400G Optical MSA
The 400G Optical MSA defines interoperable specifications for 400 Gbps PAM4 optical links optimized for scale-up and scale-out AI infrastructure deployments.
Doubling the interface speed is needed to address the network requirements for next generation AI Infrastructure deployments. The MSA will leverage IEEE 802.3 specifications and methodologies to incorporate existing FEC schemes with enhanced interleaving to maintain design compatibility with existing system and PHY technologies. Additionally, to enable reliable operation in next-generation AI infrastructure environments, the MSA will aim to include link training and maintenance capabilities.
Key Features
Support for scale-up, scale-out and scale-across AI interconnect topologies (DRn-100, DRn-500, DRn-2k)
Dual operating modes supporting 425Gbps (212.5 GBaud PAM4) and 453.75Gbps (226.875 GBaud PAM4) optical transmission
Optional inner (128,120) Hamming FEC (FECi) for enhanced margin at higher baud rates
Compatibility with end-to-end RS(544,514) KP4 FEC used in IEEE 800GbE optical PHYs
Link training based TXFIR architecture to mitigate transmitter to enhance performance
Supports advanced diagnostics to obtain real time local and remote link status
Founding Members
