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OIF Reveals Three Innovative Projects – External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable Module for Co-Packaged Optics, Artificial Intelligence for Enhanced Network Operations and CEI-112G-Linear – at Q2 2021 Virtual Meeting

Fremont, Calif.—May 26, 2021 – Activity was high at OIF’s Q2 2021 Technical and MA&E Committees Meeting, held virtually May 10-14. Members initiated three new innovative projects, including a Co-Packaged Optics external laser module, Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Enhanced Network Operations and CEI-112G-Linear, in addition to announcing a network operator survey for the 2022 Networking Demo.

External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) Module Project – companion project to support co-packaged optics applications

This project for a blind-mate pluggable external light source module will define a new form factor optimized to package lasers to support co-packaged optical modules. It also includes provisions for the longevity of this form factor beyond the initial scope of the Co-Packaged Optics Module project (i.e., more fibers, thermal, and optical power classes).

“The ELSFP project is an important step for enabling co-packaged optics deployments,” according to Gary Nicholl, Cisco and OIF board member. “And, the project objectives include the necessary technical considerations to ensure this project will be relevant for multiple generations.”

Application of Artificial Intelligence to Enhanced Network Operations Project

A healthy and high-performance network serves as the foundation for all 5G application scenarios. Traditional approaches face significant difficulties in automatically and efficiently analyzing network data, solving network faults, and optimizing network performance. This new project will result in a white paper identifying a collection of use cases for applying AI to construct intelligent, resilient and high-performance optical and packet networks.

CEI-112G-Linear Project

A linear Chip-to-Optical Engine interface is needed to enable low power, low cost, small form factor 112G serial optical modules in Co-Packaged Optics, Near Package Optics (NPO) and server/GPU applications. This new project will facilitate increased bandwidth and reduced power of switch ports using co-packaged and closely packaged optical modules.

Network Operator Survey – 2022 Transport SDN Interoperability Demonstration

The OIF Networking Interoperability Working Group is surveying operators worldwide for their input and interest in participating in a 2022 Transport SDN Interoperability Demonstration. As with past surveys, responses will be anonymized, tabulated and summarized. The deadline to complete the survey is Tuesday, June 15, 2021. Interested operators can click here to download the survey.

About OIF

OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Building on more than 20 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 100+ industry leading network operators, system vendors, component vendors and test equipment vendors collaborating to develop interoperable electrical, optical and control solutions that directly impact the industry’s ecosystem and facilitate global connectivity in the open network world. Connect with OIF at @OIForum, on LinkedIn and at http://www.oiforum.com.

 

PR Contact:

Leah Wilkinson

Wilkinson + Associates for OIF

Email: leah@wilkinson.associates

Office: 703-907-0010

 

OIF Announces Participants in 2020 Joint Network Operator, Multi-Vendor Transport SDN API Interoperability Demonstration

Interoperability is vital to facilitating operator deployment of SDN and accelerating transport network transformation for the 5G era

Fremont, Calif. —June 16, 2020 – Leading the acceleration of the commercialization of transport SDN worldwide and transport network transformation for the 5G era, OIF today announced plans for its 2020 Transport SDN Application Programming Interface (API) interoperability demonstration.

The 2020 event will focus on SDN-based programmability, control and automation and showcase testing in Telefonica’s lab in Europe over a six-week period (September to October).

Building on OIF’s 2018 and 2016 interoperability demonstrations that helped establish ONF Transport-API (T-API) as the defacto northbound interface (NBI) standard, the 2020 demonstration will test Ethernet, Layer 1 OTN and Layer 0 OTN control using ONF T-API 2.1.3, with additional testing of OpenConfig device APIs for transport equipment in network-operator-defined use cases.

Manageability and flexibility of the network are critical to allow network operators to successfully deliver a range of cloud-based services, meet dynamic bandwidth demands, and to accelerate transport network transformation for the 5G era. Established open Transport SDN APIs can help network operators:

  • improve network agility to adapt to dynamic service demands and traffic patterns
  • improve service provisioning and time-to-revenue
  • reduce maintenance and management with simplified control and automation

The multi-vendor interoperability demonstration includes participating vendors ADVA, Ciena, Cisco Systems, Infinera and Nokia. China Telecom and Telia are participating as consulting network operators.

“Widespread adoption of transport SDN is a must for network operators to accelerate their transformation for the 5G era and reap the benefits of a more dynamic and open network,” said Dave Brown, Nokia and OIF Officer – Director of Communications. “OIF’s facilitation of this thorough test of specifications and interoperability of open transport SDN APIs will highlight the tools necessary to create an open manageable, flexible network.”

“Interoperability is the key success factor for SDN deployment in production networks,” said Arturo Mayoral, Telefónica Transport Global CTIO Unit – Technology Expert and Lead of Optical SDN strategy. “This OIF interop event arrives at the perfect moment to evaluate maturity of the commercial solutions, fostered by the recent efforts done by Telefónica through the iFUSION project, in the design of reference implementations based on ONF T-API and OpenConfig standards.”

Public read-out events highlighting the results of the testing will take place at select industry events in Q4 2020. In Q1 2021, OIF will hold a webinar and launch a whitepaper describing the results of the event. Additional information can be found at https://www.oiforum.com/technical-work/2020-oif-transport-sdn-api-interoperability-demo/

About the 2020 OIF Transport SDN Application Programming Interface (API) Interoperability Demonstration

Leading the acceleration of the commercialization of transport SDN worldwide and transport network transformation for the 5G era, Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF), will bring new use cases and deployment scenarios into Telefonica’s lab to test multi-vendor interoperability of Ethernet, Layer 1 OTN, Layer 0 OTN control using ONF T-API 2.1.3 and OpenConfig device APIs. The 2020 Transport SDN Application Programming Interface (API) interoperability demonstration builds on OIF’s previous transport API requirements and interoperability demonstrations which substantiated T-API as the northbound interface (NBI) of choice, establishing a foundation for open, programmable networks that allow network operators to efficiently deliver dynamic multi-domain connectivity services to the market.

About OIF

OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Building on 20 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 100+ industry leading network operators, system vendors, component vendors and test equipment vendors collaborating to develop interoperable electrical, optical and control solutions that directly impact the industry’s ecosystem and facilitate global connectivity in the open network world. Connect with OIF at @OIForum, on LinkedIn and at http://www.oiforum.com.

 

PR Contact:

Leah Wilkinson

Wilkinson + Associates for OIF

Email: leah@wilkinson.associates

Office: 703-907-0010

 

 

OIF’s Optical Masterclass Series at NGON to Include Updates on 400ZR, Common Electrical I/O, Flex Ethernet & SDN Projects

Fremont, Calif.—May 8, 2019 – At NGON, May 21-23, 2019, OIF experts will kick off the Optical Masterclass Series with a comprehensive update on its 400ZR, Common Electrical I/O (CEI)-112, Flex Ethernet (FlexE) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) projects.

“OIF’s interoperability solutions are vital to the global network and with many of the key network operators in attendance, NGON is the ideal platform to provide updates on OIF’s work in 400ZR, CEI, FlexE and SDN,” said Dave Brown, Nokia and OIF Director of Communications.

The “Optical Masterclass Series – The Optical Internetworking Forum” session is being held Tuesday, May 21, 2019 from 09:00 – 11:00 (NEW TIME AS OF 5/16). Brown and Karl Gass, OIF Physical & Link Layer Working Group Vice Chair, Optical, will discuss how OIF is assuring interoperability in open, agile, next-generation optical networks and provide updates on crucial industry projects.

400ZR

OIF’s 400ZR project is critical in facilitating the reduction of cost and complexity for high bandwidth data center interconnects and promoting interoperability among optical module manufacturers. This Implementation Agreement (IA) will specify an interoperable digital coherent 400ZR interface targeted at short reach (80 km or more) DWDM amplified noise limited links and unamplified loss limited links.

CEI

The CEI project update will include discussion of the multiple 112 Gb/s interfaces being defined by OIF including CEI-112G MCM, XSR, VSR, MR and LR. Applications of these 112 Gb/s interfaces include die-to-die, die-to-OE (optical engine) on package, chip-to-module, chip-to-chip and chip-to-chip long reach over backplane and cables.

FlexE

OIF continues to lead in FlexE aggregation architectures through its newest FlexE 2.1 project for FlexE over 50GbE PHY applications, an extension to its FlexE 2.0 Implementation Agreement (IA). FlexE 2.1 will specify a 50G FlexE frame and multiplexing format and will address FlexE applications with lower bandwidth needs and provide an implementation foundation for applications including the access layer of the future 5G mobile network.

SDN

In November 2018, OIF announced the launch of “Requirements for Integrated Packet Optical SDN.” The project outlines requirements for a multi-layer SDN reference architecture as a use case for packet optical transport networks. It will generate functional requirements, a reference architecture and use cases for packet/optical networks guided by the vision to enable agile, open network solutions that simplify operations and optimize resource utilization.

IC-TROSA

The session will also include an update on the Integrated Coherent Transmit-Receive Optical Sub Assembly (IC-TROSA) project that defines a standard optical component containing a complete coherent modem. The availability of highly integrated components accelerates the adoption of coherent transmission into additional markets.

Additionally, Gass will participate in Wednesday’s Plenary session, 09:30 – 10:10, “Present View: To the terabit & beyond – practicalities for coherent transmission.” Also on Wednesday, from 14:35 – 15:30, Brown will speak on the “Open Source Approach: Looking at disaggregation as a pathway for multi-vendor cooperation, interoperability and driving enhanced network interfaces” panel.

Check the status of OIF’s current work here.

About OIF
Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Celebrating 20 years of effecting progressive change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 100+ industry leading network operators, system vendors, component vendors and test equipment vendors, all collaborating to develop interoperable electrical, optical and control solutions that directly impact the industry’s ecosystem and facilitate global connectivity in the open network world. Connect with OIF at @OIForum, on LinkedIn and at https://www.oiforum.com/.

 

PR Contact:
Leah Wilkinson
Wilkinson + Associates for OIF
Email: leah@wilkinson.associates
Office: 703-907-0010