OIF Reveals New Common Electrical I/O Project to Strengthen an Open Ecosystem for Near Package Optics Architecture, Launches Management Track and Facebook joins Board of Directors at Q3 2021 Virtual Meeting

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OIF’s Q3 2021 Technical and MA&E Committees Meeting, held virtually August 2-6, 2021, demonstrated OIF’s leadership in next-generation channel definition by revealing a new Common Electrical I/O (CEI) project. Two projects under the Physical and Link Layer (PLL) newly formed Management track were also initiated. Jimmy Yu, vice president of Dell’Oro Group, was featured as the guest speaker, and a new Board Member was appointed.

NEW PROJECTS:

The CEI-112G-Extra Short Reach (XSR)+ project will allow lower power, multi-source 112Gbps (optimized for 106.25Gbps) electrical I/O interface to be developed with advanced PCB and substrate technology. The project will also support an open ecosystem based on Near Package Optics (NPO) architecture. OIF members are proposing that an “XSR+” type interface is used to add reach for NPO applications over the existing XSR interface to enable a multi-vendor open ecosystem without adding significant power.

The two projects under the PLL Management track include one to transition ownership and maintenance of the Common Management Interface Specification (CMIS) from the Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density (QSFP-DD) Multi-Source Agreement (MSA) to OIF, and the second project will focus on CMIS extensions for co-packaging implementations.

“Our quarterly meetings provide a critical platform for our members to discuss and debate interoperability challenges and industry standards that help OIF continue its mission to accelerate industry innovation,” explained David Stauffer, OIF Physical & Link Layer WG Chair and Kandou. “The new CEI-112G-XSR+ project will help strengthen an open ecosystem for NPO demonstrating OIF’s leadership in next-generation channel definition. Another significant new activity that addresses industry interoperability and standards is OIF’s new Management track. Due to the complementary/synergistic nature of the work with the OIF co-packaged optics, NPO, CEI and coherent optics projects, OIF will take over the ongoing CMIS revisions as well as further enhancements and CMIS extensions under this track.”

BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPOINTMENT

Rob Stone of Facebook was appointed to the OIF Board of Directors, filling an open position. Stone will serve the term for this position that goes through September 2022.

GUEST SPEAKER

Jimmy Yu served as the guest speaker providing OIF members with an update on the optical transport market. He leads Dell’Oro’s Optical Transport, Microwave Transmission and Mobile Backhaul Transport market research.

“OIF is a critical enabler to the optical market’s progression,” commented Yu. “The work of OIF members in these quarterly meetings to help guide interoperability is a significant benefit to the industry.”

About OIF

OIF is where the optical networking industry’s interoperability work gets done. Building on more than 20 years of effecting forward change in the industry, OIF represents the dynamic ecosystem of 125+ industry leading network operators, system vendors, component vendors and test equipment vendors collaborating to develop interoperable electrical, optical and control solutions that directly impact the industry’s ecosystem and facilitate global connectivity in the open network world. Connect with OIF at @OIForum, on LinkedIn and at http://www.oiforum.com.