100G DWDM FEC standard

Tue Jun 9 14:24:32 UTC 2015

Hi Mikael,

>From a standards perspective keep in mind that http://www.stupi.se/Standards/100G-long-haul4.pdf is not approved -  but we are working hard on it. OTOH having a reference implementation at hand, is an accelerator that helps a lot.

Let me also add some color to your email as the current interoperability situation in WDM is quite funny. Sometimes transceivers of the same vendor can't talk to each other, as they are based on a different generation of ASICs and therefore FEC implementations. In other words, vendors typically have more than only one secret sauce they cook with, and different sauces do not blend well :-) .  Perhaps transport folks are already too used to deal with such kind of issues that no one laments anymore. On the other hand perhaps, the networking industry is already so used to Ethernet where interoperability is a no-brainer, that it is difficult to imagine what it means to deal with a technology that prevents multi-vendor interop.

To confirm your final point:
Interoperability is on the top of the shopping lists for the networking industry. 

Gert
email : ggrammel at juniper.net
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Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2015 17:53:58 +0200 (CEST)
From: Mikael Abrahamsson <swmike at swm.pp.se>
To: nanog at nanog.org
Subject: 100G DWDM FEC standard
Message-ID: <alpine.DEB.2.02.1506051741330.9487 at uplift.swm.pp.se>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII

Hi,

I just watched the "evolution of ethernet speeds" presentation from NANOG 
meeting. There was a statement that there was "vendor secret sauce" in the 
100G DWDM space. Yes, that is true, but:

http://www.stupi.se/Standards/100G-long-haul4.pdf

There actually is a standard for 100G DWDM that has support from multiple 
router vendors. When you buy new gear, make sure your vendors support the 
above standard, so we can connect our routers over longer distances 
between vendors, without needing transponders.

We in the Deutsche Telecom Terastream project have Huawei, Cisco, Juniper 
and ALU routers that natively (DWDM colored interfaces in the routers) 
talk directly to each other over 1500 km amplified DWDM system (no 
transponders), and we can also talk from these routers interfaces to Cisco 
and ALU transponders if we want to.

https://jeffloughridge.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/peter-lothbergs-terastream-presentation-at-ripe-67/ 
if you want to know more about the project.

Next time you purchase 100G DWDM equipment, make sure you buy equipment 
that follows this standard to be certain that it interoperates to combat 
vendor "secret sauce".

-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: swmike at swm.pp.se