Everybody has their own preferred way of absorbing information. Some prefer to read it, some prefer to watch it, and some prefer to listen to it. For those of you in the latter category, we have released the Cisco Optics Podcast. It lives within the Cisco Podcast Network and is available on all major and many not-so-major podcast platforms.
Check it out and look for new episodes every two weeks or so. And subscribe! Better yet, give us a (positive!) rating and review on Apple Podcast!
Ray Nering is a colleague of mine in the Cisco Optics product management group and over the years has held senior management positions at other companies in the optics space, such as AT&T Microelectronics, Lucent, JDSU, Agere, Optium, and Lightwire.
Cisco Optics Podcast Episode 1
How did we go from 1G to 400G? The history of pluggable optics, a conversation with Ray Nering, part 1 of 4.
Have you ever wondered why pluggable optics exist? Have you ever wondered what acronyms like QSFP, LR4, FEC, and PAM4 actually mean? In this first episode I start a conversation with my colleague Ray Nering. He explains to me how a lot of these came to be, starting from the days of 1Gb GBIC all the way up to today’s 400Gb QSFP-DD. This is the first part of a four-episode conversation with Ray. In this episode we start at the beginning, with GBIC and SFP. He also talks about why pluggables were needed when they started and a whole bunch more.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager
Timestamps
3:48 How did pluggable optics start
6:34 The problem with early non-pluggables
8:56 Pay as you grow model
11:00 What is SERDES
12:48 What happens when your data center grows
Cisco Optics Podcast Episode 2
Have you ever wondered why pluggable optics exist? Have you ever wondered what acronyms like QSFP, LR4, FEC, and PAM4 actually mean? In this episode I continue my conversation with my colleague Ray Nering.
He explains to me how a lot of these came to be, starting from the days of 1Gb GBIC all the way up to today’s 400Gb QSFP-DD. This is the second part of a four-episode conversation with Ray. In this episode we get into 10Gb pluggables and the drivers of next generation technology.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager
Timestamps
02:05 Early 10G pluggables
09:17 When 10G SFP+ emerged
11:25 40G QSFP+ leverages 10G SERDES
14:50 Data center as industry driver
20:50 Next generation technology drivers
Cisco Optics Podcast Episode 3
Have you ever wondered why pluggable optics exist? Have you ever wondered what acronyms like QSFP, LR4, FEC, and PAM4 actually mean? In this episode I continue my conversation with my colleague Ray Nering.
He explains to me how a lot of these came to be, starting from the days of 1Gb GBIC all the way up to today’s 400Gb QSFP-DD. This is the third part of a four-episode conversation with Ray. In this episode we get into 100Gb pluggables and then the QSFP-DD form factor.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager
Timestamps
02:06 4x bandwidth at 2.5x cost
06:25 Enter 100G modules
12:33 QSFP28 ramps in 2016
17:56 QSFP-DD form factor considerations
Cisco Optics Podcast Episode 4
Have you ever wondered why pluggable optics exist? Have you ever wondered what acronyms like QSFP, LR4, FEC, and PAM4 actually mean? In this episode, I continue my conversation with my colleague Ray Nering.
He explains to me how a lot of these came to be, starting from the days of 1Gb GBIC all the way up to today’s 400Gb QSFP-DD. This is the final part of a four-episode conversation with Ray. In this episode, we get into complexity trends and coherent optics.
– Pat Chou, Cisco Optics Product Manager
Timestamps
2:07 PAM4
09:37 100G lambda MSA defines optical interfaces
12:37 Complexity trend accelerates
14:36 Pluggable coherent modules for data center interconnects
20:25 CMIS is needed for managing complicated modules
Music credits
Sunny Morning by FSM Team
Upbeat by Mixaund