400G Guide Network Upgrades
400G Transceiver Cheat Sheet to Guide Your Network Upgrades
The 400G revolution is here! Are your networks ready for it?
400G is a game-changer. It brings with it a welcome upgrade that helps alleviate network bottlenecks for large-scale networks. However, understanding your options with 400G can be a bit tricky. That’s why we’ve provided this cheat sheet, from Prolabs, to guide you through any 400G changes you are considering for your network.
This cheat sheet has everything you need to assist in future-proofing your networks. Prolab’s 100G and 400G transceivers and cabling are cost-effective, yet high-quality solutions that solve for a number of practical network upgrade challenges that you may be facing.
Make sure your Networks are ready for 400G
400G (400 Gbps) is a four times increase in data-transfer speed from the current standard 100G. Not only is it four times the speed of the current standard, but it also has more lanes, allowing for more throughput – greatly increasing the amount of data processed at one time. Put simply, 400G greatly increases the amount of data throughput of any data center. ProLabs do a good job of explaining 400G in a bit more detail here.
But why the need for another upgrade?
With the 100G standard only adopted a few years ago (with many data centers still undergoing upgrades), you may be wondering if there really is a need to make another upgrade. However, the reality is that more data is being consumed than ever before, and data centers, effectively the ‘information highway’ of your organisation, needs to change with the times. Consider, for example, the arrival of 5G mobile data and how much information will move through data-points at any given time as a result. All of a sudden, the argument for this kind of upgrade warrants serious consideration.
Form Factors
QSFP-DD | OSFP |
|---|---|
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| The QSFP56-DD, or QSFP-DD, form factor is the most widely adopted form factor for 400G connections. The QSFP-DD form factor offers the benefits of density and relatively lower power consumption over other form factors. | The Octal Small Form-Factor Pluggable, or OSFP, form factors is an alternative option used by a few switch platforms. The OSFP form factor is designed with heat dissipation features to account for higher power consumption. |
QSFP28-DD 2x100G | |
 |  |
|---|---|
| QSFP28-DD 2x100G transceivers offers increased switch port density and backwards compatibility with legacy 100G NRZ transceivers. |
Connectors
MPO 16/12 | Duplex LC + CS |
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|---|---|
| Many individual fiber strands for short reach interconnects. | A fiber for each direction of transmission – all in one connector. |
