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OIF Concludes Q3 2025 Member Meeting in Québec City with New White Paper and Implementation Agreements

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New CEI-112G-LINEAR-PAM4 and updated CMIS Versatile Control Set (CMIS-VCS) IAs support industry shift toward high-efficiency, AI-ready interconnects

Fremont, Calif. – September 23, 2025 – OIF concluded its Q3 2025 Technical and Market Awareness & Education (MA&E) Committees meeting, held Aug. 11-14 in Québec City, where more than 180 member representatives advanced key initiatives to drive interoperability in optical, electrical, management and energy-efficient interfaces across the networking ecosystem. 

During the meeting, members approved the launch of a white paper project and announced two new Implementation Agreements (IAs), reinforcing the organization’s leadership in enabling the next generation of open, high-performance networks.

New White Paper Project

  • Firmware Module Update Package & Firmware Host Metadata IA and Firmware Update White Paper

OIF has concluded the investigation phase and has approved a project start to define module firmware updates in optical modules within multi-vendor, disaggregated environments. The IA will define the firmware module update package and host metadata specifications, while a complementary white paper — Firmware Update Developer Guide for Multi-Vendor Hosts and Modules — will provide operational requirements, definitions, conventions, examples, best practices and expected behaviors to ensure a consistent method for firmware updates. The liaison relationship established during the investigation phase to align OIF firmware update definitions with other standards bodies will continue as the IA and white paper are developed.

New Implementation Agreements

Underscoring its continued leadership in enabling open, high-performance networks, OIF has released two new IAs: a ground-breaking shift for optical connectivity in the CEI-112G-LINEAR-PAM4 IA, which defines a low-power, high-speed electrical interface for linear optics; and an updated CMIS Versatile Control Set (CMIS-VCS) IA, which builds on the existing CMIS standard to deliver more dynamic and granular signal-integrity control for next-generation modules.

The newly released Common Electrical I/O (CEI) CEI-112G-LINEAR-PAM4 IA and updated CMIS-VCS IA address the growing demands of high-speed networking, AI/ML-driven applications, and the transition to more power-efficient architectures.

  • CEI-112G-LINEAR-PAM4 IA: Enabling Power-Efficient, High-Speed Electrical Interfaces

The CEI-112G-LINEAR-PAM4 IA defines a 112 Gb/s chip-to-module, near-package or co-packaged PAM4 electrical interface that removes the need for a retimer or DSP in the optics device. Instead, it leverages the equalization capabilities of the host ASIC, enabling a more efficient and lower-power design, particularly suited for linear pluggable optics (LPO).

This IA will be added as a new clause in a future revision of the CEI-5.3 IA, ensuring continued alignment with industry standards.

“CEI-112G Linear is the first CEI variant to significantly reduce power consumption by using linear optics devices and while maintaining full optical interoperability with existing standards,” said David Stauffer, OIF Board Member and Physical and Link Layer (PLL) Working Group Chair (Kandou Bus SA). “Compared to traditional retimed optics, linear solutions are a real game changer in terms of the energy efficiency they deliver to users. CEI-112G Linear harnesses the signal processing power of the link endpoints to compensate for signal impairments across both the electrical and optical domains.”

  • CMIS Versatile Control Set (CMIS-VCS) IA UPDATE: Extending Signal Integrity Control in High-Speed Modules

The updated CMIS-VCS IA builds on the initial version announced in March and represents a significant advancement in module management, offering a flexible and standardized method for hosts to discover and configure signal integrity (SI) parameters beyond those specified in the current CMIS base specification. As module data rates increase and optical/electrical integration becomes more complex—especially in AI/ML workloads—the need for dynamic and granular control is more critical than ever.

This enhanced version enables module vendors to promote a tailored list of control parameters, identified by numerical IDs and associated attributes, allowing hosts to implement optimization strategies across diverse deployments.

The meeting also featured a guest presentation from Professor Leslie Rusch of the Center for Optics, Photonics and Lasers at Université Laval, who provided a valuable perspective on the intersection of academic innovation and industry application in optical communications.

“These meetings are where OIF’s unique blend of technical expertise and market awareness comes together,” said Nathan Tracy, OIF President (TE Connectivity). “The scale of participation in Québec City underscores the industry’s trust in OIF as the place to drive interoperability forward, tackle real-world challenges and shape the future of optical networking. The new white paper and IAs are practical, forward-looking solutions that reflect our commitment to delivering interoperability across the ecosystem. This leadership will be on full display at ECOC 2025 next week, where OIF’s multi-vendor interoperability demonstrations will showcase the real-world impact of our work.”

OIF’s Q4 2025 Technical and MA&E Committees meeting will take place November 3–7, 2025, in Busan, South Korea. 

For more information or to download the Implementation Agreements, visit OIF Implementation Agreements.

About OIF
OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. With more than 25 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 160+ 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 on LinkedIn, on X, on Bluesky and at https://www.oiforum.com/.

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

OIF Launches the Industry’s First Co-Packaging Standard – the 3.2T Co-Packaged Module Implementation Agreement

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Organization’s first project under the umbrella of the Co-packaging Framework Document

Fremont, Calif.—April 5, 2023 – OIF, celebrating 25 years of getting the optical networking industry’s interoperability work done, continues to be at the forefront of the industry, promoting collaboration and coordination among different players in the supply chain and driving efforts to foster a co-packaging ecosystem to support innovative applications.

An industry-first, the OIF-Co-Packaging-3.2T-Module-01.0 – Implementation Agreement for a 3.2Tb/s Co-Packaged (CPO) Module defines a 3.2T co-packaged module that targets Ethernet switching applications utilizing 100G electrical lanes and provides backward compatibility with 50G lanes. The module definition can be in the form of an optical module or a passive copper cable assembly and provides ~140G/mm of bandwidth edge-density. It can enable optical and/or electrical interfaces for a 51.2Tb/s aggregate bandwidth switch.

“OIF’s members are committed to driving innovation and progress in co-packaging, continuously seeking ways to improve and innovate,” said Jeff Hutchins, OIF PLL Working Group Co-Packaging Vice Chair and Board Member, Ranovus. “This IA is part of a trio of projects which include the Framework project and the External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) project. Building on OIF’s successful track record of coherent and laser module IAs, it addresses the market need for interoperable integrated optics standardization identified by the CPO Framework IA.”

The new IA includes interoperability specifications for the 3.2 Tb/s CPO modules, including:

  • 8x400Gb/s optical interface options for FR4 and DR4 connectivity
  • 32 x CEI-112G-XSR host interface (or 32 x CEI-56G-XSR in “backwards compatible” mode)
  • Opto-mechanical module specifications
  • Electrical specifications
  • Control and management interface, enabled by enhancements to the existing OIF CMIS specification

“Considerable progress has been made in co-packaging, and this new IA, along with a collaborative ecosystem, is a critical piece to propel the technology so that it meets industry needs, including that of Cloud service providers as they build their next-generation AI networks,” said Richard Ward, Technical Editor of the OIF 3.2T Co-Packaged Module IA, Astera Labs. 

At OFC 2023 in March, OIF revealed its progress in co-packaging specifications in a set of interoperability demonstrations. The demos included pivotal multi-vendor elements to enable co-packaging architectures, including live demos for the External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) external laser source form factor, co-packaged 3.2T copper cable assemblies, an operating linear optical module, and a variety of optical connectivity solutions as well as an expanded set of OIF member participants representing the growing ecosystem.

About OIF

OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Celebrating 25 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 140+ 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

leah@wilkinson.associates

703-907-0010

OIF Releases Common Electrical I/O (CEI) 5.0 Implementation Agreement Reinforcing Leadership in Next-Generation Channel Definition

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New specifications will enable a broad range of applications

Fremont, Calif. – OIF, where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done, has published a new Implementation Agreement (IA) for Common Electrical I/O (CEI) 5.0 specifying the next generation of 112Gb/s electrical interconnects. The IA specifies transmitter, receiver and channel requirements associated with Extra Short Reach (XSR), Medium Reach (MR) and Long Reach (LR) interfaces for multi-chip-module, chip-to-chip, and high-speed backplane applications.

“This IA marks a new generation of specifications for 112G interfaces,” said Klaus-Holger Otto, Nokia and OIF Technical Committee Chair. “It is a continuation of OIF’s proud history of adding next-generation data rates that enable broad interconnect solutions and are critical building blocks for several industry standards and platforms.”

“These new data rate specifications will enable applications including backplane, chip-to-chip, and die-to-die interfaces within a package,” said David Stauffer, Kandou Bus and Chair of OIF’s Physical and Link Layer (PLL) Working Group. “And, it enables multiple applications, such as co-packaged optics. Definitions of interfaces within co-packaged die are unique to this IA and OIF’s work.”

About OIF
OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Building on nearly 25 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 130+ 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
leah@wilkinson.associates
703-907-0010

OIF Releases Co-Packaging Framework Implementation Agreement

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Framework serves as foundation for industry consensus on co-packaging with ASICs

Fremont, Calif. – OIF, the global industry forum accelerating market adoption of advanced interoperable optical networking solutions, today announced the release of a framework Implementation Agreement (IA) for co-packaging, identifying the critical co-packaged applications and their requirements and charting a path for interoperability standards.

OIF’s leadership in driving interoperability in co-packaging technologies began in 2020 when it was clear the industry needed to achieve consensus on standards. Since then, OIF members have engaged in an umbrella project to study the application spaces and relevant technology considerations for co-packaging of communication and computing interfaces with one or more ASICs.

The Co-Packaging track of OIF’s Physical & Link Layer (PLL) Working Group began by studying the application spaces contributed by the end-users. Then, it examined various related topics, including electrical and optical interfaces, thermal and mechanical considerations, reliability, safety, environmental and management interfaces. The findings of the work are summarized in the Framework Document IA.

This work also guided OIF to initiate two follow-on co-packaging projects: External Laser Small Form Factor Pluggable (ELSFP) Project, announced in May 2021, and the 3.2T Module Project, announced in March 2021.

“OIF is leading industry discussion on this critical dense integration technology,” said Jeff Hutchins, Ranovus and OIF Board Member and PLL Working Group – Co-Packaging Vice Chair. “This framework IA provides the industry with a foundation for developing interoperable energy efficient co-packaged solutions.”

“Co-packaging represents a significant change to the way high-performance communications ASICs are packaged today,” said Technical Editor of the Co-Packaging Framework IA, Kenneth Jackson, Sumitomo Electric. “This Framework document addresses many of the issues that initially challenged this new architecture and narrows the scope of achievable solutions. This is precisely what OIF excels at…identifying a gap and collaborating on a path forward towards interoperability.”

Earlier this month, OIF experts led a public webinar, “Co-Packaging Standardization Progress,” discussing the co-packaging standardization efforts that are in progress and addressing implementation challenges, including electrical channels, external lasers, optical connectivity, packaging, etc. In partnership with Lightwave, the event featured talks from industry-leading experts at Intel, Cisco, Ranovus, Sumitomo Electric and TE Connectivity. Click here for free on-demand viewing of this webinar.

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 130+ 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
leah@wilkinson.associates
703-907-0010

OIF Completes Coherent Common Management Interface Specification (C-CMIS) Implementation Agreement for Management of Digital Coherent Optics (DCO) Modules

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Initial release is focused on supporting 400ZR

Fremont, Calif.—March 3, 2020 – OIF, where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done, today announced the completion of the Coherent Common Management Interface Specification (C-CMIS) Implementation Agreement (IA). This IA serves as an extension to the CMIS (QSFP-DD/OSFP/COBO) management specification, specifically targeting DCO modules.

“The C-CMIS IA is an important part of the developing 400ZR ecosystem,” said Ian Betty, Ciena and OIF Board Member. “It defines additional management registers, and monitors, together with new functionality, mechanisms, or behaviors, as needed.”

Augmenting the existing CMIS specification which focused on addressing direct detect client optics, the C-CMIS IA provides register definition for coherent modules in pages and parameters that were previously reserved. Users that have previously implemented software to manage optical modules using CMIS will be able to quickly add support for these coherent pages and parameters. This release of the C-CMIS IA is targeted at the 400ZR application.

The technology and complexity of coherent modules requires additional monitoring parameters for use in field applications. This additional monitoring is primarily focused on Forward Error Correction (FEC) monitoring and optical/analog monitoring including items like Chromatic Dispersion, Differential Group Delay and Electrical Signal to Noise Ratio (eSNR). The C-CMIS IA provides specifications to monitor the standard parameters in a normative manner while taking advantage of the flexibility of the CMIS specification to monitor any additional proprietary parameters.

“The current IA is focused on supporting the OIF 400ZR IA, which supports a single data path with eight-lane host electrical interface for a 400GBASE-R PCS signal and a single-lane 400G coherent media interface (with a new signal format called 400ZR),” explained Betty. “However, we expect future versions to include more complex Metro modules and may even extend these management features to other form factors.”

 

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

FierceTelecom – What is 400ZR?

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Aimed predominantly at short-reach, single-span fiber optic links for Data Center Interconnect (DCI), 400ZR is an interoperable networking Implementation Agreement (IA) in progress by the OIF. It defines a footprint-optimized solution for transporting 400Gb Ethernet over DCI links targeting a minimum of 80 km. Enabled by advanced coherent optical technology design targeting small, pluggable form factor modules such as QSFP-DD and OSFP, 400ZR proposes a technology-driven solution for high capacity data transport, matched to 400GE switch port market introduction.

https://www.fiercetelecom.com/sponsored/what-400zr

(Sponsored by Ciena)