Viavi, Ixia demo 400 Gigabit Ethernet test system with forward error correction

Viavi Solutions (NASDAQ: VIAV) and Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) have teamed to host what they assert is the first public interoperability demonstration of a test system for bi-directional 400 Gigabit Ethernet (400GbE) with RS-544 forward error correction (FEC). The showcase is taking place this week in Viavi's stand (#550) at ECOC 2016 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The demonstration illustrates full interoperability between the independently developed MAC, PCS, and RS-544 FEC IP from each company. The Viavi end of the equation features the company's 400G Optical Network Tester (ONT), which supports both FEC and PAM4. Ixia will offer a 400GbE load module from its line of network infrastructure test systems.

The demonstration will show real-time FEC encoding on the outgoing traffic data path as well as FEC error correction on the incoming traffic. CFP8 transceivers from Finisar will create the connections. The exercise will demonstrate that the pieces are in place to enable optical transceiver developers to bring products to market that interoperate in accordance with emerging 400GbE standards and are thus ready for adoption.

The demonstration is among several highlights at Viavi's stand. The company also will show off the OSA-710 Pol-Mux Optical Spectrum Analyzer (OSA), which Viavi says is the first OSA that can perform in-band OSNR measurement on live, coherent systems based on polarization multiplexing without shutting down the network or individual channels. Viavi also will debut the MTS/T-BERD 5800-100G, a dual-port, multi-protocol 100G tester that can test bit error rate (BER) on any line rate to 100G and characterize fiber.

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