OpenOptics MSA founders offer WDM specifications for Open Compute Project

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (NASDAQ: MLNX) and optical startup RANOVUS, founders of the OpenOptics 100 Gigabit Ethernet transceiver multisource agreement (MSA), have proposed a new set of specifications for 32-channel high-speed optical transmission to the Open Compute Project (OCP). Dr. Mehdi Asghari, Mellanox vice president of silicon photonics R&D, presented the proposals March 9 at the OCP U.S. Summit 2015.

The OCP is a four-year-old Facebook-led effort to promote energy efficient, low cost data center development based on open specifications (see its mission statement). The OpenOptics MSA launched last year at OFC and targets 100 Gigabit Ethernet at reaches of 2 km and greater via singlemode fiber at 1550 nm and silicon photonics (see "OFC 2014 Reporter's Notebook - Day 1"). In the succeeding 12 months, Ciena, Oracle, Vertilas, and Ghiasi Quantum have signed on as supporters.

"Previously, there was no standard for anything beyond 100 Gbps," said Gilad Shainer, vice president of marketing at Mellanox Technologies, describing the impetus for the proposal. "Now, the OCP will have an architecture standard that scales to a terabit and beyond on existing fiber, [and] substantially reduces the cost of hyperscale data center networks."

"We are pleased to see Mellanox bringing their Open Optics submission to the OCP networking project," responded Frank Frankovksy, chairman and president of the OCP. "Standards efforts like these help further the Open Compute vision for openness and a faster pace of innovation in network technologies."

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