Today’s data centers growth is placing increasing demands on the networking infrastructure. For some enterprises, existing 1GbE connections can’t support the growing business requirements well very, not to say 100Mbps connections. In order to accommodate these demands, it’s imperative to upgrade the data center network architecture to 40 or 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) connections. This 40/100GbE network design helps to support not only the current growth, but also the increasing demands in the future.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.3 working group is concerned with the maintenance and extension of the Ethernet data communications standard. And 802.3ba is the designation given to the higher speed Ethernet task force to modify the 802.3 standard to support higher speeds than 10Gbit/s, that is 40/100G in 2010. This 802.3ba 40/100G standard encompasses a number of different Ethernet physical layer (PHY) specifications which are supported by means of pluggable modules, like Quad Small-Form-Factor Pluggable (QSFP) and C Form-Factor Pluggable (CFP). As for transmission medium, the transport speeds at 40/100Gbit/s use two methods: parallel optics and copper cables, with the fiber optics solutions allowing more flexibility and greater distance reach.
In most cases, 40GbE connections use a QSFP+ transceiver terminated to receive the multi-fiber push-on/multiplex pass-through (MPO/MPT) trunk. That is, the short-range QSFP+ transceivers (eg. QFX-QSFP-40G-SR4) use multi-mode MPO trunks to establish 40G links. During this link establishment, polarity becomes a consideration when implementing 40GbE switch-to-switch interconnects over multi-strand multi-mode fiber (MMF). Method B polarity is recommended for the functional link.
QSFP+ transceivers are also able to run on single-mode fiber (SMF) for long reach. These links are Little Connector (LC) terminated and can run up to 40km, mainly used for 40GbE interbuilding connections. Take QSFP-40G-ER4 for example, this 40GBASE-ER4 transceiver supports link lengths up to 40km over SMF with duplex LC connectors.
The QSFP+ transceiver can also be used for 40GbE to 4x10GbE partitioned applications, that is QSFP+ to 4SFP+ fan-out cabling assemblies. One end of the connection is terminated using a MPO/MPT configuration with four individual pairs terminated with LC connectors at the other end. The image below just shows the QSFP+ to 4SFP+ Active Optic Cable (AOC) assembly.
100GbE connections use a CFP transceiver. Two CFP options are dominant in the industry: CFP2 and CFP4. The primary differences between the two are physical density and transmit/receive lane configurations. More specifically, CFP2 supports 100GBASE-SR10, 100BASE-LR4, and 100GBASE-ER4 optical interfaces, while CFP4 doubles the port density on the line card and supports 100GBASE-SR4, 100GBASE-LR4, and 100GBASE-ER4 optical interfaces.
The 40/100GbE network infrastructure provides the following benefits:
- Reduced data center complexity: As virtualization increases, the use of fewer physical servers and switches has been made possible by 40/100GbE network infrastructure.
- Reduced total cost: Since 40/100GbE network system simplifies the local area network (LAN) and cable infrastructures, the potential cost reduction in virtualization environment is also accessible. Besides, the 40/100GbE network infrastructure requires fewer data center space, power, and cooling resources.
- Increased Productivity: Faster connections and reduced network latency provide network designers with faster workload completion times and improved productivity.
- Upgrading network architecture to support speeds greater than 10GbE, that is 40/100GbE, is essential in optimizing data center infrastructure, giving a hand in moving quickly in respond to business needs. At the same time, the services and value brought by information technology itself can also be enhanced.
The high-performance 40/100GbE network architecture simplifies the cabling infrastructure and reduces per-server total cost of ownership, capable of allowing high speeds at 40/100Gbit/s. Fiberstore offers a large selection of 40/100G optical modules, as well as 40/100G fiber optic-based cables and copper cables. For more information about 40/100GbE solutions, you can visit Fiberstore.
Originally published at www.fiber-optic-cable-sale.com/overview-of-40100gbe-terminations.html by FS.com staff in one of our previous sites.
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