Anuj Malik, Director, Product Management and Strategy
  — Featured speakers from Cignal AI, Arelion, Cox Communications, Deutsche Telekom Technik GmbH, Telefonica
  — Time: 10:45 – 12:15 pm
  — Location: Theater I
• Coherent Optics Unleashed: 400ZR Success to 800ZR/LR Advancements and 1600ZR/ZR+ Kick-Off
  — Speaker: Doug Cattarusa, Technical Marketing Engineer
  — Time: 4:00 – 5:00 pm
  — Location: Theater I

Thursday, April 3

• Market Watch: Optical Network Evolution for AI/ML, Architectures and Drivers
  — Speaker: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
  — Time: 10:15 – 11:45 am
  — Location: Theater I
• Demonstration of 400G Optical Interoperability in IP Over WDM Network Scenarios Over Single Span WDM System with and Without Optical Amplifiers
  — Speaker: Anuj Malik, Director, Product Management & Strategy
  — Time: 10:30 am
• Coherent Moving to Client Optics
  — Moderator: Tom Williams, VP of Marketing
  — Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm
  — Location: Theater II

Come See us!
If you are attending OFC 2025 and would like to discuss any of these topics, contact us to request a meeting.

Driven by Demands for Higher-Bandwidth, Lower Power and Smaller Footprint
Acacia’s client optics portfolio is driven by key customer requirements for better power efficiency, higher performance, and smaller footprint from a proven high-volume supplier. Delivering these capabilities is a critical enabler for module vendors to design cutting-edge pluggable modules that can handle the compute intensive workloads generated by AI, cloud services, and video streaming. With more than a million 100G per lane optical engines shipped in the last 12 months, Acacia is already an established supplier for client optics components based on silicon photonics.

Introducing the 3nm 1.6T Kibo PAM4 DSP
At the heart of Acacia’s 200G per lane client optics portfolio is the 3nm 1.6T Kibo PAM4 DSP designed to power the optical interconnects inside the world’s cloud and AI data centers. It is expected to sample later in 2025.

Key features include:

• 3nm CMOS node for market leading power efficiency enabling more than 20% lower power compared to existing 1.6T module implementations
• Industry standard compliance enhanced by Acacia’s algorithms
• Transmit Retimed Optics (TRO) configurations with power-efficient support for diagnostic and loopback troubleshooting capabilities
• Support for gearbox and retimer applications
• Designed to support 1.6T DR8 and 2xFR4, as well as 800G DR4, DR8, FR4 and 2xFR4 modules in OSFP/QSFP-DD form factors

200G per Lane Optical Engine Family
Complementing the Kibo PAM4 DSP is a family of Optical Engine products designed to support 200G per lane that leverage Acacia’s silicon photonics expertise. Acacia’s Optical Engine products will be demonstrated at OFC 2025.

The family of Optical Engine products address a variety of applications with the following configurations:

• Separate transmit and receive components
• DR4, DR8 and 2xFR4 use cases
• Support for 100G/lane and 200G/lane
• Flexible driver configuration support
• Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) integration in receiver circuit (RX)

“We expect the market for IC chipsets for optical communications to grow from 2025 through 2030 at a CAGR of 17% as hyperscalers look to meet the burgeoning demands that AI is placing on the entire infrastructure,” said Vladimir Kozlov, Founder and CEO at LightCounting. “Having a new supplier in this space, that also has the credibility that Acacia has amassed over more than a decade, will be key for continuing innovation.”

Leverages Acacia’s Proven Volume Manufacturing Capabilities
As an established leader in coherent DSP ASIC design-to-volume deployment, Acacia is a trusted supplier in the telecommunications industry. Acacia’s expanded client optics portfolio is also backed by Cisco’s full commitment to support the ongoing development, supply and customer service of Acacia’s existing and future products.

“Client optics has always represented an exciting opportunity to leverage our team’s expertise in DSP and silicon photonics,” said Benny Mikkelsen, SVP and General Manager, Acacia. “With AI driving tremendous demand for client optics and increased adoption of silicon photonics at 200G/lane, this is an ideal time for us to invest in scaling this part of our business.”

Come See us At OFC 2025
If you are attending OFC 2025 and want to discuss our new client optics offerings, we’d welcome the opportunity to meet with you. Click here to set up a meeting.

Multiple standardization bodies, including the OIF, Open ROADM, and the IEEE, are working in parallel to standardize 800G optical transmission and 800 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) protocols, helping to foster economies of scale. In parallel, module vendors are introducing the required technologies to enable low power 120+Gbaud solutions that would fit into small form-factor modules such as QSFP-DD and OSFP.

Higher Baud Rates, Standardization, and Higher Levels of Integration
With the 400G MSA pluggable generation, the industry via OIF converged onto Class 2 ~60Gbaud rate range and 4 bits/symbol 16QAM modulation order to enable 400G transmission within a 75GHz optical spectrum (Figure 1). Open ROADM requirements, targeting service providers, also included the same modulation order and similar baud rates, as well as additional transmission flexibility specifying more modulation modes, such as 2 bits/symbol QPSK to enable longer reaches at 200G.

Figure 1. 2x scaling of baud rates and channel spacing for ~60+Gbaud Class 2 to ~120+Gbaud Class 3 transition.

At 800G, the industry has converged to a 2x scaling of baud rate resulting in Class 3 ~120 Gbaud rates, as shown in Figure 1. Channel spacing requirements double to 150GHz for 800G, providing a straightforward network scaling supporting similar reaches to 400G Class 2 devices. As with 400G, this convergence is expected to drive economies of scale of the technology supporting this baud rate class.

To realize the modulation capability for Class 3 120+Gbaud operation, advancements in both high-speed optical modulation and supporting components as well as high-speed 112G-per-electrical-lane capabilities were needed to enable 800G MSA pluggables in compact form factors.  These optical and electrical high-speed capabilities have already been proven with the introduction of Acacia’s performance-optimized Coherent Interconnect Module (CIM) 8 module which utilizes silicon photonics, high speed ADC/DACs, RF components, and Acacia’s 3D Siliconization for Class 3 120+Gbaud transmission. The high-level of integration from 3D Siliconization allows this high baud rate technology to fit into QSFP-DD and OSFP pluggable form-factors, all while maintaining high signal integrity and low power consumption.

Figure 2.  3D Siliconization used in (left to right) Class 2 MSA Pluggables and Class 3 performance-optimized CIM 8. Highly integrated co-packaging is going to be important for Class 3 800G MSA pluggable modules.

Key Features Needed for 800G MSA Pluggable Modules
To meet customer needs and drive future adoption, 800G coherent MSA pluggables should have a number of key features and capabilities related to optical transmission, client traffic, low power consumption, and interoperable module management.

Figure 3. Illustrating the key features needed for 800G MSA Pluggable modules.

Optical Transmission Features

OIF 800ZR and high-performance interoperable PCS modes. OIF is defining an interoperable standard performance 800ZR variant addressing coherent line interfaces for amplified, single span, DWDM links over 80km using Class 3 optics operating at ~4 bits/symbol (equivalent to 16QAM) modulation. For a higher performance 800G solution, Open ROADM is defining enhanced performance modes that include an interoperable probability constellation shaping (PCS) implementation utilizing both Ethernet and OTN framing.

Multi-haul capable. In current Class 2 ~60Gbaud MSA pluggable solution designs capable of adjusting the modulation mode, a long reach 200G capability is available by setting the modulation order to QPSK (2 bits/symbol) rather than 16QAM (4 bits/symbol) used for 400G transmission. This capability was standardized in Open ROADM and adopted by OpenZR+. Class 3 ~120Gbaud solutions can be used for 800G metro/regional reaches, and for multiple different standard and proprietary modes at 400G and 600G to address a wide range of network requirements.

High transmit optical power capability. Like high-Tx (>0dBm) optical power capabilities introduced in Acacia’s Bright 400ZR+ QSFP-DD modules, 800G coherent MSA modules will require optical amplification to operate over traditional brownfield networks with ROADM network elements. Internal optical amplification is a key feature variant for this generation to support these types of networks.

Client Traffic Features

800GbE client traffic support. A key client traffic protocol to be supported in 800G generation coherent MSA pluggables is 800GbE. IEEE P802.3df^TM aims to define the requirements for native Ethernet traffic at 800G data rates. To support native 800G Ethernet traffic from switch/router I/O ports, 800G generation coherent MSA pluggables are required to support this protocol.

Multiplexing lower speed 100/200/400GbE electrical client traffic. It is expected that when 800G coherent MSA pluggables are introduced, 100GbE, 200GbE, and 400GbE will continue to be widely deployed client traffic speeds. Therefore, 800G pluggables need to support the ability to multiplex these lower speed protocols into 800G transmission, with requirements being established by the standardization groups. For networks utilizing OTN, support for FlexO at 800G could be possible.

Power Consumption and Management

Low power consumption. As with other MSA pluggable solutions, optimizing for low-power operation is a priority. The leveraging of Moore’s law with decreasing CMOS node sizes along with increased ASIC functionality has been a reason for the success of coherent pluggables—providing high-capacity links in a small form-factor. Power-optimized designs continue to be a priority for the new generation of Class 3 baud rate coherent MSA pluggables, not only for compliance in 800G slots, but also for backwards compatibility into lower-rate 400G legacy ports which have more restrictive power consumption requirements.

Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) compliance. In addition to industry standardization efforts at the optical transmission and client traffic levels, there has been a concerted effort to ensure multi-vendor interoperability of the module management interface through CMIS, defined in OIF. This ensures a common and predictable management signaling interface between the module and the host switch/router from one module vendor to another. CMIS compliance, a key requirement for 400G MSA modules, is going to extend to 800G as well.

Interoperable PCS Modes

Taking a page from the performance-optimized coherent playbook, 800G MSA pluggable solutions are expected to introduce interoperable PCS optical transmission. PCS shapes the optical transmission using an algorithm that weights the constellation to utilize the inner points more than the outer points, resulting in improved OSNR performance with a minimal increase in overhead. While previous implementations of PCS have always been proprietary, several key DSP vendors have collaborated over the last 12 months to enable the industry’s first introduction of interoperable PCS for 800G MSA pluggables.

Figure 4. High-level block diagram comparing 800G MSA pluggable solutions utilizing 800ZR standard transmission and 800ZR+ interoperable PCS mode for higher OSNR performance.

Driven by Open ROADM, the 800G interoperable PCS implementation provides a power-optimized method to boost the performance beyond 800ZR, similar to how oFEC boosted the performance beyond 400ZR in OpenZR+ modules. This additional performance allows 800G implementations to achieve similar reaches as 400G implementations based on 16QAM transmission. This Open ROADM interoperable PCS mode operates in the 130+Gbaud range, which is slightly higher than the 800ZR mode, but can still enable transmission in 150GHz channels. With interoperable PCS, network operators can benefit from a greater range of network implementations from the initial 800G MSA pluggable offerings compared to the initial 400G point-to-point offerings of the previous generation.

Following the Right Path to 800G Pluggables

In summary, operators are looking for the following key functional requirements to transition to 800G coherent MSA pluggables.

• Support for OIF 800ZR and high-performance interoperable PCS modes
• Multi-haul capable
• High Tx optical power option
• 800GbE client traffic support
• Multiplexing lower speed 100/200/400GbE electrical client traffic
• Low power consumption
• CMIS compliance

This solution can plug directly into switch/router ports to further drive adoption of IP-over-DWDM router-based optical network architectures. The first 800G pluggable deployments are expected in 2024.

Arelion Achieves 64% CAPEX and 76% OPEX Savings Enabled by Bright 400ZR+ Deployment

In August 2023, Arelion announced that it has taken another landmark step in converging its IP and optical layers as the first global network to deploy 400G QSFP-DD ZR+ Bright coherent optical modules in its production #1 ranked IP backbone. This first regional reach deployment spans 675 kilometers between Stockholm and Copenhagen over third-party Optical Open Line System (O-OLS). According to Arelion, the streamlined architecture eliminates the need for excessive hardware, thereby reducing potential points of failure. As a result, it achieves 64% CAPEX and 76% OPEX savings. This contributes to a significantly more cost-efficient network with fewer interfaces to control and maintain.

Highlighting the benefits of these modules, Arelion’s Mattias Fridström shares his insights in this video from testing the technology to how they can potentially transform network infrastructures.

Mattias Fridström, Vice President & Chief Evangelist at Arelion shares the benefits of deploying Acacia’s 400G QSFP-DD Bright Optical Modules in Arelion’s production IP backbone

Dariusz Solowiej, VP Network Technology & Customer Operations at Arelion added, “With constantly rising demand for our IP services and increasing traffic across the Internet, Arelion is constantly looking to deploy the latest technology. The deployment of 400G QSFP-DD Bright Optical Modules will ensure cost-effective, high-performance connectivity for our customers and help us grow our network in scale as we continue to connect the world. In addition, the coherent pluggable modules also help us achieve our sustainability goals through improved energy efficiency and redeploying redundant hardware assets.”

CENIC Validates Coherent Pluggable Optics for Big Data Applications
Using Bright QSFP-DD coherent optics, the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC) turned up a 300 Gbps optical service over CENIC’s production line system between Los Angeles and Sunnyvale and confirmed the error-free performance of the service with a comfortable operating margin.

According to CENIC, the new-generation coherent pluggables integrate an amplifier, making it possible to transmit from the optic at power levels that match those of typical transponder line cards. As a result, external amplification is no longer needed to boost the power level transmitted from the optic before it reaches the optical line system.  As explained by Sana Bellamine, CENIC’s Director of Regional and International Infrastructure, “The elimination of the external amplification requirement is an important step toward simplifying the provisioning of optical services and facilitates the adoption of coherent pluggables over our production line system.”

CENIC Validation Setup Diagram with Bright ZR+ Coherent Pluggables with Integrated Amplifiers

Announced earlier this year, Vodafone Turkey and Sipartech trials are summarized in this article.

Bright 400ZR+ QSFP-DD Modules Expands Applications by Enabling Longer Reach Applications
With an optical transmit power at least 10X greater than 400ZR, Bright QSFP-DD modules enable network operators to expand applications that can be addressed by 400G coherent pluggables in router-based optical deployments to include brownfield and greenfield metro/regional networks with reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) nodes.

Bright 400ZR+ QSFP-DD modules expand applications of 400G coherent pluggable to brownfield and greenfield metro/regional networks with ROADM nodes.

Visit Us at ECOC OIF 400ZR+ Interop Demonstration
If you are attending ECOC and want to see the Acacia Bright ZR+ coherent module in action, check out the 400ZR+ optics interoperability demonstration at the OIF Booth #304.  We hope you see you there!

Additional Resources

• Blog: Brightening ROADM Networks
• Product Page: Bright 400ZR+ coherent pluggable QSFP-DD module

At the same time, network operators are adopting higher speed interfaces.  Since last year’s conference, we’ve continued to see the aggressive ramp of 400 Gigabits per second (G) pluggables as they’ve made their way into new markets and applications. While coherent pluggables have been migrating towards shorter reaches for quite some time, customers are now increasingly interested in using them for long-haul applications traditionally serviced by embedded coherent modules.  While the high-performance embedded market continues to be strong today, we expect the trend towards pluggables to continue in the future as service providers take advantage of their low power, small size and performance wherever they can.  Standards bodies are looking to define both 800G and higher performing 400G interop modes for next generation MSA pluggable optics.

Coherent pluggable ports are expected to exceed embedded ports in 2023.

 Acacia had the honor of participating in 13 sessions and 2 interoperability demonstrations at this year’s OFC.  Below is a recap of three of the sessions presented in the Market Watch Theater that reinforce the trends toward higher speed interfaces and expected transition from embedded modules to pluggables including industry standardization advancements.

OIF Panel: Defining 800ZR and 800LR; An OIF Update

Tom Williams, Acacia’s Sr. Director, Technical Marketing, gave an Optical Interoperability Forum (OIF) update on 800ZR and 800LR standardization progress. Tom highlighted the rapid success that has been achieved with 400G pluggables and what’s happening next in the standards bodies.

400G Developments Continue
The 400G developments continue in three areas.  The first is ongoing deployments of high transmit power 400G ZR+ QSFP-DD pluggables that support OpenZR+ and Open ROADM modes.  These modules expand the use cases for 400G QSFP-DD pluggables to metro and regional ROADM networks and enable increased transponder density in transport equipment. The second is 400G ER1 which targets 40km point-to-point applications.  The third area is standardization and development of 400G long-haul.

400G developments continue with high TX power 400G ZR+, 400G ER1, and 400G long haul pluggable modules.

800G Standardization in Progress
The current focus of standardization is on 800LR/ZR and Open ROADM products. Network operators are looking for higher baud rate pluggables to take advantage of improvements in cost and power. Increasing baud rates has become an efficient way to enable more cost-effective optical networks by reducing the number of optics needed to support a given transmission capacity.

Focusing next on 800ZR standardization, Tom highlighted how these considerations are like 400ZR, but different. While 800ZR has the potential for more varied use cases depending on the network operator, some are waiting for 1.6T solutions. The key assumptions are that 800ZR will include 16QAM modulation at 118Gbaud, which is double the 400ZR baud rate.  On the receiver side, Open Forward Error Correction, or oFEC, has been selected for improved Optical Signal to Noise Ratio (OSNR) sensitivity and the minimum input power is higher at 118Gbaud. On the transmitter side, there is recognition that the 400G market now includes both amplified and unamplified configurations and co-existence with 400ZR on the same line system requires 3dB higher transmit power for 800ZR.  Tom also highlighted three different transmitter power ranges that have been proposed with each option having use cases that bring value to the market.  These include:

• -11 to -14dBm: Lowest Cost
• -7 to -11dBm: Co-exist with 400ZR
• 0 to -7dBm: Co-exist with traditional DWDM

800G and Beyond Pluggable Coherent – Building on the Success of 400G

Torben Nielsen, Acacia’s Product Line Manager, Pluggable Modules and Distinguished Engineer, also kicked off his presentation by highlighting the 400ZR/ZR+ success story. As the fastest ramping coherent technology to date, these modules benefitted greatly from the work done early on with industry standards.

400G pluggables have been the fastest ramping coherent technology to date.

 Standardization and Vendor Interoperability
Standardization of optical networking technology helps network operators by providing simplicity, interoperability and volume-driven cost. Torben explained that, in the 400G pluggable market, standardization started with 400ZR and quickly evolved as carriers demanded higher performance. This led to the creation of both the Open ROADM and OpenZR+ MSAs.  As a result, today we are seeing 400G pluggables being used across a wide range of applications, using the same component technology throughout each form factor.

The 400ZR/ZR+ success story was enabled in part by standardization and interoperability resulting in 400G pluggables being used across a wide range of applications.  

Torben also discussed how 400ZR/ZR+ leveraged advancements in co-packaging and how these developments are now being extended to future product development using the same common platform that leverages silicon photonics. For example, the same packaging technology that Acacia used in its highly successful 400G pluggable products is now being utilized in its CIM 8 module, which is enabling a pluggable performance optimized solution operating up to 140Gbaud. Acacia will continue leveraging this same approach for future generations such as 800G and 1.6T modules.

800G Coherent Pluggables
Torben next shared how the industry is already looking ahead to 800G pluggables, with first deployments expected in 2024. Currently, 800ZR/LR is being defined in OIF, as Tom shared in his OIF update, with 118Gbaud 16QAM modulation. 800ZR+ will need standardized media interface specification which will likely be 131Gbaud PCS modulation.  Acacia’s silicon photonics can support all transmission rates proposed for both 800ZR and 800ZR+. The high transmit power version can be supported similar to the 400G Bright ZR+ high transmit (TX) power pluggable module.

800G will likely come in ZR, ZR+, and LR versions.

1.6T Coherent Pluggables
In terms of 1.6 coherent pluggables, Torben suggested they are likely needed in the 2025 timeframe or later. He believes 240Gbaud single carrier pluggable is feasible and can have the best potential cost structure with fewer optical components than multi-carrier approaches. There are several engineering challenges to overcome when developing these products including signal integrity, power and thermal design, but the industry has a great track record when it comes to overcoming these challenges.

1.6T coherent pluggables are expected to emerge in the 2025+ timeframe and much work is yet to be done for that to happen.

Market Watch Panel IV: Performance-Centric Long Haul

Anuj Malik, Acacia’s Director, Product Management & Strategy, gave an overview of performance-centric coherent modules. The primary goal of these modules has been to help reduce CapEx and OpEx for network operators. Transceiver cost per bit and number of regenerations are the key CapEx drivers.  Power, footprint and manageability are the key OpEx drivers.

Key to these solutions has been the development of features such as probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS), adaptive baud rate, and advanced compensation algorithms. These technology innovations give service providers unprecedented transmission flexibility to match their network’s architecture, optimize fiber utilization, and simplify deployment.

Performance-centric solutions leverage key technology innovations that provide “knobs” for dialing in performance. 

Anuj also discussed the implications of approaching the Shannon limit, where spectral efficiency gains are only incremental. The focus has been on reducing cost, power and footprint. This will require doubling the baud rate with every generation, designing efficient network architectures and leveraging the benefits of silicon photonics and advanced packaging techniques that can be leveraged across multiple generations of products.

The path to creating cost and power efficient coherent transceivers includes significant increases in capacity and density while reducing power, continued integration, and packaging techniques.

As mentioned earlier, these “terabit era” products were highlighted at this year’s OFC, led by Acacia’s CIM 8 module, with field trials having been announced by China Mobile, NYSERNet and Windstream Wholesale. By leveraging common development approaches with the 400G pluggable modules and Acacia’s proprietary DSP algorithms, the operational benefits of pluggability were brought to the performance-centric multi-haul market segment.  Acacia believes the industry may continue migrating performance-centric towards pluggable modules to take advantage of high performance and power efficiency. This may include the development of high performance 400G long haul pluggables and 800ZR+ with up to 131Gbaud.

Below is a recap of each speaker’s presentation. You can also watch the replay by registering at this link.

400ZR Evolution:  Not Just for DCI Use Cases Anymore
Sterling explained how 400ZR is a specific technology standard and implementation agreement that was defined by OIF after many years in the making. The key goals were interoperability and reducing power, size and cost in order to fit coherent optics inside client-sized routers and switches. Initial buyers were the large hyperscalers, which was key for driving volume. However, the technology has quickly evolved to also address the requirements of communication service providers (CSPs) who have much broader needs beyond point-to-point connectivity.

Figure 1:  Initially addressing volume hyperscalers, pluggables now meet the diverse needs of CSPs.

400G Pluggables Leverage the Same Component Technology Across Many Applications
Looking back to the original DCI use case, Tom Williams, Sr. Director of Marketing for Acacia, recounted how the industry was able to capitalize on an opportunity to bring the power of coherent into the same form factor as client optics. The key was finding the “sweet” spot in terms of the performance needed to cover a large number of applications. “Fortunately, the work on standardization was started early enough so vendors could start developing them and hit the market at just the right time,” he said.

Figure 2:  Industry standardization efforts drove expansion of 400G pluggable use cases.

As a result, today we are seeing 400G pluggables being used across a wide range of applications, leveraging the same component technology throughout each form factor. This has allowed coherent pluggables to expand from the original DCI use case and into service provider networks such as point-to-point, ROADM, campus, enterprise, and even space.

Figure 3:  Acacia’s comprehensive 400G pluggable portfolio addresses a wide range of hyperscale and service provider applications.

400G Pluggables are Powering Comcast’s Core and Access Networks
Venk Mutalik, Fellow at Comcast, started his presentation by giving a brief overview of the Comcast network. While they have a very large core metro footprint, their access network has 3X the fiber mileage compared to the core, making it a very rich fiber environment. Today, 400G pluggables are in the core and the metro and they expect them to become even more important in the future.

Figure 4:  Comcast deploys many different 400G pluggable form factors throughout its network

For Comcast’s access network, they view this as converged platform that can handle both business and residential services. It is the 100G Bi-Directional CFP-2 pluggable modules that are enabling Comcast to use the access footprint to provide these combined services on one single fiber.

Figure 5: 100G Bi-Directional CFP-2 pluggable modules enable Comcast to combine business and residential services on one single fiber.

Venk explained how Comcast has been able to launch coherent optics in the access domain and it’s been very successful in multiple divisions. “As pluggables become more pervasive, Comcast needs optics to be pluggable, with a good mixture of 100G, 400G, Bi-Di, 400ZR+ and 0dBm pluggable modules,” he said. “Performance, power dissipation, and software automation will continue to be very important, and routers will also need to address the speed and latency requirements.” According to Venk, Comcast is excited about pluggables and is thankful the industry has gotten them to the point where they enable the system to be simpler and more reliable.

Colt Sees 69% Capex Savings and 2X Reduction in Rack Space and Power Consumption
According to Bart Janssens, Senior Specialist Packet Network Architect at Colt Technology Services, 400G pluggables have become a vital piece of Colt’s next-generation packet networks. The company is a business-only infrastructure provider and when they look at their customer requirements, the main trend they see is the need to consume traditional cloud services on demand without limitations on the bandwidth they are consuming between end points.

Figure 6: Colt’s business customers want traditional cloud services on demand without limitations on the bandwidth

To meet these needs for performance and flexibility, Colt moved the traditional Provider/Provider Edge (P/PE) to the edge and then looked for the right technology to put at the center of its core. The solution they chose was Cisco’s Silicon One 8201, which gave them many QSFP-DD ports for 400G coherent pluggables. That allowed Colt to use a fraction of the rack space and power consumption at a much lower cost to build 35.4X more capacity per 1RU. This resulted in a core network using IPoDWDM 400G ZR+ between core routers. Colt then added the same layer in the metro, allowing them to aggregate 100G and 400G to the key data centers using 400G ER1/ZR (Acacia’s Bright 400ZR+)/LR4 DCI. And this year, they expect to extend this concept further to access routers moving to 400G.

According to Bart, 400G pluggables are driving growth in the future expansion they are doing, and he detailed some real-world use cases in Europe using LR, LR4 and ZR+. Colt has been able to improve their core transport costs by 69 percent capex, while at the same time helping the environment by removing rack space and power consumption by double digits. As Bart said in his closing remarks “What is really amazing is the transition of capex spending.  While in the past, the initial spend was on expensive routers, it’s the opposite today. We can just plug in more pluggables and scale our network to meet the never-ending customer growth.”

Watch the replay
Click here to register for the webinar which will give you access to the replay. You can read more about Acacia’s coherent pluggable portfolio here.  If you have any follow-up questions for any of the panelists, please feel free to reach out to us via this contact form.

This week, Lightwave once again recognized the most innovative products impacting the optical communications community with its annual Lightwave Innovation Reviews. Acacia is proud to have its edge and access pluggable coherent modules portfolio score a 4.5 out of 5 in the optical transceivers and transponders category.

The benefits of coherent have already been demonstrated in the metro, long-haul and submarine markets. With 5G and edge computing roll outs, the time is right for coherent optics to take the next step and migrate to edge and access networks. This market can benefit from the scalability, operational simplicity and improved total cost of ownership that coherent has to offer.  In 2020, Acacia began customer sampling of a portfolio of product solutions designed to address a wide variety of requirements in the edge and access market.  The portfolio includes:

• 100G coherent dedicated point-to-point fiber edge and access solution
• Coherent bi-directional pluggable optical module
• 100G coherent DWDM module

Examples of different connectivity solutions in the service provider edge/access portion of the network.

100G Coherent Dedicated Point-to-Point (P2P) Fiber Edge and Access Solutions
Offered in a QSFP-DD form factor widely used for client-optics, Acacia’s new 100G coherent dedicated point-to-point (P2P) fiber edge and access solutions were designed to provide network operators the ability to scale to higher data rates to meet growing bandwidth demands over some of the most challenging optical links, while also providing operational simplicity that may lead to overall network savings.  These solutions were specifically designed for optimization in service provider edge and access applications with unamplified links up to 120km.

QSFP-DD 100G Coherent Point-to-Point (P2P) pluggable module

Compared to alternative direct-detect solutions, coherent P2P solutions are extremely tolerant to fiber types, chromatic dispersion, polarization mode dispersion (PMD), and back reflections, which simplifies operational deployment. Service provider edge and access networks, particularly those offering 5G wireless and enterprise services, can benefit from coherent technology because it has ample optical margins which can easily handle the condition and reaches of the access fiber plant resulting in shorter provisioning times. Coherent P2P solutions are user friendly in deployment and provisioning due to low laser emission, wide tolerance range and rich monitoring and diagnostic features. Pluggable coherent solutions in QSFP-DD were designed to enable network scalability to ensure that data rates can scale-up by leveraging the QSFP-DD slots with 200G and 400G versions in the future.

Coherent Bi-Directional Pluggables for Cable and 5G Wireless X-Haul Applications
Acacia’s coherent bi-directional pluggable optical module solutions were designed to transmit and receive data in both directions on a single fiber for 100G and beyond. Offered in a pluggable CFP2 form factor, Acacia’s coherent bi-directional module is designed to deliver an operationally efficient and cost-effective way for telecommunications and cable operators to increase capacity in fiber-limited networks.

CFP2 Coherent Bi-Directional Pluggables

In cable networks, particularly Remote PHY and fiber deep applications, providers often run into situations where only a single fiber is available. Historically, these networks have been served by 10G bi-directional optical modules. To meet growing bandwidth demands, a coherent bi-directional solution can provide these networks with an upgrade path to 100G and beyond. When wireless networks are migrating from 4G LTE to 5G, fibers are more often constrained because of a large number of remote nodes and some fibers are utilized by existing services. In these instances, coherent bi-directional modules can alleviate both bandwidth and fiber constraints.

100G Coherent DWDM Pluggable Modules for Cable/Fiber Deep and 5G Wireless X-haul Applications
Offered in the QSFP-DD form factor, Acacia’s new 100G coherent DWDM module was designed to provide a scalable traffic aggregation solution, as well as an upgrade path to migrate from existing 10G WDM networks to higher-performing 100G DWDM coherent links for new architectures in access networks.  Acacia’s pluggable coherent solutions in QSFP-DD were designed to enable network scalability to 200G and 400G versions in the future.

QSFP-DD 100G coherent DWDM pluggable Module

3D Siliconization Plus Proven Silicon Photonics and Coherent Transmission Expertise
This portfolio leverages Acacia’s 3D Siliconization approach, which utilizes high-volume manufacturing processes and benefits from the maturity of Acacia’s silicon photonics technology as well as its 11 years of high-performance coherent transmission expertise.

 Thanks to Lightwave
From all of us at Acacia, we want to give a big thanks to the Lightwave judges for recognizing the innovation that went into the Acacia edge and access portfolio. This market has many different requirements, which required a range of solutions, and we are proud to bring these to our existing and new customers to help them meet their bandwidth demands.

If you want to learn more about Acacia’s portfolio of edge and access pluggable solutions, please contact us.

We sat down with PacketLight’s CEO, Koby Reshef, to find out the secret behind their success and discuss their newest product – a 400G per wavelength muxponder. He began by highlighting some of the key differentiators that have enabled PacketLight to become a leader in the industry today.

• Quality – Reshef says this is paramount to everything they do. “We always need to excel, and we do this through our ongoing commitment to quality and service.”
• Total Solutions – While other companies offer parts of the total solution, PacketLight has always focused on providing a complete system solution that includes the whole optical layer in one box. “With our products, customers get the key optical network elements needed for their transport solution, such as amplifiers, mux/demux and optical switch devices, as well as optional Layer-1 encryption functionality . These are all integrated and optimized in our 1U system and managed by PacketLight LightWatch NMS” said Reshef.
• Innovation – Being first-to-market with new innovations has always been important to PacketLight. That means getting access to leading edge technologies from companies such as Acacia so that PacketLight’s customers can be on the cutting edge of innovation. According to Reshef “PacketLight partnered with Acacia, who’s silicon photonics and DSP technology are mature and have industry leading performance and low power consumption.”

PacketLight’s New 400G Muxponder Lives up to its Reputation
In early February 2021, PacketLight announced its 400G per wavelength muxponders and once again the company delivered on innovation, quality, and total solution. The muxponders feature Acacia’s recently announced 400G pluggable coherent modules in both CFP2 and QSFP-DD form factors and are designed to speed implementation of new services or quickly and affordably increase network capacity for DCI, metro, and long-haul applications.

Image courtesy of PacketLight: PL-4000M 400G Muxponder

PacketLight’s PL-4000M 1U modular device delivers 400G capacity over a single wavelength cost-effectively, by aggregating any mix of 10/25/100GbE, 16/32G FC, and OTU2/2e/4 services into one 400G coherent uplink. Being able to transmit everything over a single wavelength reduces the total transport solution costs because it takes up minimal rack space and lowers the power consumption per transmitted bit. The device also offers high levels of security with embedded Layer-1 GCM-AES-256 optical encryption using elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

PacketLight’s PL-4000M provides full demarcation between the service and the OTN/DWDM uplink and offers complete interoperability with third-party switches and routers. The product delivers full visibility and performance monitoring of both the line OTN and service interfaces. It uses globally adopted, standards-based technology, which ensures an extended lifespan, eliminating vendor lock in, reducing long-term total cost of ownership (TCO), and speeding ROI. All optical modules are replaceable and pluggable from the front panel, which simplifies growth and maintenance. The PL-4000M also supports pluggable fan units and dual redundant hot-pluggable AC/DC power supply units.

An Early Adopter of 400G Pluggables
PacketLight is a long-term Acacia customer and it was this partnership that provided them access to the newest 400G pluggable technology used in its PL-4000M.  “We always try to be first in the market with new technology, and we are proud to be the first systems vendor to put a 400G pluggable coherent module to use,” said Reshef.  “We owe that to Acacia.”

Reshef believes 400G pluggables represent a key architectural change to the future of networking. “Because these modules can be plugged to the front panel, compared to the older bulky models used in today’s solutions, they are easier to maintain and you can grow as your capacity grows by adding more pluggable modules,” he said. “They also consume a third of the power compared to previous solutions, and are standards based so customers have no interoperability issues.”

Reshef sees a wide variety of applications for the PL-4000M including finance entities such as banking and insurance, utilities, and government entities. “These applications all need to support a mix of services such as Ethernet and Fibre Channel at different rates, running over the same fiber and they also need encryption which is supported by the Acacia module,” said Reshef.  As he explained, PacketLight’s encryption solution is certified and compliant with the leading standards. “Increasing the trust our customers have in the security of their network,” he stated.

Point-to-point Over Dark Fiber

One application example is an Alien wavelength over a ROADM/OTN network.  Alien wavelengths enable to drive more capacity over existing OTN/DWDM network infrastructure. The solution enables network providers to increase existing network capacity and offer additional private wavelength services such as encryption, without replacing existing infrastructure. This eliminates the need for large investments in infrastructure, as the wavelength is added to the network as needed, with clear ROI.

PacketLight Alien Wavelength ROADM/OTN Solution

PacketLight provides its customers with a solution designed to fit their requirements and applications. “For example, a customer that requires performance with encryption for a long-haul application, will need the CFP2 module,” said Reshef. “A customer that needs a short distance solution, will use the ZR+ module.”

The Future Looks Bright for PacketLight
PacketLight expects its PL-4000M to start shipping in May 2021 after going through its standard quality assurance and testing procedures. The PL-4000M will join the company’s portfolio of WDM and OTN products that support any mix of data, storage and video services such as 10/25/40/100Gb Ethernet and 4/8/10/16/32G FC over dark fiber, WDM and OTN.

According to Reshef, all of PacketLight’s devices are compact and simple to install, deploy and manage, using PacketLight’s NMS for the whole deployment lifecycle. In fact, PacketLight put together this short video below for their website showing how easy it is for a customer to work with them to build a DWDM network. 5 simple steps are all it takes between a customer and a working link.

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On behalf of the Acacia team, we wish PacketLight continued success and look forward to helping them continue their legacy of quality, complete solutions and technology innovation.