FS 400G Portfolio Helps Data Center Network Upgrade

High-Capacity 400G Data Center Trends

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, data center networks face increasing challenges to meet the growing demand for bandwidth. As a promising and evolving technology, 400G Ethernet delivers great speeds, high-volume capacity, and simplified upgrades from 100G to 400G. This article elaborates on how FS 400G portfolio, such as 400G switches and 400G transceivers, helps data center network upgrade.

Update from 100G to 400G Network

Currently most data centers, metros, and long haul networks are using cost-effective 100G connectivity. To make the upgrade viable, there are a number of key considerations for network operators and enterprises that are planning to upgrade their networks from 100G to 400G. 

Infrastructure Upgrade

Upgrading from a 100G network to a 400G one requires architecture transformation to support 400Gbps data transfer rate, which means you have to upgrade a range of products in your data center infrastructure.

400G switches are a must, and naturally you need 400G transceivers. QSFP+ and QSFP28 transceivers in a 100G network are not enough. As QSFP-DD form factor owns an overwhelming majority of 400G interface in the market, you now need to choose from a series of QSFP-DD transceivers.

There are a couple of ways to enable the connection between 100G ports to 400G switches. For example, you can connect a 400G port to 4x 100G ports with one QSFP-DD transceiver and four QSFP28 transceivers. Or you can use 400G breakout DAC/AOC cables to make it work, which proves to be a cost-effective way in short-reach applications.

Backward Compatibility

Another consideration that needs to be taken into account is backward compatibility. QSFP-DD network element ports are backwards compatible with pluggable QSFP+, QSFP28, QSFP56 transceivers, DAC and AOC cables, which means you can connect a legacy 100G QSFP+/QSFP28/QSFP56 network element to a QSFP-DD switch with legacy DAC cables or AOC cables. However, legacy QSFP28 and QSFP+ ports are not forwards compatible with QSFP-DD pluggables. Thus, before upgrading to 400G network with legacy devices, you should ensure switches, transceivers, and fiber optic cables etc are compatible with your infrastructure.

NRZ or PAM4 Modulation

Currently, there are two different signal modulation techniques: non-return to zero (NRZ), and pulse-amplitude modulation 4-level (PAM4), which are applied in both 100G and 400G networks. Theoretically, 16× 25G baud rate NRZ can be used for 400G Ethernet, such as 400G-SR16, but the link loss and size of the scheme can not meet the demands of a high-performance 400G network. Whereas PAM4 enables higher bit rates at half the baud rate, which means that data center operators can continue to use existing channels at potential 400G Ethernet data rates. As a result, PAM4 has overtaken NRZ as the preferred modulation method for optical signal transmission in 400G optical modules.

However, PAM4 and NRZ connections, as mutually exclusive modulation methodologies, are not interoperable. This means network operators need to factor in this aspect and map out a detailed plan to integrate legacy networks into 400G networks.

New Complexities

Apart from the aforementioned points above, 400G upgrades involve a series of other complexities. As 400G enables a four-fold increase in maximum data transfer speed over 100G, network operators need to look for efficient, high-quality 400G solutions, and plan for the required interfaces, link distances, new standard and practical considerations for moving to new devices or technologies to avoid costly upgrades down the road. 

Explore FS 400G Portfolio

To fulfill the unique customer 400G demands, FS offers a complete portfolio of 400G switches, 400G transceivers, 400G fiber optic cables and so on. FS 400G solutions will increase efficiencies throughout your network while keeping it secure, customizable, and low-cost, making them ideal for high-volume cloud providers, data centers, and enterprises grappling with unrelenting traffic growth. The following figure shows a high-density 400G solution with products in FS 400G portfolio.

Holistic 400G Architecture

FS 400G portfolio offers comprehensive and high-performing 400G products designed to improve customer experience and meet various customer demands. Whether you are looking for 400G switches, 400G transceiver modules, 400G DAC cables and AOC cables, or 400G fiber optic cables, we have what you need. FS 400G portfolio provides the full range of capabilities and features essential to fulfilling the most important and highest priority requirements.

Maximum Flexibility

With FS 400G switch as a leaf-spine switch, FS 400G solutions support 100/400G spine interconnects. The 400G open network switch N9550-32D has 32 ports backward-compatible with SFP28, and QSFP28. Each QSFP-DD port supports 1 x 400GbE or 1 x 100GbE, or via breakout cables, 4 x 100GbE or 4 x 25GbE, which ensures maximum flexibility in a 400G data center network.

Compatibility for 400G Fabric

FS 400G switches support Open Network Install Environment (ONIE), which enables the installation of compatible Network Operating System software, including the open source options Open Network Linux, plus commercial NOS offerings. In other words, ONIE enables an open networking hardware ecosystem where end users have a choice among different network operating systems.

High-Quality Data Transmission

With complete QoS strategy and queue scheduling mechanism, FS 400G portfolio ensures the easing of congestion and high-quality data transmission. Based on network flow control functions such as PFC/ECN, it can build an end-to-end, lossless, low-latency forwarding RDMA basic bearer network, which is necessary for modern data center applications.

FS 400G Featured Products

FS is well prepared to address the need for smart, cost-efficient 400G data center network solutions. Here is a list of 400G products FS offers in a 400G portfolio. For more info, please check FS 400G Product Family Introduction.

Today’s network infrastructures require built-in scalability, flexibility, simplicity, and security. In reliable and cost-efficient ways, FS strives to support burgeoning bandwidth demands now and in the future.

With higher throughput, savings on power, cost and space, and more interconnect options, FS 400G solutions are designed to help cloud operators, service providers and enterprises achieve these goals as they continue to innovate in the cloud era.