Industry’s Ethernet Testing

Ethernet has become one of the primary data transmission interfaces in today's technological era. It is cost-effective and enables fast data transfer between different devices or machines. The IEEE organization's IEEE 802.3 standard defines the specification for Ethernet.
The speeds deployed mainly in the ecosystem are 100G/200G, however, the developments in technologies such as artificial intelligence, metaverse and blockchain, those have increasing demands for high performance computing, storage, and networking has led to the rise of 400G/800G Ethernet, especially in hyperscale data centers where large volumes of data are processed over long distances. These networks need to exhibit high throughput, minimal latency, and reduced power consumption and lower associated costs.

Data Center – Networking Ecosystem

All picture credits from Tektronix and Keysight Copyright

One crucial system of data centers is the switch, which handles the horizontal data flow between servers. In response to increasing data traffic, a stable spine-leaf architecture is applied in large data centers. Switches are equipped with application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) capable of transmitting data at terabit rates per second. The electrical signals between optical components and ASICs present a technical challenge as data moves between switches.

Switches utilize pluggable transceiver modules for communication between optical and electrical. These modules have evolved with the development of ASICs, such as QSFP-DD 800 supporting speeds up to 800Gbps. While traditional copper cables connect switches, they may not fully meet the speed and distance requirements of hyperscale data centers. Optical fibers offer lower latency and power consumption over longer distances as a better option to meet massive data transmission.

Therefore, transceivers convert the electrical signals from the switch ASICs into light and transmit them through optical fibers, serving as the Transmitter Optical Sub-Assembly (TOSA). Conversely, the Receiver Optical Sub-Assembly (ROSA) receives incoming optical signals and processes them, converting them back into electrical signals.

Addressing the need for massive data transfer in the limitation of data center space, scientists are figuring out the better solutions. “Silicon photonics” is a popular topic nowadays, aiming to reduce component size and power consumption, though it is currently considered immature technology. Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) is a more feasible solution in the industry, packaging the switch chip and optical transceiver on the same loadboard, saving space and reducing power consumption.

Data Center – Networking Ecosystem

Datacenters transition to higher speed to support bandwidth demand.
1. First PAM4 links are being deployed
Big push to reduce the power consumption, footprint and cost of direct detect modules
1. Silicon Photonic products on the rise
Physical limitation and challenges with PAM4 signaling drives multi-lane applications.
400G-ZR being standardized - Coherent

What’s new in Ethernet standards?

Due to technological trends in recent years, whether in hyperscale data centers or edge computing, the transmission of increasingly large amounts of computational data makes network performance more crucial. Besides PCIe, one of the key technologies in networking is Ethernet. Ethernet allows the network to achieve high efficiency and meet the related transmission needs of data centers with the highest traffic volumes. It is also one of the most innovative and economical technologies in the industry.
As a high-speed signal testing expert, iPasslabs actively follows and adopts the latest technologies, especially for PCIe and Ethernet. We are involved in various test specification working groups within PCI-SIG, including the Optical Cabling Sub-team. Currently, for switches and other network communication products, the highest application speed for Ethernet is 800G/1.6T. Apart from standard verification tests, iPasslabs has also provided simulation analysis for industrial clients. The main purpose is to analyze whether the wiring diagram meets the COM standards, and it can also provide clients with other information such as channel loss analysis, impedance analysis, and eye diagram analysis.

iPasslabs has invested in the newest instruments and resources to build professional high-speed testing labs, offering clients turnkey services from simulation, validation tests, to debug for the ecosystem.

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