Ixia First to Successfully Demonstrate 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) Technology with Eight Electric Lanes of 4-Level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4)

Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA), a leading provider of network testing, visibility, and security solutions, today announced it has successfully demonstrated 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) technology by combining eight electrical lanes of 56 Gigabits per second (Gbps), defined as 400GAUI-8 by IEEE802.3bs, via four-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM4).

The live demonstration, the first of its kind, was delivered by Ixia to key members of the 400 GbE ecosystem including a variety of end-users, as well as industry-leading network equipment, chip, and optics manufacturers. Attendees were provided with a first-hand view into Ixia’s ability to integrate new and existing solutions, including PAM-4 (the most scalable multi-level signaling protocol for next-generation line rate), with the company’s advanced 400 GbE technology to address the growing bandwidth requirements of expanding hyperscale data centers. In fact, according to a recent Cisco report entitled The Zettabyte Era — Trends and Analysis, global IP traffic is expected to increase nearly threefold over the next 5 years.

Ixia currently supports and collaborates with two key multisource agreement (MSA) development groups to help drive the effectiveness and efficiency of 400 GbE technology: double-density quad small-form-factor pluggable (QSFP-DD) MSA, and Octal Small Form Factor Pluggable (OSFP) MSA.

The QSFP-DD MSA Group is addressing the technical challenges of achieving a double-density interface and ensuring mechanical, electrical, thermal, and signal-integrity interoperability for module components produced by different manufacturers. Collaboration through the MSA is intended to enable faster implementation and easier operation of the high-speed, double-density quad small-form-factor pluggable interface in networking equipment. QSFP-DD addresses increasing global bandwidth consumption with its ability to quadruple aggregate switch bandwidth while maintaining port density.

The OSFP MSA is comprised of 49 industry leaders who are tasked with defining the form factor for new 400 GbE transceiver module that will support the full range of 400 GbE optics technologies, from datacenter to metro reach.

Ixia was also the first vendor to successfully and publically demonstrate leading edge, IEEE802.3bs draft compliant 400 GbE technology with 400GAUI-16 electrical interface. Demonstrations took place at several industry events in 2016. These demonstrations, held in Japan and Germany, help confirm that 400 GbE technology, including key elements, is available and ready to build the next generation of high speed networking products.

Source: Ixia media announcement