40 Gigabit Ethernet for Data Centres

40 Gigabit EthernetAs data centres virtualizes more of servers and storage, there is an increasing need for high-speed network connections. While 10 Gigabit Ethernet made its way into the data centres, CIQ and IT managers were concern about how to handle high-bandwidth applications such as server virtualization and cloud computing, fabric consolidation within the data centre. So the IEEE officially put forward IEEE Std.802.3ba, making 10 Gigabit Ethernet migrate to 40G. 40 Gigabit Ethernet is a standard which enables transmission to speed up to 40 Gbps, allowing more powerful 40 Gigabit Ethernet-enabled equipment to transmit data traffic at the aggregation and core layers. It is now widely used in data centres with excellent 40GbE equipment.

There is various ideal equipment for 40 Gigabit Ethernet applications, such as cables, transceivers, connectors and switches for 40G transmission. For instance, OM3 and OM4 multimode fibres are widely used in 40 Gigabit applications especially in data centres. These cables have lower cost than single mode fibres, for they can avoid higher costs created by single-mode laser source. The transceivers connected by cables is at the centre of the 40 Gigabit Ethernet network layer. They are usually connected by OM3 or OM4 fibres and can be plugged into a variety of components including interface cards and switches or network servers. The common types of 40G transceivers are C Form-factor Pluggable (CFP) transceivers, Quad Small-Form Pluggable (QSFP) transceivers and CXP transceivers.

40G transceivers

With the development of 40G equipment, 40 Gigabit Ethernet ramps aggressively in the data centres. 40 Gigabit Ethernet have some advantages over 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 100 Gigabit Ethernet when applied in the data centres. Besides transmitting at higher rates, 40 Gigabit Ethernet are more cost-effective than 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the uplinks between switches, for it can save switches and connectors. The more 40 Gigabit Ethernet equipment enters the market, the larger the price difference between them is, making 40 GbE is more cost-effective to aggregate uplinks. It is expected that the cost of 40 Gigabit Ethernet equipment will decrease to much less than four times the amount of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in the near future. In addition, 40G provides design flexibility and cost advantage over 100 Gigabit Ethernet. For example, some networks in 40G Ethernet are able to use their current 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch chassis with only updating their line cards and transceivers.

40 Gigabit Ethernet can be cost-effectively deployed in aggregation links in data centre networks. And in the future, it will also be commonly used to access links to connect servers. The migration from 10 Gigabit Ethernet to 100 Gigabit Ethernet in data centres is under way.