100G CWDM4/100G FR1 Optical Transceiver

100G CWDM4 and 100G FR1 are optical transmission standards with a transmission speed of 100Gbps and a maximum transmission distance of 2km.

100G CWDM4 and 100G FR1 have different numbers of wavelengths in the optical signal.

CWDM4 is an MSA standard that uses four wavelengths and CWDM (Course Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology *1 to transmit 100 Gbps.

On the other hand, 100G FR1 is an MSA standard that transmits 100Gbps over a single wavelength. 100G FR1 can also be used with breakout connections, which will be described later.

400G DR4+ / 400GBASE-FR4 Optical Transceiver

400G DR4+ and 400GBASE-FR4 are optical transmission standards with a transmission speed of 400Gbps and a maximum transmission distance of 2km.

Both 400G DR4+ and 400GBASE-FR4 have a 100G x 4 lane optical signal configuration, but there are some differences between them:

400GBASE-FR4 uses four optical wavelengths, which are multiplexed and demultiplexed (WDM) by the Mux/DeMux in the optical transceiver, and transmitted over a two-core optical fiber (see image below). For this reason, an LC connector (two-core optical fiber) is used.

On the other hand, 400G DR4+ does not multiplex or split, so it is an MPO12 connector. Therefore, breakout connection is possible by combining it with 100G FR1 as shown below.

100GBASE LR4/400G LR4 Optical Transceiver

100GBASE LR4 and 400G LR4 are optical transmission standards with transmission speeds of 100Gbps and 400Gbps, respectively, and a maximum transmission distance of 10km.

Like 400GBASE-FR4, both optical transmission standards use the Mux/DeMux in the optical transceiver to combine and split (WDM) four optical wavelengths to transmit optical signals. For this reason, LC connectors (two-core optical fiber) are used.

100GBASE-ZR Optical Transceiver

100GBASE-ZR is an optical transmission standard with a transmission speed of 100 Gbps and a maximum transmission distance of 80 km.

100GBASE-ZR uses digital coherent technology to enable long-distance, high-capacity communication using a single wavelength.

For 100GBASE-ZR optical transceivers, products that use QSFP28, the form factor that is mainstream in datacom, are beginning to be released on the market. They also feature C-band tunable lasers to build DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing)*2 networks.

For this reason, conventional networks required special transmission equipment such as transponders, but it is now possible to transmit large volumes of data over long distances from a router device as shown below.

400G ZR, 400G ZR+ Optical Transceivers

400G ZR and 400G ZR+ are optical transmission standards with a transmission speed of 400 Gbps and support long-distance transmission.

The maximum transmission distance for 400G ZR is 120km when using an optical amplifier, and the maximum transmission distance for 400G ZR+ is equivalent to 1,000km when using an optical amplifier (assuming optical fiber dispersion is 20ps/nm/km).

Like 100GBASE-ZR, 400G ZR and 400G ZR+ use digital coherent technology to enable long-distance, high-capacity transmission using a single wavelength.

Some optical transceiver vendors have also released 400G ZR and 400G ZR+ optical transceivers that are described as "High Power" or "Bright." Typically, optical transceivers with an output transmission optical power of about +0 dBm are described as "High Power" compared to an output transmission optical power of about -10 dBm.

The "High Power" 400G ZR and 400G ZR+ have the advantage of being able to transmit over longer distances or over optical fiber with greater loss.