Collaborative R&D Driving Multi-Gigabit Ethernet

By Maurice Nagle
Web Editor

The need for speed is more apparent today than any other point in time. Our bandwidth hungry digital era demands more from the network, it’s that simple. Digital transformation, at the same time, is empowering the network with next generation innovation. And recently, some of this innovation was put to the test.

This week, Huawei (News - Alert) paired with China Telecom China Co., Ltd’s Guangzhou Institute announced the successful completion of transmission tests of 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The team established the joint R&D project in 2016 to further drive multi-gigabit Ethernet performance and deployment.

The tests were performed in China Telecom’s (News - Alert) network and laboratory, and simulated actual network applications, testing port functions like Line-speed forwarding, fault reporting and multi-service stacking. Testing also took place along the Huawei backbone routers across spans of up to 10 km, which in this case showed zero packet loss in line-speed forwarding; multi-service stack tests displayed normal protocol-based forwarding; bundled 100GbE and 400GbE ports were capable of precise load balancing; and fault reporting functions came back normal.

The team aims to build momentum in creating standards, which would then lead to more widespread development and adoption.

"High-speed traffic growth has contributed to the rapid development of high-speed port technology," said Zhu Yongqing, IP technology research owner at China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute. "In the final release of the 400GbE technology standard, China Telecom Guangzhou Research Institute and Huawei performed the world's first 400GbE port tests based on requirements of the live network, realizing a combination of network requirements and technical R&D. The test results reached expectations. In the future, we will cooperate with Huawei and other partners to promote development of the 400GbE industry and maturation of the supply chain, ultimately driving the development of China Telecom's network and the national broadband infrastructure."

Exact timing of the trials is not known, but nonetheless these are promising results. With network demands mounting in our multi-gigabit Ethernet world it’s good to know the next generation of Ethernet solutions is here.

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