FTB/IQS-85100G Packet Blazer - 40G/100G multiservice test modules

Description

40G/100G Ethernet—a rapidly emerging market

The ongoing growth of enterprise, residential and mobile multimedia services (such as peer-to-peer, IPTV and video-over-Internet) is producing unprecedented levels of traffic, stressing the bandwidth capabilities of metro and core transport networks.

Consequently, carriers worldwide are actively seeking strategies to efficiently and cost-effectively scale IP packet transmission. Designed to facilitate this transition, 40G/100G Ethernet technologies give carriers the flexibility to phase in the implementation of these higher-speed rates to better align capacity increases with their specific growth and budget strategies.

These new data rates are based on the IEEE 802.3ba standard. The most significant concept introduced in this new working standard is the use of parallel optics that strongly influence the physical coding sublayer (PCS) implementation, which is one of the new building blocks for 40G/100G Ethernet.

The key difference between the IEEE 802.3ba standard and its predecessor is the introduction of PCS lanes (formerly known as virtual lanes). PCS lanes provide an effective method for handling various parallel optical configurations, and therefore require a comprehensive solution that can easily qualify and integrate both 40G/100G CFP and 10x10 MSA-compliant pluggable optics. Thorough PCS testing is among the critical layer-1/2/3/4 tests needed to ensure that 40G/100G Ethernet equipment and network services can be deployed rapidly and confidently.

40G/100G multiservice testing solution for carrier and NEM labs

Leveraging over a decade of FPGA experience, EXFO has integrated Ethernet (IEEE 802.3ba) and OTN (ITU-T G.709) functionalities into the same module: the FTB/IQS-85100G Packet Blazer. With this upgrade, you will be able to efficiently and cost-effectively share the equipment in the lab, perform field trials, and carry out early deployments. Purpose-built for applications where thorough testing, portability, true ruggedness and ease of use are required, this module offers powerful layer-1/2/3 Ethernet traffic generation and analysis, as well as RFC 2544 with Smart Loopback testing capabilities to stress and validate network elements and services against demanding corner cases.

The FTB/IQS-85100G Packet Blazer also supports OTU3/OTU4 bit-error-rate testing (BERT) and ODU muxing capabilities for 40G/100G transponder and muxponder qualification in network equipment manufacturer (NEM) labs, as well as for optical transport network turn-up in the field. In addition, its FPGA-based architecture ensures rapid and seamless incorporation of updates as the standard is ratified and refined, protecting your testing investment without sacrificing timely support of features and functions.

All existing and newly developed testing capabilities are available via an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and through software keys for field upgrades. No additional hardware or shipping to the manufacturer is required.