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100 Gigabit Ethernet

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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with IEEE 802.3ba.
(Discuss)
40 Gigabit Ethernet, or 40GbE, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet[1], or 100GbE, are Ethernet
standards developed by IEEE P802.3ba Ethernet Task Force[2] which started in November
2007,[3] and ratified in June 2010.[4] These standards support sending Ethernet frames at 40
and 100 gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gb/s or 25 Gb/s lanes. Previously, the fastest
published Ethernet standard was 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
Original work on the project was started by IEEE 802.3 Higher Speed Study Group[5]. The
P802.3ba Ethernet Task Force commenced on December 5, 2007 with the following project
authorization request:
The purpose of this project is to extend the 802.3 protocol to operating speeds of 40 Gb/s
and 100 Gb/s in order to provide a significant increase in bandwidth while maintaining
maximum compatibility with the installed base of 802.3 interfaces, previous investment in
research and development, and principles of network operation and management. The
project is to provide for the interconnection of equipment satisfying the distance
requirements of the intended applications.

Contents
[hide]

1 Physical standards
2 Compatibility

3 Time Line

4 Physical standards
o

4.1 Backplane module availability

4.2 Copper module availability

4.3 Multimode module availability

4.4 Singlemode module availability

4.5 Test and Measurement

5 Routers

6 See also

7 Notes

8 References

9 External links

[edit] Physical standards


The 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet standards encompass a number of different physical layer
(PHY) standards. A networking device may support different PHY types by means of
pluggable PHY modules. Optical modules are not standardized 802.3 but are in multisource agreements (MSAs). One standardized module that supports 40 and 100 Gigabit
Ethernet is the CFP MSA[6] which has been adopted for distances of 100+ meters. QSFP
and CXP modules support shorter distances.[7]
The objectives of the standard also state that only full-duplex operation will be supported[8].
Other electrical objectives include:

Preserve the 802.3 / Ethernet frame format utilizing the 802.3 MAC
Preserve minimum and maximum FrameSize of current 802.3 standard

Support a bit error ratio (BER) better than or equal to 10


service interface

Provide appropriate support for OTN

Support MAC data rates of 40 and 100 Gbit/s

Provide Physical Layer specifications (PHY) for operation over single-mode optical
fiber (SMF), OM3 multi-mode optical fiber (MMF), copper cable assembly, and
backplane.

12

at the MAC/PLS

The following PHYs are being standardized:


PHY
at least 1 m over a backplane
approximately 7 m over copper cable
at least 100 m over OM3 MMF
at least 125 m over OM4 MMF[7]
at least 10 km over SMF
at least 40 km over SMF

40 Gigabit Ethernet 100 Gigabit Ethernet


40GBASE-KR4
40GBASE-CR4
100GBASE-CR10
40GBASE-SR4
100GBASE-SR10
40GBASE-SR4
100GBASE-SR10
40GBASE-LR4
100GBASE-LR4
100GBASE-ER4

The 100 m OM3 objective is being met by parallel ribbon cable with 850 nm 10GBASESR like optics (40GBASE-SR4 and 100GBASE-SR10). The 1 m backplane objective with
4 lanes of 10GBASE-KR type PHYs (40GBASE-KR4). The 10 m copper cable objective is
met with 4 or 10 differential lanes using SFF-8642 and SFF-8436 connectors. The 10 and

40 km 100G objectives with four wavelengths (around 1310 nm) of 25G optics
(100GBASE-LR4 and 100GBASE-ER4) and the 10 km 40G objective with four
wavelengths (around 1310 nm) of 10G optics (40GBASE-LR4).[9]
Work is also under way on a 40G serial SMF PHY standard (40GBASE-FR). This will be
published as 802.3bg. This PHY will transmit using 1550 nm optics, have a reach of 2 km
and be capable of receiving 1550 nm and 1310 nm light. The capability to receive 1310 nm
light will allow it to inter-operate with a longer reach 1310 nm PHY should one ever be
developed. 1550 nm was chosen as the wavelength for 802.3bg transmission to make it
compatible with existing test equipment and infrastructure. [10]

[edit] Compatibility
Optical domain IEEE 802.3ba implementations are not compatible with the numerous 40G
and 100G line rate transport systems which feature different optical layer and modulation
formats. In particular, current 40 Gigabit transport solutions that use dense wavelengthdivision multiplexing to pack four 10 Gigabit signals into one optical medium are not
compatible with 100 Gigabit and 40 Gigabit Ethernet, which use either coarse WDM in
1310 nm wavelength region with four 25 Gigabit or four 10 Gigabit channels, or parallel
optics with four or ten optical fibers per direction.

[edit] Time Line

Project History:
o Call for interest at IEEE 802.3 plenary meeting in San Diego 18 July
2006
o

First HSSG study group meeting September 2006

Last study group meeting November 2007

Task Force formally approved as P802.3ba by IEEE LMSC 5 December


2007

First P802.3ba task force meeting January 2008

IEEE 802.3 working group ballot March 2009

IEEE LMSC sponsor ballot November 2009

First 40 Gbit/s Ethernet Single-mode Fibre PMD study group meeting


January 2010[11]

P802.3bg task force approved for 40 Gbit/s serial SMF PMD 25 March
2010

IEEE 802.3ba standard approved 17 June 2010[12]

P802.3ba Task Force draft release dates:


o

Draft 1.0 1 October 2008

Draft 1.1 9 December 2008

Draft 1.2 10 February 2009

Draft 2.0 12 March 2009 (for working group ballot)

Draft 2.1 29 May 2009

Draft 2.2 15 August 2009

Draft 2.3 14 October 2009

Draft 3.0 18 November 2009 (for sponsor group ballot)[13]

Draft 3.1 10 February 2010

Draft 3.2 24 March 2010

Final 17 June 2010[12]

[edit] Physical standards


Following are the different physical standards and a note of which ones have been modules
implementing them as of now.

[edit] Backplane module availability


None announced

[edit] Copper module availability


Quellan has announced a test board[14], but no module is available.

[edit] Multimode module availability


Mellanox[15] and Reflex Photonics [16] have announced modules for sale based on the CFP
module.

[edit] Singlemode module availability


Finisar[17], Sumitomo Electric Industries [18], and OpNext [19] all demonstrated singlemode 40
or 100 Gigabit Ethernet modules based on the CFP MSA standard at ECOC 2009.

[edit] Test and Measurement

Ixia (company) has solutions for L1-7 testing on 40 Gigabit Ethernet (GE) and 100 Gigabit
Ethernet since 2008. Ixia assisted in developing PCS lanes, a key component of the PCS
solution. PCS lanes allow todays component, fiber optic, and computer processor
technologies to be used at 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps rates.[20] Ixia's K2 40 GE and 100 GE
modules were the first-to-market test solution for network equipment manufacturers
developing 40/100 Gbps devices, providing full IP layer 2-7 measurement and analysis,
including BERT.[21]
http://www.ixiacom.com/products/higher_speed_ethernet_testing/index.php
EXFO and JDSU introduced a test and measurement which includes physical layer through
to layer 3 networking in 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet products [22]. Discovery
Semiconductors also introduced O/E converters for 100 gigabit testing of the 10 km and
40 km Ethernet standards.[23]
Spirent Communications(www.spirent.com) has introduced test/measurement products
which include Physical Layer as well as L2-L7 capabilities.
http://www.spirent.com/Broadband/40-100G.aspx
Xena Networks (www.xenanetworks.com) demonstrated their L1-L3 100G test equipment
at the Technical University of Denmark in January 2011. The event was reported here http://www.dtu.dk/English/About_DTU/News.aspx?guid={4518DC72-CA94-4D28-BB45F7627FE581AA} (in English) and http://elektronikbranchen.dk/nyhed/dansk-virksomhedklar-med-test-til-100-gb-ethernet (Danish).

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