Four Mainstream Applications of 100G and Their Features

At present, the application and technology of 100G have always been the focus of the industry, and the market of 100G can not be developed in the real sense due to some factors such as the cost in tech, efficiency, and market demands. However, with the gradual stabilization of 40G, the market of 100G has been slowly opened. Now there are many kinds of interface technology about 100G applications in the market. And then in this article, there will be an introduction to four mainstream applications of 100G and their features.

1. QSFP28 100G SR4 Optical Transceiver and Its Features

The wavelength of QSFP28 SR4 is 850nm, and the interface type is 12-fibers MPO (Intermediate 4-fibers channel is not activated). It is with 4 channels combined with 8-fibers multimode fiber, each channel supporting 25G to achieve 100G rate.

Features: the interface, same as that of QSFP-40G-SR4, can be directly upgraded from 40G  to 100G. The optical module is usually connected with OM3 and OM4 multimode fiber, respectively to support the transmission distance of 70 meters and 100 meters (the recently-published technology is possible to support  transmission distance of 200 meters via OM4 optic fiber).

2. QSFP28 100G PSM4 Optical Transceiver and Its Features

QSFP28 PSM4 transmission mode is similar to that of QSFP28 100G SR4. Each channel supports 25G in 4 channels. This optical module uses single-mode optic fiber as the transmission media and the wavelength is 1310nm.

Features: adopting the QSFP28 port, able to reach transmission distance of 500ms via the single mode optic fiber, which makes it have a certain advantage in the market.

3. QSFP28 100G CWDM4 Optical Transceiver and Its Features

The coarse wavelength division multiplexing technology and LC duplex interface are used with single-mode fiber, by which the maximum transmission distance can reach 2km. Its form factor is QSFP28. This optical module is cheaper than the traditional single-mode optical module.

Features: the coarse wavelength division multiplexing technology based on single-mode fiber has been relatively mature, but QSFP28 CWDM4 has not been formally approved by the IEEE standard group. Currently, the technology standard is unified and promoted by CWDM4 MSA.

4. QSFP28 100G SWDM4 Optical Transceiver and Its Features

SWDM(Short Wavelength Division Multiplexing)refers to the short wavelength division multiplexing technology that can transmit 4 bands of optical signals in multi-mode optical fiber with one fiber. The windows of these 4 bands are respectively 850nm, 880nm, 910nm and 940nm. The principle of this technology is similar to that of CWDM on single mode. But it is the first time that SWDM has applied WDM(Wavelength Division Multiplexing)technology to the short band of multimode optic fiber.

Features: 100GBase-SWDM4 optical module uses a multi-mode duplex LC interface. It just needs optic fiber with 2-fibers. It usually adopts OM4 optic fiber, the transmission distance can reach above 100m. If it uses WBMMF(WideBand Multi-Mode Fiber）, the transmission distance can reach 300m. Compared with SR4, SWDM4 requires only 25% of optic fibers.

In the current situation, the application mode of 100G is with at least 10 types. And the above-mentioned four types of interface technologies focus on that of data center applications. For more information about it, welcome to visit Gigalight official website(www.gigaligt.com).

About Gigalight:
Gigalight is a design innovator in global optical interconnect field. A series of optical interconnect products include: optical transceivers, passive optical components, active optical cables, GIGAC MTP/MPO cabling, cloud programmers & checkers, etc. Three applications are mainly covered: Data Center & Cloud Computing, MAN & Broadcast Video, and Mobile Network & 5G Optical Transmission. Gigalight takes advantage of its exclusive design to provide clients with one-stop optical network devices and cost-effective products.