Next-Gen Data Center Connectivity: 400G and beyond | Corning

From tenants in colocation data centers that pay by space, to users that are reaching capacity in their own facilities, achieving greater density and preparing for future requirements is increasingly key. Even though today you may not need to implement 400G in your data center increasing density in the main distribution area (MDA) is always valuable and future demands from new applications or services may consume the bandwidth available to date.

MDC and SN connector formats promise the possibility of connecting directly from one high-speed transceiver to another transceiver, which simplifies the insertion of individual connectors into various switches from 400G to 4x100G. In addition, up to three MDC or SN connectors fit into the footprint of an LC duplex, which provides an enormous density advantage.

For operators struggling with reduced space in their data center, implementing LC Duplex connectivity with LC to MDC patchcords and compatible hardware is an effective approach. This will not only allow the LC Duplex footprint to be retained at the transceiver end but the port density with MDC in modules or cassettes of the same size can also be increased by up to 3x – imagine the possibility of having 432 instead of 144 fibers in one rack-unit.

Very Small Form Factor Connectors also help to lower the total cost of ownership. Various optical component manufacturers are already starting to offer solutions with these connectors, but it is important to find the best cabling infrastructure solution that also allows for continued use or reuse of existing components. This in turn helps to minimise the initial investment while meeting future scalability requirements.

Beyond the SN and MDC, the CS Corning-Senko Duplex (CS) represents another option in the VSFF space. It’s important to note that, while the three types all contain two fibers, they have many differences in design and functionality – including size as well as the vertical/horizontal orientation of the fiber. The SN and MDC can also be ganged together as a 4x2 fiber connector, which the CS cannot do. Given these variances, the CS, MDC and SN receptacles are not compatible and this therefore has an effect on the optical transceiver socket that will be needed and also the passive connectivity components.

The future of this industry will see a variety of technological advances that will help us achieve higher data rates – from 40G to 100G to 400G all the way up to 1.6T.

The use of pluggable optics may play an important role up to 800G and it is to be expected that certain future developments will use some of the form factors already mentioned. However, for 1.6T, the high density and power consumption requirements means that pluggable optics might not be the best solution.

When it comes to these higher data rates, there is another way, namely the co-packaged solution. Here, data transmission and data processing are coupled in semiconductor components, as Intel demonstrated, for example, with a recently published co-packaged Ethernet switch. By doing this, co-packaged optics promise to increase density, reduce latency, reduce the power consumption and reduce the size of the switches.

Reaching these data rates will mean going above and beyond the current small form factor connectors previously mentioned. Further developments can be expected in the expanded beam area, resulting in more applications with connectors such as the US Conec MXC connector or the 3M EBO. New developments in fiber such as multicore fiber (MCF) and reduced cladding fiber will also have a tangible impact on further connector developments.

The perennial challenge for data center operators is to ensure that the networking and structured cabling design remains flexible to minimise cabling infrastructure costs when the time to upgrade to higher networking speeds like 400G and beyond arrives.

Careful planning and preparation will avoid costly upgrades and changes in footprint further down the line, with increasingly compact connectors and fibre management a vital component to building 400G networks that can serve high volume telecommunications providers, enterprises and hyperscale data centers.