Ethernet as the networking standards, enables computers to locally connect to each other, which is the ultra-strong backbone to the many networks we use every day. Although most of the Ethernet market is still running around 1 Gbqs or 10 Gbqs, there is a strong interest in higher data rates.

1. WHITE PAPER
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Are You Ready for Embracing 100G Ethernet?
Ethernet as the networking standards, enables computers to locally connect to each other, which is
the ultra-strong backbone to the many networks we use every day. Although most of the Ethernet
market is still running around 1 Gbqs or 10 Gbqs, there is a strong interest in higher data rates.
Many hardware vendors like Cisco, Finisar, Huawei and Brocade have recently announced support
for 100 Gigabit Ethernet and telecom vendors around the world have also shown interest in
launching 100G networks. All these events shows the sign of the advent of 100 Gigabit Ethernet in
the commercial segment. However, is it necessary to move to 100G now? Or should the 100g
migration be a smooth one just as the IEEE has made when moving to 40G? This article will highlight
the reasons and solutions of upgrading to 100G.
Why Move to 100G?
 Most enterprises today are encouraging telecommuting and promote real-time, high-definition,
high-quality voice and video solutions. All these require a huge bandwidth capacity. Additionally,
100G implementations offer an effective means to operate seamlessly within an existing 10G
network infrastructure, avoid the need for additional optical amplifiers, dispersion
compensators or regenerators. 100G is today’s choice to scale networks in a way that delivers
the required capacity in the most efficient manner, readying the network for tomorrow’s
bandwidth crunch.
Are You Ready for
Embracing 100G
Ethernet?

2. WHITE PAPER
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Are You Ready for Embracing 100G Ethernet?
 Another interesting point is the efficiency of 100G Ethernet compared to link aggregation that is
used today. As of now, a 10 x 10G Ethernet link aggregation can not give a throughput of up to
100 Gbps. This limitation can be overcome with a true 100G connection which can give a
100Gbps bandwidth, thus allowing high capacity links to scale even further. Considering all
these, if not this year or the next, 100G will be widely adopted soon.
 Last but not the least, the industry have come together in order to create a healthy 100G
ecosystem, which will be beneficial for the entire community. This broad inclusion will result in
a fast introduction of 100G solutions that will meet industry performance, size, cost, and power
requirements. If the cost drive is right, once 100G is standardized and commercially available,
network operators will quickly capitalize 40G investments and adopt 100G transmission for
their future deployments.
Migrate to 100G with 100G Transceiver Modules
There are several form factors for supporting 100GbE including CFP, CFP2, CFP4, QSFP28 and CPAK.
The following will make a clear introduction to all of them.
CFP Transceiver
The CFP is the very first 100G transceiver for the transmission of high-speed digital signals, the C
stands for the Latin letter centum (means 100). The CFP module was designed after the SFP
interface, but is significantly larger to support 100 Gbqs using 10 x 10 Gbit/s lanes in each direction
(RX, TX). The optical connection can support both 10 x 10 Gbit/s and 4 x 25 Gbit/s variants of 100
Gbit/s interconnects. There are four common types of CFP transceiver modules, such as
100GBASE-SR10 in 100 meter MMF, 100GBASE-LR10 and 100GBASE-LR4 in 10 km SMF reach, and
100GBASE-ER10 and 100GBASE-ER4 in 40 km SMF reach respectively.
As improvements in technology have allowed higher performance and higher density, which drives
the development of the CFP2 and CFP4 specifications. While CFP, CFP2 and CFP4 are electrical
similar, they specify a form-factor of 1/2 and 1/4 respectively in size of the original specification.
Note that CFP, CFP2 and CFP4 modules are not interchangeable, but would be inter-operable at the
optical interface with appropriate connectors.

3. WHITE PAPER
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Are You Ready for Embracing 100G Ethernet?
QSFP28 Transceiver
QSFP28 is the same footprint as the 40G QSFP+ module. Just as the 40G QSFP+ module is using four
10Gbps lanes, the 100G QSFP28 is implemented with four 25Gbps lanes. In all QSFP versions, both
the electrical lanes and the optical lanes operate at the same speed, eliminating the costly gearbox
found in CFP, CFP2, and the CPAK. The QSFP28 module has an upgraded electrical interface to
support signaling up to 28Gbps signals, yet keeps all of the physical dimensions of its predecessor.
As QSFP28 technology becomes even maturer, QSFP28 transceivers will become more and more
popular in 100G optics market. The following part shows a image of QSFP-100G-SR4-S. It is Cisco
100GBASE-SR4 QSFP28 transceiver module.
100GBASE-SR4 QSFP28 transceiver and 100GBASE-LR4 QSFP28 transceiver are the two main types
of the QSFP28 transceivers. The former is specified to operate over multimode fiber (MMF) with the
maximum link length of 70m on OM3 and 100m on OM4, while 100GBASE-LR4 QSFP28 is
standardized to work through single-mode fiber (SMF), able to realize 10km link length.
QSFP28 vs. CFP
QSFP28 and CFP are the two common 100G optical transceivers available on the market. As noted
before, CFP is the first-generation 100G transceiver. It is the common scene that QSFP28 makes an
appearance and CFP takes a bow, which reflects the trend in the industry to aggressively bring
100GE density up and costs down. CFP4 is half the width of CFP2, which is half again the width of
CFP. QSFP28 has the same footprint and faceplate density as QSFP+ and is just slightly smaller than
CFP4. Theoretically, QSFP28 seems to have the density advantage over CFP4, but CFP4’s higher
maximum power consumption gives it the advantage on longer reach optical distances. However,

4. WHITE PAPER
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Are You Ready for Embracing 100G Ethernet?
the CFP is much more expensive than QSFP28 and will not be used for lower speeds because of the
high cost.
CPAK Transceiver
CPAK is another newcomer to supporting 100G network. This is a proprietary form factor from Cisco
but the interfaces demonstrated are IEEE standards and will interoperate with the same interfaces
supported by other form-factors. Together, these solutions will deliver the smallest form-factor,
most efficient 100-Gbps optical transceiver portfolio in the industry. Cisco CPAK will be available in
several IEEE-standard optical interfaces.
Conclusion
Within the next several years, 100G is doom to become the dominant backbone technology in
terms of its high capacity over 10G and surpassing would-be high-speed contender 40G. Of course,
we must count on the components and systems suppliers to build products that meet technical and
economic requirements while allowing a smooth migration to the 100G infrastructure that is being
put in operation today. Fiberstore as a rising telecom supplier, is committed to promote
telecommunication development. We recently release a full range of 100G optical transceivers
including CFP, CFP2, CFP4, QSFP28 and QSFP28 DAC cables. All of our products are fully compatible
with the original brand. If you have any requirement, you can send your request to us.

5. WHITE PAPER
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | Are You Ready for Embracing 100G Ethernet?
Contact Us
Manufacturing R & D (China)
Eastern Side, Second Floor, Science &
Technology Park, No.6, Keyuan Road,
Nanshan District, Shenzhen 518057,
China
Tel: +86 (755) 8300 3611
Fax: +86 (755) 8326 9395
Email: sales@fs.com
APAC Office (Hong Kong)
1220 Tung Chun Commercial Centre,
438-444 Shanghai Street, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Tel: +852 81763606
Fax: +852 81763606
Email: sales@fs.com
North America (United States)
331 Andover Park East Ste330, Tukwila,
WA 98188,United States
Tel: +1-425-226-2035
Fax: +1-253-246-7881
Email: sales@fs.com
London Office (United Kingdom)
Third Floor 207 Regent Street, London,
W1B 3HH, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 2081441980
Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or
implied, concerning any equipment, equipment features, or service offered or to be offered by Fiberstore.
Fiberstore reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no
responsibility for its use. This information document describes features that may not be currently available.
Contact a Fiberstore sales team for information on feature and product availability.
Follow us
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
G+
Pinterest
Youtube
Blog