VIAVI has spent decades testing Ethernet as a service, fueling its leadership position in testing modules, cables, and Ethernet ICs at the PHY layer. We also have products that cover the full stack to L7, offering breadth and depth of coverage. A few years ago, we determined current products on the market for high-scale Ethernet […]
We at VIAVI have long been aware of the impact of latency on the datacoms and telecoms ecosystem. Specialized applications have been developed which allow customers to develop and evaluate ICs, optical modules, ASICs and systems based on their bandwidth throughput and latency. Historically, people have focused on microseconds, but increasingly – especially driven by […]
Modern high-speed links for the fastest Ethernet rates of 400GbE and above use PAM-4 electrical modulation. This modulation format allows interfaces to run at the speeds required for 400GbE and above, but PAM-4 modulation is more susceptible to the impacts of noise and signal integrity. This is mitigated by the use of forward error correction […]
While evaluating high-speed network test equipment, it may be tempting to forgo deep physical layer testing capabilities to save money and reduce testing complexities. In some cases, these ‘just good enough’ solutions appear to fit the bill, but lack of deep insights can lead to product re-designs, longer development cycles or systemic failures in the […]
Since the emergence of 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) around 5 years ago, we have seen PAM-4 modulation replace NRZ on both optical and electrical interfaces. We now see a broad and healthy ecosystem building for 400 GbE, and even 800 GbE, using PAM-4 signaling. In fact, we are even seeing the first 100 Gb per […]
