Ethernet At 100Gb/s, 200Gb/s, And 400Gb/s
If there was an ethernet standard which could provide speeds matching fiber or fiber that was capable of maintaining speeds over distances of at least 80 kilometres (50 miles), would you be interested in laying new runs? That is what the Ethernet Alliance has been up to at the 2021 Technology Exploration Forum, along with updates to fiberoptic specs as well.
One of the new standards being working on is the 802.3cu standard, which will deliver 100Gb/s and 400Gb/s over single-mode fiber, at 100Gb/s per wavelength. This won’t increase the speed fiber can be capable of overall, but does for single-mode fiber which is less power hungry and frankly less expensive to deploy. That could lead to new customers for fiber runs, or increases in the density of runs for existing customers.
Fans of copper will be more interested in the work being done on IEEE P802.3ck which addresses the development of higher-density or lower-cost electrical interfaces for 100, 200 or 400Gb/s ethernet over copper. In addition comes IEEE P802.3ct, which will apply dense wavelength division multiplexing to extend the range of 100Gb/s to 80 kilometres and more.
That acceleration is in the future, however, once a newly formed study group figures out what technologies need to be built to make it possible — and whether anyone will buy even faster Ethernet.
No, I’d be happy with a consumer optimized 10 and 40Gb/s standard. 1Gb/s for the home and small business is too little these days and 10Gb enterprise equipment is too expensive. 2.5Gb and 5Gb are cute, but don’t cut it.
Interesting title to this piece considering fibre is a physical transport media, like DACs and Ethernet is a protocol.
Compares apples to pine cones!
The real growth opp is in the consumer space for things like 2.5/5G and even 10G BASE-T on fibre to the home broadband connections.
The infrastructure at the ISPs is the weak link wherein their equipment needs to be upgraded to support user/content requirements.
5G is only one part of that infrastructure equation.
Exciting times in which we find ourselves now, especially considering the continuation of work from home, post pandemic.
As a network engineer this title triggers me.
I am an equal opportunity offender. And yes, I hate the way El Reg described it and wanted to share.