Posts Tagged ‘PAM4’

Posted on

Optical Technologies for 5G Access Networks

By Matt Bolig, Director, Product Marketing, Networking Interconnect, Marvell

There’s been a lot written about 5G wireless networks in recent years.  It’s easy to see why; 5G technology supports game-changing applications like autonomous driving and smart city infrastructure.  Infrastructure investment in bringing this new reality to fruition will take many years and 100’s of billions of dollars globally, as figure 1 below illustrates.

  • Cumulative Global 5G RAN Capex in $B (source: Dell’Oro, July 2021)

Figure 1: Cumulative Global 5G RAN Capex in $B (source: Dell’Oro, July 2021)

When considering where capital is invested in 5G, one underappreciated aspect is just how much wired infrastructure is required to move massive amounts of data through these wireless networks. 

(more…)

Posted on

Why the 100G Optical Module Transformation is Full Steam Ahead

By Rohan Gandhi, Product Marketing Manager, Optical and Copper Connectivity

When the London Underground opened its first line in 1863, a group of doubtful dignitaries boarded a lurching, smoke-belching train for history’s inaugural subway ride. The next day, thirty thousand curious Londoners flooded the nascent system, and within a year, more than nine million had embraced its use. Nearly 160 years later, that original tunnel is still in daily use, joining 250 miles of track that carry more than 1.3 billion passengers annually.

What were the keys to such extraordinary growth? Not just popular demand for more tunnels, but also better use of accumulated infrastructure – optimized through newer trains, enhanced signaling, greater energy efficiency, and smarter scheduling. In a sense, the Tube’s transformation mirrors the fundamental challenge now confronting modern data centers: how to make better use of existing infrastructure to handle today’s exponential growth of data.

PAM4 DSP Technology is Fast and Flexible

To keep up with the surging data demands of new video and AI workloads, modern data centers can’t simply add more and bigger pipes – at least not cost-effectively. They need PAM4 based optical module solutions to effectively and efficiently move more bandwidth at higher speeds. In addition, they need to be able to update the optical modules via software, optimizing existing infrastructure at an affordable price.

(more…)