QSFP28 Optical Transceiver Is a More Ideal Solution for 100G Optical Network?

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Before the advent of the 100GBASE
QSFP28 optical transceiver (an optical transceiver that can be used to support
100G transmission), the development direction of the 100G network is 10G → 40G
→ 100G. After the 100GBASE
QSFP28 optical transceiver appears, 10G → 25G → 100G or 10G → 25G → 50G
→ 100G development model began to spread widely in the industry, and now there
are already some data centers began to adopt this method to achieve 10G to 100G
upgrade. There are all kinds of 100G QSFP28 optical transceivers in the market,
like QSFP28 CWDM4, QSFP28 PSM4, QSFP28 100GBASE-SR4, and QSFP28 100GBASE-LR4,
etc.

 

So, the question is why 100GBASE QSFP28
optical transceiver is so ideal for 100G optical network? Will QSFP28 optical
transceiver completely replace other 100G optical transceiver? Will QSFP28
optical transceiver change the development of data center? Maybe the post can
give you an answer if you are interested

 

The Advantages of QSFP28 Optical
Transceiver

 

The cost and power consumption of data
center is one of the important factors that its builder needs to consider,
which is also an important driving force for the development of the optical
communication market. Reviewing the development of 100G optical transceivers,
the packaging styles (CFP, CFP2, CFP4) and the standard development and
improvement also mainly focus on low cost and low power consumption. The QSFP28
optical transceiver meets these requirements. Compared with other 100G optical
transceivers, QSFP28 optical transceiver has following advantages: port density,
power consumption, and cost.

 

Port density

 

The first generation of 100G optical
transceiver is a very large CFP optical transceiver, and then appeared CFP2 and
CFP4 optical transceiver, CFP4 optical transceiver which is the latest
generation of 100G optical transceiver, the width of only CFP optical
transceiver 1/4, package Size and QSFP + optical transceiver package size. The
QSFP28 optical transceiver is packaged in a smaller package than the CFP4
optical transceiver, which means that the QSFP28 optical transceiver has a
higher port density on the switch. In fact, a total of 36 QSFP28 optical
transceivers can be installed on the front panel of a 1RU switch.

 

Power Consumption

 

The power consumption of QSFP28 optical
transceiver usually does not exceed 3.5W while that of other 100G optical
transceivers is usually between 6W and 24W. From this, QSFP28 optical
transceiver consumes much lower power than other 100G optical transceivers.

 

Cost

 

Now the data center is mainly 10G
network architecture, the interconnection solutions are mainly 10GBASE-SR
optical transceiver and duplex LC multimode fiber jumper, if the existing 10G
network architecture based on the direct upgrade to 40 / 100G network Will save
a lot of time and cost. Therefore, one of the major interconnection trends in
data centers is to upgrade from 10G network to 40 / 100G network without
changing the existing duplex multimode infrastructure. In this case, MPO / MTP
branch able optical cable is undoubtedly the ideal solution for 10G to 40 /
100G upgrade.

 

Will QSFP28 Optical Transceiver Change
Data Center?

 

QSFP28 optical transceiver can be used
without going through the 40G directly from 25G to 100G. In addition, the four
25Gb / s transmission channels of the QSFP28 optical transceiver also comply
with the 100G Ethernet standard. In the 100G optical fiber link consisting of
QSFP28 optical transceivers, the 100G uplink is composed of four 25G links, and
the network structure of each 25G downlink is exactly the same as that of the
10G network. The transmission capacity of the entire network greatly increased.
Therefore, the 10G → 25G → 100G upgrade can greatly simplify the data center cabling
system and reduce the cost and cable density of the cabling system compared with
the 10G → 40G → 100G upgrade.

 

Does QSFP28 Completely Replace Other
100G Optical Transceivers

 

Although the QSFP28 optical transceiver
has many advantages, it is only one of many solutions for a 100G network and is
best for specific applications such as data centers and server rooms.
Therefore, other 100G optical transceivers will also have a place in the 100G
network. For more details about 100G optical transceivers, please visit
Infiberone.