With 40G BiDi optics, there is no need to rewire your data center to get the next level of capacity and performance. With 40G BiDi optics, it’s possible to upgrade capacity without having to upgrade cabling, a huge cost saving.
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BiDi Optics: A New Solution for 40GbE Transmission
1. WHITE PAPER
Fiberstore (FS.COM) | BiDi Optics: A New Solution for 40GbE Transmission
The number of cloud applications, virtualized workloads, coupled with a host of devices housed in
data centers, all these increase at an amazing speed in this technological world. When walking past
the data center, you may hear such a call for more capacity and greater performance from your
servers. This call doesn’t slack with everyday passing, but it grows vigorously. In order to
accommodate these applications that require higher data transport rates, it’s not advised to sit still
for some enterprises. If your data center hasn’t shifted from 10Gbps to 40Gbps infrastructure, now
it’s your chance by deploying 40GbE with 40G BiDi QSFP+ optics (ie. Cisco QSFP-40G-SR-BD) at
lower costs than using 40G QSFP+ optics.
What Is BiDi?
BiDi stands for “bi-directional”. This new BiDi optical technology is available only from Cisco. Cisco
BiDi optics is a standard QSFP, MSA-compliant optical connector that can operate with any Cisco
switch that supports QSFP modules and connects with any vendor’s standards-compliant equipment.
It uses two different wavelengths on the same fiber, with one wavelength headed in one direction
and the second wavelength traveling in the other direction.
How Does 40G BiDi Optics Work?
BiDi technology uses specialized, multilayer, thin-film dielectric coating and lensing, which allows
components to pass and reflect optical signals at the same time. And it uses Bidirectional Optical
Sub-Assembly (BOSA) technology to support two wavelengths (20Gbps total) on each fiber. Each
QSFP can deliver 40Gbps over the same duplex multi-mode fiber (MMF) cabling you use right now.
Inside this module, four channels each of 10Gbps signal transmission and reception are converted
to two bidirectional channels of 20Gbps signals over two different wavelengths (usually 850nm and
900nm) respectively. BiDi optics represents a new solution to deploy 40GbE that meets all
40GBASE-SR4 performance criteria. The signal is sent to a target device via 850nm on one fiber.
Then the signal from the target device is sent via 850nm on the other fiber. This also works for
signals on 900nm, as is shown in the following image. To put it simply, BiDi provides 40GbE on two
MMFs and duplex LC connectors, just like the existing 10G infrastructure that is deployed today.
BiDi Optics: A New
Solution for 40GbE
Transmission
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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | BiDi Optics: A New Solution for 40GbE Transmission
40G BiDi Optics – Easier 40GbE Deployment
With 40G BiDi, upgrading from 10G to 40G is much easier: to replace the existing 10G optical
modules with 40G BiDi optical modules.
For instance, in 10GbE transmission, 10GBASE-SR optics uses two MMFs and duplex LC connectors
for transmitting on one of the fibers and receiving on the other fiber. As for current 40GbE,
40GBASE-SR4 (eg. 40G-QSFP-SR4) uses four 10G lanes to support 40G through 12-fiber trunks and
patch cords terminated with MPO connectors., with four for receiving, four for transmitting and the
rest four fibers unused. This difference requires the change of infrastructure when upgrading 10G
network to 40G network. If the 40G BiDi QSFP+ transceiver for short distance also using the duplex
transmission mode, things would be much easier. That’s why choose 40GBASE-SR BiDi QSFP
transceiver.
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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | BiDi Optics: A New Solution for 40GbE Transmission
Besides, with 40G QSFP+ optics only using 8 of the 12 fibers in a 12-fiber trunk, this results in the
disappearance of one third of the total bandwidth available to a data center when migrating from
10G to 40GbE. If select 40G BiDi QSFP+ optics, this bandwidth disappearance can be avoided, since
only a pair of cables are used.
40G BiDi Optics – Cost- & Time-saving Solution
Just as what has been mentioned above, 40G BiDi transceiver modules give you 40Gbps over your
existing 10Gbps cable plant, meaning that you can connect your top-of-rack switches using the
same MMF and patch cables you are using right now, to get 40Gbps performance. If you were
building a new 40Gbps data center fabric the traditional way, you would need to run 8 MMF strands
between your access and aggregation layers. What a costly project. But with BiDi optics, there is no
need for expensive 40G migration cassettes, and no need to add additional fiber infrastructure.
Conclusion
In an upgrading project, cost and time are the critical factors which should be considered. 40G BiDi
optical modules offer another way to deploy 40G Ethernet: it’s less costly to implement 40G
Ethernet using two MMFs (vs. the 8 fibers required by 40GBASE-SR4). With 40G BiDi optics, 40Gbps
performance is no longer a luxury. With 40G BiDi optics, there is no need to rewire your data center
to get the next level of capacity and performance. With 40G BiDi optics, it’s possible to upgrade
capacity without having to upgrade cabling, a huge cost saving. Fiberstore supplies various 40G BiDi
QSFP+ transceivers for your smooth 40G migration. You can visit www.fs.com for more information
about 40G BiDi transceiver modules.
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Fiberstore (FS.COM) | BiDi Optics: A New Solution for 40GbE Transmission
Contact Us
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Tel: +44 2081441980
Notice: This document is for informational purposes only and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or
implied, concerning any equipment, equipment features, or service offered or to be offered by Fiberstore.
Fiberstore reserves the right to make changes to this document at any time, without notice, and assumes no
responsibility for its use. This information document describes features that may not be currently available.
Contact a Fiberstore sales team for information on feature and product availability.
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