A new industry alliance is aiming to quickly produce a specification for 100G to be used inside data centers.

Dan O'Shea, Analyst, Heavyreading.com

April 7, 2014

3 Min Read
100G Inside? Data Centers Will Get It

Market activity for 100G deployment has exploded in the last year or so, primarily in the long-haul part of carrier networks, and most indications are that the metro market for 100G is about to take off, too. But there may soon be yet another market segment for 100G to conquer, if a new industry alliance has anything to do with it.

The 100G CLR4 Alliance debuted at Interop last week in Las Vegas, and if you missed it, that may not surprise alliance members, including co-leaders Arista Networks Inc. and Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC). Those companies feel the industry already has been missing a big opportunity for deploying 100G within large data centers. While much of the industry's attention is focused on deploying 100G anywhere from hundreds to tens of kilometers, the 100G CLR4 Alliance contends that increasingly large data centers present a growing opportunity to use 100G at spans between 100 m and 2 km.

To those who are familiar with Arista's product lineup, this effort might sound as if Arista and its semiconductor partner Intel are simply priming the market for Arista's own switching gear. But the group already has more than 20 members, including data center vendors, semiconductor companies, and even a carrier network vendor fan in Ciena Corp. (NYSE: CIEN). (See the full list, with some commentary by Intel and Arista, here.)

While there have been some efforts through the IEEE to develop a standard for 100G at a small form factor and short reach, relatively speaking, for data centers, not much has come of those efforts. That is hard to believe, given that we have started using the term "hyperscale" to describe how big data centers have grown and how fast they continue to grow. Now, the new group is looking to work fast to produce a specification, possibly as soon as next month.

The 100G CLR4 Alliance is not alone, however, on that path. Several other companies already are pursuing their own 100G developments for the data center, including Avago Technologies Pte. , which earlier this month announced a solution for 550 m. Also, there are at least two more group projects covering the same ground. Avago is part of the CWDM4-MSA, and Ranovus Inc. and Mellanox Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: MLNX) recently formed the OpenOptics MSA targeting development of 100G at 2 km and beyond, with data centers as a primary application. (See Avago Pursues 100G Data Center Links.)

When multiple industry groups work the same territory without a standards group getting involved, there is opportunity for conflict and confusion, so let's hope these two groups communicate with one another or perhaps merge efforts if that makes sense. In terms of the broader market picture, however, these efforts further show just how pervasively data center matters are now influencing the broader telecom industry, just how much opportunity remains for developers and suppliers of 100G, and just how insatiable our hunger for bandwidth continues to be in every corner of the network.

Some other recent 100G news:

— Dan O'Shea, Managing Editor, Light Reading

Want to learn more about SDN and the transport network? Check out the agenda for Light Reading's Big Telecom Event (BTE), which will take place on June 17 and 18 at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers. The event combines the educational power of interactive conference sessions devised and hosted by Heavy Reading's experienced industry analysts with multi-vendor interoperability and proof-of-concept networking and application showcases. For more on the event, the topics, and the stellar service provider speaker lineup, see Telecommunication Luminaries to Discuss the Hottest Industry Trends at Light Reading's Big Telecom Event in June.

About the Author(s)

Dan O'Shea

Analyst, Heavyreading.com

You want Dans? We got 'em! This one, "Fancy" Dan O'Shea, has been covering the telecom industry for 20 years, writing about virtually every technology segment and winning several ASBPE awards in the process. He previously served as editor-in-chief of Telephony magazine, and was the founding editor of FierceTelecom. Grrrr! Most recently, this sleep-deprived father of two young children has been a Chicago-based freelance writer, and continues to pontificate on non-telecom topics such as fantasy sports, craft beer, baseball and other subjects that pay very little but go down well at parties. In his spare time he claims to be reading Ulysses (yeah, right), owns fantasy sports teams that almost never win, and indulges in some fieldwork with those craft beers. So basically, it's time to boost those bar budgets, folks!

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