Written by Ray Nering

Traffic across IP networks continues to grow, and networks continue to evolve to manage new traffic patterns and demands. This has always been the case, and the industry has a long history of developing new standards through various organizations, such as the IEEE and ITU, and through multi-source agreement (MSA) groups. These standards enable component suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and service providers to interconnect and link networks together as seamlessly as possible. The latest MSA, QSFP-DD800, lays the foundation for 800G Ethernet pluggable optics.

Over the past few years, the industry has been focused on 400GE standards. For 400GE applications, there is a host of new MSAs, and the IEEE has developed a new Media Access Control (MAC), as well as optical and electrical interfaces. Last year, there were many announcements from network equipment suppliers about their next-generation switches and routers with expanded capacity and 400GE port capability. As these next-gen systems begin deployment, industry standards organizations and MSA groups are starting to look ahead at the next step in speeds.

Last September, the formation of the QSFP-DD800 MSA group was announced. Founded by Broadcom, Cisco, Finisar, Intel, Juniper, Molex, Marvell, and Samtec, the mission was to leverage the cornerstone of high-speed pluggable modules