The IEEE 802.3bs standard which defines 200G and 400G Ethernet standards has now been approved for over 3 years and the demand for these high-speed rates is now picking up particularly for data centers driven by bandwidth hungry applications such as 5G networks and cloud computing.
Choosing between 200G or 400G
Many experts consider that 400G will be the long term winner as it is expected to eventually offer a lower cost per bit but as of right now 200G also has its place in the data center. Basically, which of these rates to use is determined by the speed supported by the servers in the data centers. Since the physical connections between switches and servers are fixed for the most part are based on one-to-four connections, 50G servers will connect to 200G switches while 100G servers will connect to 400G switches as shown by the figure below.
Given that servers on the market today offer 50G speeds with 100G capable servers following there is a strong likelihood of both 200G and 400G being deployed in the short term. Longer term though, the economics will determine which one wins one and that's likely to be 400G based on the potential for lower cost per bit as mentioned earlier.
GigOptics now offering 200G and 400G transceivers
GigOptics has recently added a full range of 200G and 400G optical transceivers; all tested to ensure quality and reliability. For more information, contact us at info@gigoptics.com.
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