After telling the world it needs 100-Gbit/s transport right away, Google is saying it doesn't like the available options and wants component manufacturers to draft a new multisource agreement (MSA).

Bikash Koley, Google's senior network architect and a recent Light Reading Live speaker, brought up the interface gripes during the Market Focus session on Monday, as our former colleague, Pauline Rigby, reports on her Optical Reflection blog.

Among Koley's criticisms: There's no good fit. The 100GBase-SR10 interface is too short, but the 100GBase-LR4 option is overkill, with exacting telecom specifications that use more power than Google can tolerate.

Google also seems unhappy with the size of the CFP module. Sources say most systems vendors share Google's view, whether they admit it or not -- this thing is a monster. More heavily integrated optics might take care of this over time.

Other problems arise from Google, and similiar data traffic-heavy operations, outpacing the industry. It's well accepted that 25-Gbit/s electronics will be the key to mass-produced 100-Gbit/s optical interfaces, something Finisar Corp. (Nasdaq: FNSR) director of engineering Chris Cole pointed out a year ago. But those electronics are still in the lab. Altera Corp. (Nasdaq: ALTR) has just announced 25-Gbit/s electrical transceivers in a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), for instance. (See The 400-Gig Vision.)

Cole spoke at Market Focus, too, and he asked components vendors to resist creating a new MSA. It should be easy for vendors to support Cole's request. Fragmentation was a problem for 40-Gbit/s optical networking, one that vendors aren't eager to repeat at 100 Gbit/s.

Nokia Networks seems awfully eager to talk about 400-Gbit/s Ethernet. Maybe officials want to move before Terabit Ethernet captures too many imaginations.

In June, the company pledged to deliver, in the first quarter of 2011, systems ready for 400-Gbit/s transport. This week, Nokia Siemens is announcing completion of a 200-Gbit/s trial, which it's painting as a concrete step towards the 400-Gbit/s goal. One key issue here -- to keep using the same fiber, rather than upgrading to something exotic. (See NSN Braces for 400G.)

There have been a few other 100-Gbit/s announcements at the show:

— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading