IEEE 802.3cd™ “Standard for Ethernet Amendment: Media Access Control Parameters, Physical Layers and Management Parameters for 200 Gb/s and 400 Gb/s Operation” is currently under development by the IEEE P802.3cd 50 Gb/s, 100 Gb/s, and 200 Gb/s Ethernet Task Force and anticipated to publish in September, 2018. Server interconnects in the data center, which represent the highest number of equipment connections, require cost effective solutions. Advances in cost optimized single-lane solutions and higher speed multi-lane transmission solutions warrant reevaluating the signaling technology for 50 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet. In addition, servers virtualizing more applications are driving additional bandwidth into the network and network uplinks need to progress to higher speeds to match server speeds. 200 Gb/s can support network infrastructure and oversubscription rates similar to 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s Ethernet as servers migrate from 25 Gb/s to 50 Gb/s, while also enabling data center fabric topology. This amendment will define twelve Physical Layer (PHY) specifications and management parameters for 50 Gb/s, 100 Gb/s, and 200 Gb/s operation over backplanes and twinaxial copper cables. These solutions will support optional Energy Efficient Ethernet (EEE).
The new PHY specifications and attachment interfaces under development are as follows:
50GBASE-CR: 50 Gb/s transmission over one lane (2 twisted coaxial pairs) of shielded twinaxial copper cabling, with reach up to at least 3 m
50GBASE-FR: 50 Gb/s serial transmission over one wavelength (2 fibers total) for operation over singlemode optical fiber cabling with reach up to at least 2 km
50GBASE-KR: 50 Gb/s transmission over one lane of an electrical backplane, with a total insertion loss of less than 30 dB at 13.28125 GHz
50GBASE-LR: 50 Gb/s serial transmission over one wavelength (2 fibers total) for operation over singlemode optical fiber cabling with reach up to at least 10 km
50GBASE-SR: 50 Gb/s transmission over one lane (2 fibers total) for operation over multimode fiber optical fiber cabling with reach up to at least 100 m
50 Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface (50GAUI-1): 50 Gb/s one lane interface used for chip-to-chip or chip-to-module interconnections
50 Gigabit Attachment Unit Interface ( 50GAUI-2, LAUI-2): 50 Gb/s two lane interfaces used for chip-to-chip or chip-to-module interconnections
100GBASE-CR2: 100 Gb/s transmission over two lanes (4 twisted coaxial pairs) of shielded twinaxial copper cabling, with reach up to at least 3 m
100GBASE-DR: 100 Gb/s serial transmission over one wavelength (2 fibers total) for operation over singlemode optical fiber cabling with reach up to at least 500 m
100GBASE-KR2: 100 Gb/s transmission over two lanes of an electrical backplane, with a total insertion loss of less than 30 dB at 13.28125 GHz
100GBASE-SR2: 100 Gb/s transmission over two lanes (4 fibers total) for operation over multimode fiber optical fiber cabling with reach up to at least 100 m
200GBASE-CR4: 200 Gb/s transmission over four lanes (8 twisted coaxial pairs) of shielded twinaxial copper cabling, with reach up to at least 3 m
200GBASE-KR4: 200 Gb/s transmission over four lanes of an electrical backplane, with a total insertion loss of less than 30 dB at 13.28125 GHz
200GBASE-SR4: 200 Gb/s transmission over four lanes (8 fibers total) for operation over multimode fiber optical fiber cabling with reach up to at least 100 m
The current focus of the IEEE P802.3cd 50 Gb/s, 100 Gb/s, and 200 Gb/s Ethernet Task Force is circulation of their draft document for Task Force review and comment resolution.
The IEEE 802.3 50 Gb/s Ethernet over a Single Lane and Next Generation 100 Gb/s and 200 Gb/s Ethernet Call-For-Interest Consensus Presentation can be found here: http://www.ieee802.org/3/cfi/1115_1/CFI_01_1115.pdf
The Project Authorization Request (PAR), approved on May 12, 2014, can be found here: http://www.ieee802.org/3/cd/P802.3cd.pdf
The project objectives, approved on May 23, 2016, with changes from September 19, 2016, (refer to: http://www.ieee802.org/3/cd/P802d3cd_objectives_v4.pdf) are as follows:
- Support full-duplex operation only
- Preserve the Ethernet frame format utilizing the Ethernet MAC
- Preserve minimum and maximum FrameSize of current IEEE 802.3 standard
- Support optional Energy-Efficient Ethernet operation
- Provide appropriate support for OTN
- Support a MAC data rate of 50 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s
- Support a BER of better than or equal to 10-12 at the MAC/PLS service interface (or the frame loss ratio equivalent) for 50 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s operation
- Support a MAC data rate of 200 Gb/s
- Support a BER of better than or equal to 10-13 at the MAC/PLS service interface (or the frame loss ratio equivalent) for 200 Gb/s operation
- Define single-lane 50 Gb/s PHYs for operation over:
- Copper twin-axial cables with lengths up to at least 3m
- Printed circuit board backplane with a total channel insertion loss of ≤ 30dB at 13.28125 GHz
- MMF with lengths up to at least 100 m
- SMF with lengths up to at least 2 km
- SMF with lengths up to at least 10 km
- Define a two-lane 100 Gb/s PHY for operation over:
- Copper twin-axial cables with lengths up to at least 3 m
- Printed circuit board backplane with a total channel insertion loss of ≤ 30dB at 13.28125 GHz
- MMF with lengths up to at least 100 m
- Define a single lane 100 Gb/s PHY for operation over duplex SMF with lengths up to at least 500 m
- Define four-lane 200 Gb/s PHYs for operation over:
- Copper twin-axial cables with lengths up to at least 3 m
- printed circuit board backplane with a total channel insertion loss of ≤ 30dB at 13.28125 GHz
- Define 200 Gb/s PHYs for operation over MMF with lengths up to at least 100m